Mike Tomlin agrees with Nick Sirianni’s kickoff decision and thinks Jason Kelce should be biased in the broadcast booth
The former Steelers coach joined Jason and Travis Kelce on this week’s episode of “New Heights.”
If you’re still questioning what went wrong in the last eight seconds of the Eagles game on Sunday, Jason Kelce is right there with you.
With the Kansas City Chiefs coming off their bye week, the Eagles received all of the attention from Jason and his brother, Travis Kelce, on Wednesday’s episode of New Heights before Mike Tomlin joined as a guest to discuss the rest of the league.
Weighing factors
Jason made it clear he wasn’t going to make excuses for the Eagles following their 19-17 loss to the Jaguars in London, but he did offer some explanations. And unlike many Eagles fans, he’s still optimistic about the 2-3 Birds.
In addition to some dominant play on defense, the former Eagles center saw improvements from the offense against certain blitzes and on third down. Jason also noted that quarterback Jalen Hurts looked more comfortable throwing the ball.
All this came from a team, he noted, that was playing with a patchwork offensive line. The Eagles were down to their fourth-string center, their third-string center was playing left guard, and their rookie right tackle had to replace a franchise great on short notice. They also were without their top running back and top receiver. Still, Jason said, they were competitive and almost beat a tough Jacksonville team that he likes “a lot, despite what their fans may think after that broadcast.”
» READ MORE: The ‘concern is quite high’ and what else the national media is saying amid the Eagles’ three-game losing streak
Jason also wondered if the ending of a Week 3 game played a role in Nick Sirianni’s decision to kick off to Jaguars returner Ameer Abdullah rather than kicking it out of the back of the end zone, like the Cowboys did in their 34-31 loss to Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens. Jackson completed a 27-yard pass to set up a game-winning field goal as time expired. In that case, the opposite decision yielded the same result. Travis agreed that no matter what decision Sirianni made, “there’s so many different scenarios where there is still possibility of chance either way.”
Jason also looked to the future, which he believes is full of “better offensive football” for the Eagles — if they can return to full health.
“I know everybody wants to think that the world is falling right now and, yeah, the last three games have been atrocious in the endings of them, but I still think this team has a ton of talent on it,” Jason said. “Especially [when] you get DeVonta Smith back, Saquon Barkley back, the offensive line gets more reps together to continue to be better as a unit. I still think that this team could be really, really freaking good.”
Travis added that the Birds are “just a few snaps away from being 4-1,” but once they regain their momentum, “the Eagles have been known to go on a run like no other.”
Coaches supporting coaches
While Jason said he doesn’t always agree with Sirianni’s decisions, he feels like people are unnecessarily piling on the coach and harping on his decisions that didn’t pan out instead of focusing on the good decisions he’s regularly made during his tenure with the Eagles.
“People don’t remember when he goes for it on fourth down and it works out,” Jason said. “They don’t remember when he throws a slant in [a] four-minute drill and we get a first down. Those are the ones where it’s like, OK, that one worked out, and immediately you don’t remember. What you definitely remember are the ones where it works out negatively.”
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Tomlin, who coached the Steelers from 2007 to 2025, also was quick to defend Sirianni’s decision with what he called a “less popular opinion about the kickoff.” While he didn’t see the series of time-management decisions that led up to the Eagles’ go-ahead field goal with eight seconds left, Tomlin agreed with the ensuing decision to kick the ball in play. He said there are things in the NFL “that you cannot run from,” including being able to cover kicks and punts.
“You make decisions over the course of a 12-month calendar, how you fill out the back end of your roster,” Tomlin said. “The last running back in a helmet might not be the best running back available, the last tight end, safety, those guys are kick coverage people. … I think Nick said what he was supposed to say and absorb the responsibility of that, because as head coaches, man, that’s what we do, but I’m a firm believer in kicking and covering and not running from that.
“You can’t run from everything in the NFL, and you certainly can’t have hindsight [be] 20/20 because somebody busted a kick on you and saying, ‘Man, I should not have put the ball in play.’ No, there’s certain things that are nonnegotiable. I’m going to die on that hill, man. We’re going to be a kick-and-cover unit because that’s football.”
Broadcaster bias
During the episode, Jason made many references to how Jaguars fans aren’t happy with him after Sunday’s broadcast from London, where he was in the booth as an analyst. While Jason may be apologetic and trying to make it up to the people of Duval County, Fla., Tomlin feels differently.
» READ MORE: NFL considering flexing Eagles off NBC’s ‘Sunday Night Football’
Following 19 seasons with the Steelers, Tomlin was named a studio analyst for NBC’s Football Night in America, and he doesn’t care if that bias comes through.
“How could you be somewhere 19 years, man, and had really a personal stake in most of those guys being there and not care for them, not root for them, not be for them,” Tomlin said. “I’m not going to pretend that I’m not. I can’t do that. Certainly I got a job to do and I’m going to do it, but everybody knows where my heart is and where my support is, and I’m not apologizing for that.”
The Eagles are back from London, looking to leave the disappointment of a last-second defeat behind while choosing instead to focus on lessons they can learn from a third straight loss. And you know what? The Inquirer’s Jeff McLane actually thinks there were encouraging takeaways from the game, outcome aside. He and Mike Sielski discussed why the Eagles’ sky, despite being gray, isn’t falling just yet, and what the team can build on to if it hopes to reverse its fortunes during a key stretch of the schedule that begins Sunday. Listen here.
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