Eagles Stock Watch: Defense looks good, Nick Sirianni fails to win against Jaguars

Eagles fans have been able to enjoy stress-free football against some bad football teams over the past few weeks.

The stress returned against the Jaguars as the Eagles' defense and Saquon Barkley looked elite in a 28-23 win on Sunday.

And that's largely due to a bad decision and some really bad statements from Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni.

Before Dallas week arrives, let's pause and acknowledge a stock that is on the rise and continues to free fall, even as the Eagles improved to 6-2 on the year:

Stock up 📈 – The entire defense

The Eagles' defense might be better than their offense right now (I thought we'd be remiss if we didn't give a shout-out to DeVonta Smith, who caught passes of 46 and 25 yards on the Eagles' highly effective fourth-and-goal).

In the last four wins, the defense has been incredible, causing turnovers, making timely stops and improving their tackling to a level that at times seemed dominant – and that was certainly the case against Jacksonville.

“What I know is that we know you're going to follow your habits,” Sirianni said ahead of Sunday night's win. “If you work hard on tackles and work hard on catching the football, then you have a better chance of being successful at those things.” We just want our habits to reflect the way we play with our effort, the way we look in practice, the way we look with our physicality, the way we look with our details.”

Here's a look at the last four games of the Eagles' dominant D:

The defense can only play against the opponents it has on the schedule, and it rightfully should have had its way against the Jaguars on Sunday. But three forced turnovers — one on special teams after a big hit by freshman safety Sydney Brown and another on a pick by Zack Baun after a shaky Travis Etienne would-be reception — made this game look like it could be a laughable one early on . And a third goal by Nakobe Dean in the end zone secured the game for the Eagles, as it became far too tight for them to calm down.

The potential shutout didn't make it into the second half as the Jaguars made a play a few times with Vic Fangio's looser defense. But the overall numbers were still very solid.

The secondary held Trevor Lawrence to just 16 of 31 passes for 169 yards. The defense fended off the one-two punch of Etienne and Tank Bigbsy, limiting the duo to 46 yards on the ground. And only one offensive result paid off, the other resulted in a questionable turnover.

Josh Sweat had a big third-down sack on the Jaguars' first drive that set the tone and another on a third down in the fourth quarter. The entire defense allowed just three third-down conversions on 10 attempts.

The Cowboys, who may be without Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb next week, could give the Eagles defense another opportunity to look really solid on this very cooperative part of the Eagles roster.

MORE: The Eagles improve to 6-2 despite stumbling in the second half in the win over the Jaguars

Stock Drop 📉 – Nick Sirianni’s Decision Making

It happened again.

You simply can't trust Sirianni to make decisions on fourth downs and two-point conversions. Anyone who plays “Madden” regularly could make these decisions better than the much-criticized head coach.

In Sunday's all-too-close win, the Eagles skipper repeated his performance in the loss to the Falcons earlier in the season, where he made basically every wrong decision and the Birds blew a late lead.

Against Jacksonville, Sirianni essentially opted to take eight points off the board. Here's how:

• On a fourth-and-3 in the second quarter, Sirianni took a 10-0 lead at the Jacksonville 22-yard line and a pass from Jalen Hurts to Brown fell incomplete.
• Late in the second after a touchdown, Sirianni used a penalty as an excuse to shoot two balls from the 1-yard line, but a QB sneak missed the target.
• After a touchdown in the third, Hurts tried again to score with his legs on a two-point attempt but was stopped.
• After giving up 16 points, one of them on an unusual (and misjudged) turnover, the Eagles tried again to get well within reach of Jake Elliott's field colt on fourth down. And with only one yard left to go, they didn't make a tush push, nor did they pass it on to Saquon Barkley, who racked up over 100 yards and scored two touchdowns.

Two chip shot field goals and two extra points tied the game. In addition to the Elliott fantasy owners being completely discombobulated in this game, the Eagles made things that much harder for themselves. There's no reason to constantly overthink or try to be the smartest guy in the room – like Sirianni did a few other times with fake brotherly shoves during the game. Unless the Eagles' star kicker is injured, the decisions make no sense.

When Sirianni finally called Elliott's name, it almost cost the Eagles the game again. Just outside the two-minute warning, he had his kicker attempt and missed a 57-yarder with 2:11 on the clock. Whoever comes in fourth place wins the game. Make or miss the field goal attempt, the Jaguars stay alive with the ball down. The missed FG gave the Jags excellent field position just behind midfield. Another monumental wrong decision.

Sirianni does not refer to the plays or plans as offense or defense. He is a delegate and a clubhouse culture setter. But he has one job on game day – making those calls right.

The game was a nail-biter and any competent substitute coach could have prevented it from being so close. A monster play from Barkley and two crazy catches from Smith saved the Eagles again.

If the Eagles keep winning, the agonizing head coach will keep his job. But this football won't win in January.

MORE: The decisive plays of the Eagles-Jaguars

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