The NFL’s decision to move the touchback from the 30 to the 35 continues to create some crazy end game situations. And some interesting late game decisions.
Two weeks after the Cowboys made the wrong decision to put the kickoff in the end zone and concede 35 against the Ravens in Rio, the Eagles made the wrong decision to put the ball in play against the Jaguars in London.
With eight seconds left after a 48-yard field goal put the Eagles ahead 17-16, Eagles coach Nick Sirianni elected to kick the ball into the landing zone.
Jaguars running back Ameer Abdullah caught the ball at the eight and returned it 53 yards in seven seconds. And a 57-yard field goal from Cam Little gave Jacksonville the win.
After the game, Sirianni blamed the loss.
“You know, the guys fought hard, and then I wasn’t making the decision that, you know, that I should have made at the end of the game, and it cost us that game, and I put it all on me,” Sirianni told reporters. “At the end of the day, I didn’t make the right decision and it cost us the game. You know, and so there’s no other way around it. There’s really nothing else to say about that. It’s just, you know, I didn’t do my job good enough in that situation.”
Sirianni was asked if he watched the end of the Ravens-Cowboys game and other games with important decisions to make about kickoff strategy.
“Yeah, I watched a ton of those,” Sirianni said. “I watch a ton of those situations. You know, obviously we had one against Tennessee. I watched a ton of those situations after that Dallas game, and again, just not making the right decision in that particular case.”
Sirianni said the decision will stick with him in the same way that late-game mistakes he made as a player stick with his memories.
“It’s like how you feel if you miss a free throw at the end of the game, or if you lose,” Sirianni said. “I’ve been in both of those places. And those ones stick with you, and that will stick with me for a long time. All I know is that I’ll work my butt off to get better from it. But, yeah, that hurt for a long time. I still think about those other things that have, I’ve lost games for us in the past as far as, you know, when I played.”
Here is the key in this case. The Jaguars, unlike the Ravens, don’t have a timeout in their pocket. It’s easier for Philly to defend the sidelines in Cam Little’s maximum coverage area.
And Sirianni knows it. If nothing else, his mistake provides additional guidance to everyone regarding touchback/no touchback decisions in the final seconds of a half or a game.
Here’s the obvious lesson: If the receiving team has no time left, put it in the end zone.