The Philadelphia Eagles knocked through a field goal with seconds remaining of their contest against the Jacksonville Jaguars and seemed ready to take a win back stateside.
Instead, a shocking decision allowed Jacksonville to set up an amazing kickoff return and win the game on their own field goal – leading to calls for Eagles coach Nick Sirianni to be fired.
The Eagles managed to send kicker Jake Elliott out for a field goal with 11 seconds remaining in their game against the Jags in London. When Elliott’s kick went through, Philly went up 17-16 and there were eight seconds remaining in the contest.
But instead of booting the ball out of bounds or straight out of the back of the end zone, which would have put the Jaguars far out of field goal range, Elliott kicked it to return man Ameer Abdullah.
Abdullah ran it back from inside his own 10-yard-line and followed his blockers to a monster return – finally being tackled at the Eagles’ 39-yard-line and setting up a 57-yard field goal try.
Jaguars kicker Cam Little managed to get enough air under the ball and put it through the uprights to win the game 19-17.
Fans are calling for Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni’s job after a colossal blunder
After a miraculous kickoff return, Jags kicker Cam Little drilled a field goal to win the game
Sirianni told reporters: ‘I lost us that game… I just didn’t do my job in that situation’
After the game, Sirianni, who fell to 2-3 on the season following this defeat, took responsibility for the loss.
‘Our guys fought their butts off today… I didn’t make the right decision, I lost us that game and that’s what I said to our guys,’ Sirianni told Philadelphia sports reporter Eliot Shorr-Parks.
‘What hurts there is that the guys fought so hard and then I don’t make the decision that I should make at the end of the game and I cost us that one and I put that fully on me.’
He added: ‘There’s no other way around it, there’s nothing really else to say about that, I just didn’t do my job in that situation.’
Fans jumped on Sirianni after the game, calling his mistake a ‘fireable offense’ as the Eagles’ tailspin continues.
‘Cmon. Why allow a return. Philly situational coaching is so bad,’ wrote one user on X.
Another said: ‘Just kick it out the back and it’s game over. Awful time management.’
Sirianni and the Eagles will fly back home to host the Carolina Panthers in Philadelphia next Sunday.
