The Times Herald (Norristown, PA)
Siranni calls comeback win ‘a great character builder’
The Eagles checked some important boxes in their 17-16 road victory over the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday.
For the first time this season, the Eagles prevailed despite trailing at halftime. That sweetened the victory for coach Nick Sirianni, who wanted to drop a loss on the Colts for firing head coach Frank Reich, his mentor and good friend.
“Any time you get a win on the road where you’ve got to scratch, claw and fight it’s a great character builder for your team,” Sirianni said Monday. “Any time you’ve got your backs to the wall, and you’ve got to fight out of it, that’s a great character builder for your team. You’ve been in all these different spots … down early, down late, up big. You feel like you’ve been there before.”
The Eagles trailed from the first possession, Matt Ryan, running back Jonathan Taylor and the Colts ramming the ball down their throats to grab a 7-0 lead. They were still behind until Jalen Hurts tallied on a eightyard quarterback draw by Jalen Hurts and a PAT by Jake Elliott with 1:20 left.
The defense dug in and stopped the Colts on the ensuing possession that ended at the 33-yard line of the Colts.
Two weeks ago, the Eagles (9-1) trailed at intermission. They were behind entering the final frame and gave up a touchdown at the final whistle in a 32-21 loss to the Washington Commanders.
In Week 5 the Eagles won on a Cameron Dicker field goal at Arizona with 1:45 to go when the Cardinals’ Matt Amendola missed a 43-yard field goal attempt.
Against the Colts, the first game the Eagles had to figure out how to play without multi-talented tight end Dallas Goedert, out at least three more games with a shoulder injury, they checked the fourth quarter comeback box. That wasn’t at all easy as the Eagles won by overcoming a double-digit deficit entering the fourth quarter for the first time since DeSean Jackson returned a punt for a TD against the New York Giants at the Meadowlands in 2010.
“Mindset is such an important part of this,” Sirianni said. “We’ve been in all these scenarios. We know how to win in all these scenarios. I think for a little bit we were up two scores in every game we played prior to the last game. I think when you have to win like that and it’s got to be grimy and gritty, I think that’s kind of who we are.”
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Two games ago, Quez Watkins and Brandon Graham were the goats. And not in the Tom Brady sense.
Watkins fumbled after a 51-yard reception and Graham was flagged for roughing the passer after Taylor Heinicke took a knee late in the game, all of it figuring in a 32-21 loss to the Commanders.
On Sunday Watkins caught his second scoring pass of the season, a career-high for him, to get the Eagles within 16-10 of the Colts. And Graham, after Jalen Hurts ran for what proved to be the winning score, sacked Matt Ryan of the Colts to set up a fourthand-forever the veteran couldn’t convert.
“It was so sweet,” Sirianni said. “It’s like life, right? You get to move on and play the next play no matter what. All you can control is that next play. So, whether you made a great play or made a bad play or whatever it is, all you can control is the next one. To see what those guys were able to do and come in there and make plays speaks to who they are as people, who they are as players, that they’re truly in the moment. Both those
guys truly in the moment.”
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NOTES >> Three teams bounced back from deficits of 10 or more points to win Sunday, the others being the Atlanta Falcons and Las Vegas Raiders. There have been 35 such comebacks to win or tie this season, the most through the first 11 weeks of a season according to league figures. … The Eagles are 9-1 for the first time since 2017, when they won 10 of their first 11 games and went on to win Super Bowl LII. … With two TDs Sunday, Hurts has accounted for two or more scores in six straight games, the longest streak of his career. Only Joe Burrow (eight) and Patrick Mahomes (seven) have longer such streaks. … Haason Reddick took the team lead with a sack Sunday giving him 7.5 on the season. … Eagles safety Chauncey Gardner-Johnson still leads the league with six interceptions. … Brandon Graham’s sack of Matt Ryan, wrecking the Colts’ comeback bid Sunday brings him to 63.0 in his career, fourth in franchise history. … With his 169th game played Sunday, Eagles center Jason Kelce tied the late Chuck Bednarik (1949-62) for the most games played by an offensive lineman in club history. Kelce’s streak of 132 straight starts is the longest active among NFL pivots.