Will Sirianni be more aggressive on 4th down this year?

Did it drive you crazy seeing the Broncos attempt a 64-yard field goal instead of going for it on 4th-and-5 against the Seahawks?

Don’t worry.

Nick Sirianni isn’t wired that way.

Sirianni has shown he’ll be aggressive on fourth down and maybe not quite as aggressive as Doug Pederson was in the Super Bowl season, but Sirianni — even with a strong-legged Pro Bowl kicker like Jake Elliott — is a firm believer in erring on the side of aggressiveness when it comes to making fourth-down decisions.

And he said Saturday now in Year 2 as a head coach he has a better feel for when to go for it and when to play it safe.

“I thought we were pretty aggressive last season, too,” he said. “I do a lot of studying with that. I think if you go in there and try to make the decisions based off what the chart says (during a game) then I think that you're making a mistake. 

“If you're like, ‘OK, I haven't ordered these third downs yet and I'm going to call this one?’ You have to think about these things beforehand.

“Where I'm more comfortable is I've had more reps with it. And not just our game reps, but the ones I spend on Fridays in the meeting room of, ‘OK, it's 4^th-down-and-4 in this scenario, what are we doing?’ Boom. ‘What are we calling? Boom.’ OK.

"Go to the next fourth down. ‘All right, what are we doing? What are we calling?’ 

“That's just the only way I know how to prep, is to put yourself in that call before you have to make it.”

The Eagles converted two of three fourth downs in their opening-day win over the Lions Sunday, and the only teams who went for it more in Week 1 were the Cowboys, Jets, Chargers and Cards, and all but the Chargers were down by at least 15 points for much of the second half.

For Sirianni, going for it on fourth down isn’t a move of desperation, it’s a move of trust.

He believes it’s important that his players know he trusts them, and what better way than leaving the offense on the field on fourth down?

“I just think that with everything that Sirianni preaches and coaches here and he practices it and I think that’s why he does it,” Jordan Mailata said after practice Saturday. 

“He trusts us because we’ve built those relationships. We understand. We hold each other to a high football IQ, to have a high standard of accountability, so when we do get put in those situations and scenarios, he’s able to trust us because of that standard that we’ve set.”

In Detroit, the first fourth-down attempt was more of a show of faith in the defense, which had just allowed a 50-yard run to set up an early touchdown. The Eagles went for it on their next drive on a 4th-and-5 on the Lions’ 40-yard line but didn’t convert, and the defense held Detroit to a 3-and-out.

The Eagles converted both their fourth-down attempts after halftime, and both were Jalen Hurts sneaks — the first on a 4th-and-goal from the 1 for a touchdown early in the second quarter and the second on a 4th-and-1 to seal the win.

If that play fails, the Lions have 66 seconds left, a short field and all the momentum in the world.

During Pederson’s five years here, the Eagles went for it on fourth down 135 times — 22 times more than any other team. 

Last year, the Eagles were 11 for 24 on third down, both middle of the pack. But three attempts Sunday — in particular the one at the end of the game — could be an early sign that Sirianni will be more aggressive this year than last year.

“I'm comfortable because for the past year we've been putting ourselves in those calls,” he said Saturday. “Not only in games, but also as many as happened in the league each and every week to practice … what the call would be and then what the decision is going to be.”

An underrated aspect of what a team does on fourth down is what it does on third down. If you’ve already decided you’re in four-down territory, but the defense doesn’t know that, it really gives a coach some flexibility on third down.

“That's a huge advantage that an offense has — we know the mode we're in, they don't know what mode we're in, and a lot of different things can be alive,” he said.

“That's what you're trying to do always as an offensive coach. Trying to make yourself multiple so they have to defend a bunch of different things.”

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