Nick Sirianni Erupts at NFL Official Over Controversial Jalen Hurts Call During Eagles-Bears Game
from Essentially NFL football
Going into the season, Nick Sirianni knew he would have to be calculated. It wasn’t just about the way his team did, but how he reacted. Yet, when it all unravelled against the Chicago Bears within the first fifteen minutes, it didn’t take the Philadelphia head coach long to abandon all sense of calm on the field.
Clips showed him visibly animated, yelling at the official, before putting on his mic and walking away.
It all came together 10 minutes into the first quarter of the Eagles’ road game, as Sirianni’s side trailed the hosts by seven points. The last thing they needed was a penalty stalling their drive. But when Devin Bush and Austin Booker came charging at Jalen Hurts, that’s exactly what happened.
The pocket collapsed around Hurts as Bush and Booker closed in. Not wanting to be sacked, Jalen Hurts desperately looked for a target and got the ball away. But refs didn’t see it that way.
They believed he had intentionally grounded the ball, a call that didn’t sit well with Sirianni, who went straight to the official on the sidelines.
Now, Sirianni has been known for his reactions on the field. “I need to be better in those scenarios when there is some high-pressure areas,” he has frequently stated. But in this situation, his reaction might actually be valid.
If you look back at the moment Hurts got the throwaway, you would see that tight end EJ Jenkins was in the vicinity. That’s what the commentators believed as well.
Intentional grounding occurs when the quarterback throws a forward pass without any chance of completion just to avoid getting sacked. A QB cannot throw into empty space to avoid a sack. But with Jenkins present as an eligible receiver, that call could have gone differently.
Instead of a 10-yard penalty that the Eagles received, they could have been at a 3rd-and-6. And the Eagles’ opening drive that went for 29 yards on five plays and ended with a punt from Chicago’s 46-yard line could have even ended with a touchdown.
Had that been the case, it would have certainly taken some pressure off the Eagles. Case Keenum had already thrown a TD pass on the Bears’ opening drive. And later, Keenum set the stage for a field goal, putting a 10-0 lead against the Eagles. Nevertheless, the Eagles managed to catch up with a touchdown in the second quarter, but the gap was still there.
At the same time, the frustration wasn’t just about a single decision that determined the first half. It had been a night to forget for Philly. The Eagles had received five penalties in the first thirty minutes, leaving plenty of points and field position on the table.
And if that wasn’t enough, seven minutes into the second quarter, during a 2nd-and-4 at Chicago’s 15-yard line, Hurts attempted a scramble and ran for two yards before D’Marco Jackson brought him down in a brutal hit.
The linebacker’s late hit drew a penalty for unnecessary roughness. But it became a highlight when Sirianni called him names for hurting his quarterback.
“You’re a p—y!” the Eagles’ head coach yelled at the opponent’s defense, as per social media sleuths.
Later, that same hit sent Hurts into the blue tent for a brief concussion evaluation. It still proved costly for the team, especially since the Eagles had come tantalizingly close to a touchdown before Andy Dalton’s pass near the end zone was interrupted.
To his credit, Sirianni attempted to maintain his composure on the sidelines.
“Obviously frustrating,” Sirianni told ESPN on the sidelines. “But the doctors have to do their job. They gotta protect these guys. We have a hit on the sideline that they looked at, and that’s the way it goes. We gotta be able to run the ball in from the one, regardless of who’s in there.
“I’m bummed that Jalen wasn’t in for that. We got to take care of the ball with Andy. But, hey, I mean, they’re doing their best to keep the players safe.”
Hurts has become the foundational centerpiece of the Eagles’ offense with his dual-threat style. He has completed over 1,500 passes for more than 18,350 passing yards and scored 115 touchdowns in a span of seven years. He has also covered over 3,600 rushing yards to score 63 rushing touchdowns.
With controversial penalties stalling the offense and Hurts taking late shots, Philadelphia’s head coach made it abundantly clear that nobody targets his franchise quarterback without facing massive repercussions.
As for Sirianni, he knows what his reactions can do, especially for his players, as he has stated before. “They’ve got to see me calm and not tense there. There is a time and place to be tense and there’s a time and place not to be. I know that’s something that I always have to work on as a head coach, and so that’s something I’m constantly working on.”