The Philadelphia Eagles’ loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars at London had Eagles fans collectively groaning, and ex-Eagles players felt no differently. When former running back LeSean “Shady” McCoy and former linebacker Emmanuel Acho were reacting to the game live on the ‘Speakasy’ podcast, one frustrated comment by McCoy caught Acho by surprise.
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“Bro, it’s football! It’s football. Tackle! It’s kick-off! What else are you doing?” McCoy exclaimed during the October 11 episode of Speakeasy. “That’s why I don’t like special team players. You have nothing else to do.”
Acho, who primarily played special teams when he was active in the league, reacted in shock after catching strays on account of the Eagles’ performance. But Shady seemed unaware of his co-host’s inner turmoil as he continued to blast the Eagles for failing to tackle Jacksonville Jaguars running back Ameer Abdullah when it mattered most.
McCoy continued to rage against the team’s special teams unit and third string linebacker, Smael Mondon Jr. in particular.
“The third string running back, your job is not to go out there and score touchdowns. You know what your job is to do? Go. You play special teams. The number 3 linebacker, wherever you are. Your job isn’t to go out there and be trying to get sacks. Go out there and get tackles on special teams.”
The Eagles camp broke down in the final seconds of the game when head coach Nick Sirianni instructed kicker Jake Elliott to kick the ball inbounds. Cornerback Kelee Ringo and linebacker Arnold Ebiketie miscalculated the Jaguars RB’s route. Abdullah had managed to dodge them.
Smael Mondon Jr. dove for Abdullah’s legs, but failed to bring him down. Eagles kicker Jake Elliott also dove, but Abdullah jumped over him and continued to dash towards the Jaguars’ end zone. The RB was finally tackled by Eagles cornerback Jonathan Jones at the 39-yard line, setting up a field goal for kicker Cam Little.
Up until that kickoff, the Eagles had a narrow 17-16 lead in the game. Had this been a routine touchback, things could have been different.
“It was crazy, but it’s really believable when you think about how much we go over in situational football,” Abdullah told Action Sports Jax. “We knew we were in a situation where if we could just get Cam Little close, he’s done miraculous things before, and we were lucky they gave us the kick that we wanted.
“Surprised they didn’t put it on the ground and create some disarray.”
Little needed no further telling. This is the same kicker who holds the record for the longest field goal made during a season, a 68-yarder. He kicked this one for the Jags for 57 yards.
As expected, Sirianni took the blame for the call.
“Our guys fought their b—- today,” he said after the game. “… [Special teams] made the right decision, and I lost us that game. And that’s what I said to our guys. What hurts there is that the guys fought so hard and I don’t make the decision that I should make at the end of the game, and I cost us that win. I put that fully on me.”
It is a tough loss, considering the Eagles had already lost two games before this one.
Acho took McCoy’s comments like a sport. He also called out the Eagles out on the two areas where they went wrong.
“Two things are true,” Acho said on Speakeasy. “Nick Sirianni made an absolutely idiotic decision to not the kick the ball above the back of the endzone, and you gotta make a tackle.”
Acho also brought up the glaring fact that Jacksonville special teams had already shown what they could do on the very first play of the game. On the opening kickoff, Elliot kicked 55 yards to the Jaguars’ 10, caught by rookie Jaguars WR Josh Cameron. And he blasted off for a 90-yard kick return touchdown. It was nullified because of penalties.
But that should have put Sirianni on notice. Perhaps in the next matchup, the special teams will be more alert.