The Philadelphia Eagles built a 13-10 halftime lead over the Los Angeles Rams thanks to more excellence from Saquon Barkley, but they should have a bigger advantage on the scoreboard.
Jake Elliott missed the extra point after Jalen Hurts' long touchdown run on the game's opening possession. To add insult to injury, Nick Sirianni was asleep at the wheel as the Eagles marched down the field in the closing stages of the first half.
Sirianni's suspect game and clock management are well-documented and they reared their ugly head at the worst time. It started with Sirianni burning a timeout after A.J. Brown dropped what should have been a long touchdown.
Jalen Hurts was strip-sacked on the following play to push the Eagles back close to midfield. There were some 25 seconds left on the clock at the time. A quick timeout would have given Philly plenty of time to get back into field goal range, but Sirianni was content to run the clock all the way down to three (!) seconds before he called a timeout.
Hurts was sacked on a Hail Mary attempt to end the half.
Nick Sirianni's clock management screws Eagles in playoff clash vs. Rams
What is Sirianni doing?!? Call a timeout, run a play, maybe get back in FG range before the end of the half. You're content to run it all the way down and try a Hail Mary? Really?
— Jimmy Kempski (@JimmyKempski) January 19, 2025
Does Sirianni think unused timeouts carry over into the second half? There is no defending this decision.
Elliott's rocky season notwithstanding, it is preposterous that Sirianni preferred to attempt a Hail Mary rather than have Kellen Moore dial up a quick pass to get into field goal range. The odds of making a long field goal in a blizzard are much greater than completing a Hail Mary.
There was no consequence to calling a timeout there. For starters, the Rams wouldn't have got the ball back regardless. Even if the pass to get into field goal range fell incomplete, the offense would have been in the same spot anyway. At that point, you take your chances with a Hail Mary and go into halftime knowing you did everything possible to score more points.
If it was easy for fans to process in the moment, it should have been a no-brainer for a seasoned head coach like Sirianni.
While Sirianni has proved a lot of his doubters wrong this season, there is a reason so many prominent analysts think his game and clock management could upend an otherwise magical Eagles season. It was reckless to let the clock wind down and it cost his team three points in what is currently a three-point game.