The Eagles have the NFL’s best record, and coach Nick Sirianni has taken his team to the top of the NFL by getting a big edge over the opposition on fourth downs.
Philadelphia has gone for it on fourth down 25 times this season, which is the sixth-most in the NFL, but more importantly, the Eagles have picked up the first down on 19 of those attempts, which is the most in the NFL.
Fourth-down conversions have become much more common around the NFL, thanks to the growing use of analytics, but no team is doing fourth downs better than the Eagles. Often it’s losing teams that go for it the most on fourth downs because they’re playing from behind late in games so frequently, but the Eagles will go for it on fourth down early in games, and when ahead, as well. On Sunday, Jalen Hurts hit DeVonta Smith for a 41-yard touchdown pass on fourth-and-7 in the second quarter, with the Eagles up 7-0 at the time. For most coaches, that’s a punting situation. Sirianni dialed up a touchdown pass.
The NFL’s big movement toward more aggressiveness on fourth downs began in 2017, when an Eagles team coached by Doug Pederson led the NFL in fourth down conversions, with 17, and ended up winning the Super Bowl. This year’s Eagles team already has more successful fourth down conversions than that Eagles team had, with four games left in the season.
