A hot topic this season has been the aggressive nature of the Eagles and their Head Coach, Nick Sirianni. During the game against the Jacksonville Jaguars, the Eagles elected to go twice for their patented Brotherly Shove instead of kicking the extra point afterward. The choices were highly debated.
Philadelphia’s analytics team would counter that it is the correct choice when you have succeeded 90% of the time in 2023 and 78% of the time with the Tush Push from the 1-yard line within the same season. They also believe that even if you do not succeed at it every time, their approach favors them throughout a game and a season.
The more egregious decision to most was electing not to kick a 47-yard FG to go up two scores; instead, they attempted a failed pass attempt and did not convert. The Eagles know that will happen sometimes, but they still won despite those three failed attempts.
Those plays didn’t come back to bite them, and it goes down as a win for them and their analytical team. The Eagles are an aggressive organization. They take chances and are willing to accept and embrace the failures associated with them.
Organizational Philosophy
The Head Coach takes almost all the heat and criticism from game-day choices that do not work out, but it is not just a Nick Sirianni thing.
Their belief starts from the top (Jeff Lurie) and trickles down throughout the organization. They have people to analyze game-flow situations and feed Nick and his coaching staff the necessary information during the game. Every scenario that arises during a game is played out in real time via various risk assessment programs and analyses.
While they have detractors for their aggressive style, they can point to a few examples, every fan will know, why they believe they are right.
The famous Philly Special play at the end of the first half of Super Bowl 57. High risk, high reward. 100% beloved. It is cited as possibly the greatest play call in Super Bowl history, and some fans have the play tattoed on their bodies. One media member has Nick Foles’ face tattoed on his back. The nature of the Eagles Head Coach, Doug Pederson, was to go for the touchdown as opposed to kicking a field goal on the 4th down. It paid off with an extra 4 points.
Another example comes from the same game. The Eagles decided to go for it on fourth-and-1 from their 45-yard line in the 4th quarter. The pass completion to Zach Ertz resulted in a first down. That first down led to a touchdown scoring drive. The touchdown that Ertz dove in for with 2:21 left in the game was the one that gave the Eagles the lead and secured their first Lombardi Trophy for the victory.
The team can also give you an example of how not being aggressive contributed to them losing a game on the biggest stage.
In Super Bowl 57, with about ten minutes remaining in the game, losing 28–27, the Eagles chose to punt instead of being aggressive on 4th down. The decision led to the longest punt return in SB history, 65 yards, returned down to the Eagles 9-yard line. Three plays later, the Chiefs throw a TD pass to take the lead 35–27. That was their 3rd TD of the half.
Would the Eagles have won their second Super Bowl in 5 years had they been aggressive there? Nobody will ever know, and the Eagles are committed to not allowing that to happen again.
Eagles will keep on being aggressive
Back to the Jaguars game, could the Eagles have scored eight more points? Yes, but they still won. By that, and their rationale, their calculations did not cost them the game, and for them, that is a win.
It took some remarkable plays, but the gamble they take and accept is that they will get those. Especially against an inferior, injury-riddled team.
The Eagles were on the cutting edge of this type of thinking in the NFL, and it is something they believe in. The risk-taking has been emulated by other franchises and, more importantly, will not go anywhere as long as the decisions result in winning more games than it loses.
Even if the Head Coach leaves, the analytics are here to stay.
As always, thank you for reading
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Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-Imagn Images
Mandatory Credit: Robert Deutsch-Imagn Images
