Crossing Broad
Jake Elliott missed two field goals and an extra point on Thursday night in the 26-18 win against the Washington Commie Commanders.
Classic sports radio question today: “what’s your level of concern with the Eagles kicker?”
On one hand, the guy has been so clutch for so long, that if anyone has earned a free pass, a grace period, what have you, it’s Elliott. He’s hit clutch kick after clutch kick and played on the Super Bowl team. On the other hand, he’s 14 for 19 this year, which is about 73%, and he’s 0 for 4 from 50+. Coming into the 2024 season, he had hit 26 of 37 and was 15 for 17 from the same distance (88%) over the past three seasons.
Nick Sirianni was asked about it after the game:
Saw you go over K Jake Elliott when he was having struggles. What did you say to him?
NICK SIRIANNI: Jake has been so clutch his entire career and his entire time that I’ve been here, too. Just like I would say to somebody that fumbled or dropped a pass in a moment, ‘We believe in you. You’re going to have to make a kick to help us win this football game.’
He did to get us up 16 points and 8 points or whatever it was. We have so much faith in him and that’s what you do. You can really build connections through tough times, right? So obviously he was going through a tough time, but this team believes so much in Jake Elliott because of his track record and who he is and the teammate he is and the captain he is.
One of the theories being passed around on Friday morning is that Sirianni’s 4th down fuckery has caused Elliott to become erratic this year. There’s absolutely no way to prove it, but it’s based on the thought that Nick goes for it when he should kick, and kicks when he should go for it. There’s this flighty idea of karma because the head coach can’t seem to press the right buttons at the right time.
OR – maybe Sirianni senses that something’s off with Elliott, and that’s why we haven’t seen as much of him this year as we could have. Again – impossible to prove, but people will talk about it anyway.
Elliott has tried 19 kicks this year, after 32 attempts in 2023 and 23 attempts in 2022, so it’s not like he’s on pace for some low volume total. There have been a lot of entries into the opponent’s half of the field, and the red zone, which provides more opportunity for these “kick or go?” type-situations. And for what it’s worth, Elliott is 14 for 15 inside of 50, so it looks like the distance magic has worn off a bit while everything else is stable. Still, we’re talking about a guy who hit at a career-high 93.8% rate last season and...
