Eagles: Nick Sirianni bailed out by his defense after foolish decision

Without even knowing what the scenario was, what would you say the better situation would be for an NFL defense playing on the road? Is it 3rd and 14 or 4th and three? Which one sounds better? If we hadn’t seen it ourselves, we wouldn’t have believed it, but Nick Sirianni‘s in-game decision-making reached an all-time low in Week 7 when the Philadelphia Eagles traveled to Las Vegas to meet the Raiders in a must-win game.

Picture this. The Birds are up by a 7-0 margin after marching down the field on their first drive and punching one in via a Jalen Hurts touchdown pass to Kenneth Gainwell. Your defense stops the Raiders on their next drive. It sounds good but get this.

After forcing Las Vegas’ offense into a 4th-and-three situation, there’s a little laundry on the field. The call is holding on the Raiders’ offense. If you’re the Birds, you decline it, right? Wrong!

Nick Sirianni accepts the penalty and backs the Raiders up. You can almost guess what comes next. Derek Carr goes deep, Las Vegas converts, and they’re set up with a 1st down at the Eagles 14-yard line.

Fortunately, Nick Sirianni is bailed out after this one.

If you didn’t see it, thank your lucky stars. If you did, we feel your pain. Nick is sure to hear about this one after the game. The good news is, even though we tend to forget this, the Philadelphia Eagles do have some playmakers, and Avonte Maddox, who has quietly been having a nice season made a play early when the Eagles needed it most.

Thank the pass rush for the assist on this one. It’s early. The Eagles are looking good (so far), but despite the bailout, this is a scenario that could have been much worse than it was.