The 50-plus yard field goal was one option, but failure would have given the Packers even better field position. There’s also the dreaded 6-point lead that Sirianni probably wanted to avoid, but with so little time, it’s not as much of a risk.
While Sirianni focused on the option, the real question was why didn’t he score? For all the sleight of hand the analysis consistently suggests teams go for on fourth down, in this case, the punt was the recommendation of some.
A layup could have pinned the Packers deeper into their own end, and without a timeout, it would have made it harder for Green Bay to get into any kind of field goal position. Not to mention that a point usually takes a few more marks off the clock than a regular card.
Regardless of the analytics of it all, Sirianni is comfortable trusting his guys to make plays, pointing to a similar decision where Hurts connected last year against Cleveland — that 40-yard bomb to Brown came on 2nd-and-11 in a four-point game, so it’s not exactly apples-to-apples.
“Again, in that moment, we made the decision to go for it,” he said. “No regrets at all, wanted to be able to end the game. The play didn’t work this time. Sometimes it happens, but I have a lot of faith in sending those guys back out in that situation. We had a very similar game that we’re all playing against Cleveland last year, right? Very similar, very similar, we went to a vertical game and it didn’t happen great at that time. The four-minute mode is similar to the Minnesota game.
“So when they win, we’re in high spirits. When they don’t win, you’re going to go back and say, ‘Hey, was that the best thing we should have done in that particular instance? And we’re going to be overly critical of ourselves there, but I know how much trust I have in Jalen and I know how much trust I have in the guys that are out there and he threw it to AJ in that particular instance, and AJ and the offensive line and anyone who goes for it. We’ll look at it, but we’ve done it before and this time we didn’t hit and the defense did a great job to finish the game scoreless.”
The Eagles’ play late in the game left the door open to be questioned, including second- and third-down passes on the previous drive. However, the defense made all those questions easier to digest in Philly this week.