Questionable calls by the head coach and coordinators contributed to the Eagles first loss of the young season.
Through most of game, Eagles fans had to be thinking whether Nick Sirianni's decision to go for it on fourth and four at the Atlanta Falcons nine-yard line with 4:45 left in the first quarter would impact the game impact the result of this game?
On one level it did impact the game. Sirianni throwing away three points on blind confidence in his players, instead of what many believe was common sense to kick a field goal, could be used to make the case it helped the Falcons steal a 22-21 win.
But Sirianni gave Eagles Nation a much more questionable call when he allowed offensive coordinator Kellen Moore call for a little screen pass to Saquon Barkley and third and three with 1:46 left in the fourth and the Birds leading 18-15.
Hurts threw the pass to his right and put it right in Barkley’s hands with open space in front of him…the two-time Pro Bowler dropped the ball.
Jake Elliott hit a chip shot field goal to give the home team a 21-15 lead with 1:39 left.
On the ensuing drive, four-time Pro Bowler Kirk Cousins - with surgical precision - led the Falcons on a six-play, 70-yard drive ending with a seven-yard touchdown pass to Drake London with in just 1:06, and give his team a 22-21 lead with just 34 seconds left on the clock.
Hurts’ desperation throw to DeVonta Smith with 27 seconds left was intercepted by Jessie Bates III...and it was a wrap.
The Eagles were playing without All Pro wide receiver A.J. Brown, who was out with a hamstring injury (and may be out for a few more games, according to the TV broadcast). That hurt the offense for sure, but is it the reason the Birds lost?
Sirianni was asked why he didn’t just run the ball on third and three. Barkley had 95 yards on the ground on 20 carries at the time.
Obviously the clock stops on an incompletion.
"You know, they were running a certain defense and junking it up in the middle,” the fourth-year head coach said at his postgame press conference. So we were trying to go around the outside and it didn't work.”
Sirianni was asked if he thought about running the ball on fourth-and-three given that he was just inside the Atlanta ten-yard line…and chew up some clock.
“You know, again, in that scenario I was thinking they might not have any timeouts there, but obviously they did with the incomplete pass,” Sirianni said. “You know, but that would've come down to maybe a minute, so we wanted to go up six points; it didn't work.
“So, the decision to pass it there, again, like I said, they were junking it up inside, with it being fourth and three to go for it, I thought with them not having any timeouts I wanted them to be down a touchdown and see if they could drive the field and they did. Hats off to them.”
The entire night was a grind for both offenses.
The Eagles led 7-6 at the half. The Falcons (1-1) rolled up 184 net yards of offense and had two Younghoe Koo field goals to show for it.
The Eagles (1-1) recorded 164 yards total offense and had a seven-yard TD pass from Hurts to Smith to show for it.
The Falcons outscored the Eagles 9-3 in the third quarter on a 41-yard touchdown pass from Cousins to Darnell Mooney. His run was helped by a missed tackle by safety C.J Gardner-Johnson at about the 20-yard line.
The Eagles took the lead with 6:51 left in the fourth quarter after a 17-play, 70-yard drive that was finished off with a Hurts one-yard sneak.
The drive by Cousins in the last minute to win the game showed why teams pay him the money they pay him.
EAGLES PLAYERS POSTGAME
Safety Reed Blankenship talked about the Falcons offense.
“They found some little seams here and there...they pushed the ball down on us pretty easy,” Blankenship said. “Shoddy play on our coverages. Our communication was fine. We just have to be tighter in what we do. We can't just let them drive the ball down the field.”
The no-huddle offense by the Falcons on the final drive seemed to catch Vic Fangio’s defense off guard.
“They did a really good job with tempo,” Blankenship said. “They kept our guys on the field. We've just got to be better. We have to know going into that week that they are a tempo team, which we did. We just have to be smart.”
Do the calls from the sideline change when you get into that kind of situation?
“To an extent,” Blankenship said. “It's nothing crazy. It's not these calls that we hadn't ran at all. It's our base calls...what we're confident in. Like I said, we just can't let them down the field. That's on us, the defense. But I am so confident in our guys...we're going to be fine.”
Barkley took responsibility for the dropped pass that coast the Birds the game.
