Eagles' Sirianni laments late-game call vs. Jags: 'I lost us that game'

Philadelphia Eagles coach Nick Sirianni took responsibility for his handling of the closing moments of Sunday's dramatic 19-17 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars in London. "I didn't make the right decision, and I lost us that game, and that's what I said to our guys," Sirianni said. "What hurts there is 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 game, and I put that one on me." Philadelphia went up 17-16 with eight seconds left thanks to a 48-yard Jake Elliott field goal, delivering what appeared to be an uplifting win for a team that lost a pair of starting offensive linemen in Lane Johnson [retirement] and Cam Jurgens [trade] this week and was dealing with a long list of injuries. But on the ensuing kickoff, the Eagles kicked the ball to Ameer Abdullah instead of trying for the touchback. Abdullah returned it 53 yards to set up a game-winning 57-yard Cam Little field goal as time expired, dropping Philadelphia to 2-3 while the Jaguars improved to 4-1. "Honestly, there was so little time for me to kind of gather myself between [the field goal and the kickoff], I just went out and did what I was told and wish it obviously turned out better," Elliott said. "It sucks. You come all this way and you think you're in the driver's seat to win a big game, and now we're feeling pretty down." When Ameer Abdullah caught the kickoff, his first thought was: Six seconds. He would get as many yards as he could in six seconds, which would leave two seconds on the clock. "Tried to make the kicker miss just to get a little bit closer to the 50," he said. "Good execution." He did cut it a little close. Officials put one second on the clock and the Jaguars lined up for a 57-yard field goal. The Eagles called timeout just before the play, but defensive DaVon Hamilton -- subbing for injured long snapper Ross Matiscik since the first quarter -- snapped the ball back to holder Logan Cooke. "It was probably D-Ham's best snap of the day," Jaguars head coach Liam Coen said. "I mean, he put it right on the button. I'm like, 'Oh man, here we go. Competitive greatness, being at your best when your best is required. Here we go. "And then [real] snap goes up, Logan puts it down and then arguably one of the most talented guys in the league comes up with a clutch kick and a clutch moment. [Did we] deserve to win? Who knows? Got to go watch the tape, but proud of this group." Little called the 57-yarder the coolest moment of his career -- even better than the NFL-record 68-yard field goal he kicked last season against the Las Vegas Raiders. "Yeah, 100%," Little said. "The record was cool and all, but it [Sunday's field goal] still gives me goosebumps because I don't think you guys realize I would wake up every Saturday morning watching the Premier League. Every Saturday. And then to play soccer from ages five to 16, I didn't touch a football till I was almost 17. So my whole life was soccer up to this point. So to do it in the stadium [Tottenham Hotspur], it feels like I've achieved my goal of playing professional soccer even though I'm playing pro football." Little's kick -- which linebacker Foye Oluokun said he didn't watch but instead watched the fans for their reaction -- overcame a long list of misfortune and mistakes the Jaguars made against the Eagles in the first 59 minutes. They had 13 penalties for 100 yards, the second week in a row they were penalized 13 times. This is the first game (regular season or playoffs) to feature two go-ahead field goals in the final 10 seconds of regulation in the Super Bowl Era (since 1966). The moments leading up to Elliott's kick came under scrutiny as well. The Eagles attempted passes on first and second down with under 30 seconds to play, stopping the clock. They ran it on third down and the Jaguars called their final timeout with 12 seconds remaining. Sirianni indicated he didn't want to run the ball exclusively in that sequence, because runs in that situation often result in negative yards, as the third-down run did, which could have pushed them out of field goal range. The Jaguars' special teams showed its prowess earlier in the game, as Jacksonville opened with a 90-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by Josh Cameron that was nullified by penalties. Eagles linebacker Jeremiah Trotter Jr. was ejected following the play for getting into an altercation with Bryan Thomas Jr., who was also tossed from the game, weakening Philadelphia's kickoff unit. Johnson abruptly retired on Tuesday and Jurgens was traded to the Ravens the following day. The Eagles, also operating without Saquon Barkley [hamstring] and DeVonta Smith [hamstring], among others, entered as more than a touchdown underdog. They appeared in line for a morale-boosting win until disaster struck in the closing moments. "It hurts in the sense of the guys fought their ass off and had a chance to win the game. And then for me to not make the right decision in that, you feel like you let everyone down," Sirianni said. "That will stick with me for a long time. All I know is I'll work my butt off to get better from it."