Fansided

Here’s what Nick Sirianni said about Brandon Graham’s hit on Taylor Heinicke

By Josh Hill

PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA - NOVEMBER 14: Taylor Heinicke #4 of the Washington Commanders reacts to a late hit by Haason Reddick #7 of the Philadelphia Eagles which was later ruled as unnecessary roughness penalty during the fourth quarter in the game at Lincoln Financial Field on November 14, 2022 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images)
PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA - NOVEMBER 14: Taylor Heinicke #4 of the Washington Commanders reacts to a late hit by Haason Reddick #7 of the Philadelphia Eagles which was later ruled as unnecessary roughness penalty during the fourth quarter in the game at Lincoln Financial Field on November 14, 2022 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images) /
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Head coach Nick Sirianni addressed the controversial Brandon Graham penalty that sealed the deal on Philadelphia’s first loss of the season. 

Philadelphia Eagles fans won’t be lamenting the fact that the team blew its undefeated season against a division rival on national television, it will be how the loss happened.

Despite turning the ball over more than it had all season — and thus creating a 10-point swing that ended up being the difference — Philadelphia’s loss will be defined by a mind numbingly bad penalty.

On what appeared to be a huge third-down stop with under two minutes left, Brandon Graham slammed into Taylor Heinicke after the quarterback had given himself up. Perhaps there was a bit of a sales job involved, but officials threw a flag for personal foul that awarded Washington 15-yards and essentially ended the game.

”I’ll take a look at it, but they have a tough job,” Sirianni said about the call. “That’s not at all what lost us the football game. I mean, shoot, that’s pretty simple that the three turnovers lost us the game.”

After the game, Sirianni spoke with the media and addressed the penalty. Rather than do what Twitter was urging him to do and go off on the officials, Sirianni took the high road and instead looked inward on why the Eagles blew it on Monday night.

He doesn’t totally skirt blaming the officials, but he also didn’t take the opportunity to blow up after what was an incredibly emotional and controversial way to end an undefeated season.

Graham also spoke about the penalty and similarly took the high road in placing the blame on himself and not the refs.

The Eagles season is far from over, despite how crushing this first loss was. Philly still holds the No. 1 seed in the NFC by way of a tiebreaker over Minnesota after beating the Vikings in Week 2. The margin for error may have shrunk significantly after Monday night, but Eagles fans would likely prefer the team laying a dud in Week 10 rather than doing it in January.

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