Damien Harris did not hold back after the Philadelphia Eagles let a win slip away in London.
The former NFL running back called out Nick Sirianni following Sunday’s 19-17 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars, zeroing in on the Eagles head coach’s late-game choices after Jalen Hurts had engineered a drive that put Philadelphia in front with eight seconds left.
“It was nothing short of coaching malpractice,” he said. “I can't even comprehend what I just watched.
The fact that Nick Sirianni put the Eagles in a position to lose this football game. You're down so many offensive starters, so many weapons.
But the fact that he put them in a position to lose this game, despite Jalen Hurts' best efforts.
I don't think he can be questioned enough about some of the decision-making, especially not kicking the ball to the end zone after this game. It was just atrocious.”
That’s the moment that turned the whole game. After Jake Elliott drilled a go-ahead 48-yard field goal, Sirianni chose not to kick the ensuing kickoff into the end zone. The ball stayed in play, Ameer Abdullah brought it back 53 yards, and Jacksonville suddenly had one second left to work with.
From there, the Jaguars made it count. Cam Little banged home a 57-yard field goal as time expired, and Philadelphia walked away with a defeat that kept piling onto an already rough stretch.
The loss was the Eagles’ third straight and dropped them to 2-3.
Sirianni later admitted he made the wrong call, and that admission has only sharpened the scrutiny. The issue, though, goes beyond one kickoff decision. Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk pointed out that the problem also speaks to Philadelphia’s special-teams personnel, arguing that Sirianni may not have trusted his kick-coverage unit to make the decisive tackle.
That shifts the conversation from coaching alone to roster quality, especially on the lower end of the depth chart where special teams often live or die.
Florio also cited former Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin’s view of how vital those lower-roster players are to special teams execution.
There’s another layer, too. Florio noted that the Eagles are dealing with roster limitations tied to retired offensive tackle Lane Johnson. The team is planning to hold a roster spot for Johnson in order to push the bulk of his salary-cap charges to 2028, a move that could restrict Philadelphia’s ability to add more help elsewhere.
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