“I make that play most of the times,” Barkley said. “I've missed that play before too. It happened, it's part of the game. I've got to be better for my team...I've go to man up to it, own up to it and promise the guys in this locker room that I'll be better from it.
“I mean, you've got to score in this game, especially in this league,” Barkley continued. “That comes down to us...but at the end of the day, those conversations aren't happening if I made that catch on third down.”
Barkley said, as a team they need to move on.
“We can complain or be upset about it, or be a professional athlete, go back to the drawing board, take the lick, move on and get better from it.”
All Pro cornerback Darius Slay said this loss hurt.
“It's tough,” Slay said. “definitely, because it's an NFC opponent. That makes it even worse. We know we're better than that. We didn't perform at our highest level, as a group, collectively.”
Slay gave Cousins the nod for pulling the game out.
“Cousins makes great throws,” Slay said. “You've got to tip your cap to him; he made a lot of good plays. [The Atlanta] guys were playing smarter, getting out of bounds at certain times. That's what it was. He made a lot of good throws.”
As a leader, what was his message to the team after the loss?
“We've got to continue to keep going,” Slay said at his locker. “It's only Week 2. We've got a lot of ball left, gotta lot of games left. We've got to stay focused and learn from our mistakes. We need to feed off this...even though it was a loss, figure out what we can do better.”
ATLANTA PLAYERS POSTGAME
London, who caught six passes for 54 yards and the winning TD, was asked to describe Cousins during the final drive.
“Strait poise,” London said at his locker. “He knows what he's doing. We trust in him. Whenever he throws the ball, we've got to catch it.”
Pro Bowl tackle Jake Matthews agreed with his wide receiver when asked about Cousins demeanor.
“He was just so smooth,” Matthews said at his locker. “He just executed and we did everything we've been preparing to. We did it really well and Kirk did an amazing job. The line held up, guys got open…it went the way we drew it up.”
Matthews was asked if Barkley’s drop flip a switch for optimism on the Falcons’ sideline?
“Personally it was just a matter of us doing our job,” Matthews said. “Whatever the situation is, just find a way to win. You could just feel the confidence, especially as we started stacking plays...how quick we got down there...against a very good defense. I'm just really proud of the guys and Kirk and the way we battled and found a way.”
SOME GAME STATS
Hurts finished 23 of 30 for 183 yards and a touchdown and interception. He rushed 13 times for 85 yards and a TD. He was sacked once.
Barkley rushed 22 times for 95 yards. He also caught four passes for 21 yards.
Third-year wide receiver Britain Covey, who for the first time is being used in the offense, caught all six balls targeted to him for 23 yards. It should have been an eight-for-eight night with 21 more yards. Center Cam Jurgens was called for ineligible man downfield…both times.
On defense, Blankenship led the Eagles with ten total tackles (nine solo), Zack Baun had nine tackles (seven solo).
Cousins finished 20 of 29 doe 241 yards, two TD passes, no interceptions and a QB rating of 117.2.
Bijan Robinson rushed 14 times for 97 yards.
ZIRIANNI ON THE D-LINE’S LACK OF PRODUCTION
The fourth-year head coach was reminded that the defensive line has recorded just one sack after two game this season. It was a critical hit on Cousins by defensive tackle Milton Williams, that help keep the Falcons out of the end zone in the third quarter.
Does Sirianni have any answers?
"We'll look at this game and see what happened,” Sirianni said at his postgame press conference “Sometimes you have to earn the right to rush, meaning you have got to have them in passing situations. Didn't seem like we had some passing situations today. They were in third and manageable or second and manageable.
“So sometimes you have to earn the right to rush. Like I said, when they were ahead of the sticks; that makes it a little bit harder on the pass rush. We'll look at the tape of this game -- Yeah, we'll see what it is.
“We'll look at this game and see what happened. Sometimes you have to earn the right to rush, meaning you have got to have them in passing situations. Didn't seem like we had some passing situations today. “They were in third and manageable or second and manageable. So sometimes you have to earn the right to rush.
“Like I said, when they were ahead of the sticks, that makes it a little bit harder on the pass rush. We'll look at the tape of this game -- Yeah, we'll see what it is.” *
Email Al Thompson at al.thompson@footballstories.com
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