Philadelphia Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni defended going for two points late against the Washington Commanders with about 4:30 left in Saturday’s game.
Eagles running back Saquon Barkley ran the ball in for the conversion to put Philadelphia up 19 points. Philadelphia went on to win 29-18. The move sparked a huge brawl that resulted in Commanders defenders Javon Kinlaw and Quan Martin, and Eagles offensive lineman Tyler Steen being ejected from the game.
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Sirianni said he wasn’t running up the score – the decision was more about being comfortable being up 19 points instead of 18.
"We wanted to make sure we went up that way, just in case. That was what our math told us in that particular case," Sirianni said. "It’s a division game. It’s always back-and-forth. … That’s the team we played in the NFC championship game last year. I know how badly they wanted to beat us.
"I know how badly we wanted to beat them. We’ve always got to keep our cool in moments like that. But that’s NFC East football. … They’ve got tough guys. We’ve got tough guys."
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Commanders head coach Dan Quinn wasn’t pleased and noted the two teams meet again Jan. 4.
"If that’s how they want to get down, all good," Quinn said. "We’ll play them again in two weeks."
Commanders wide receiver Terry McLaurin said he understood why Sirianni decided to go for two.
"Eagles vs. Commanders, man. That’s how it goes. ... There’s a lot of history, obviously. They were beating us. They’re not going to throw in the towel. They’re not going to take it easy on us. They were going for 2 to bury us. As a team, it’s not like you’re going to tell them, ‘Don’t go for 2.’ We have to stop them," McLaurin said. "I don’t really take any bad blood from what they did, but you don’t want to see the game get out of hand and guys possibly getting hurt. It comes with this rivalry between us and them. I don’t think that will ever change, to be honest."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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