Iggles Blitz

by Tommy Lawlor

Punting is Okay

Posted July 2nd, 2026 | No Comments »

Nick Sirianni caught some flak for a comment he made earlier this month in a press conference. He used an old coaching axiom that is cheesy, but does have some wisdom behind it.

BLG and Jimmy Bama didn’t like the comment. I had no issue with it. Sirianni isn’t saying he wants to punt. Go score a TD. If you can’t do that, kick a FG. If you can’t do that you have three options…a turnover, turnover on downs or punt. Coaches don’t want to turn the ball over so they want the offense to know that punting is okay. Not preferred, obviously, but it is acceptable.

Coaches have been obsessed with avoiding turnovers since football began. Legendary coach John Heisman has the greatest quote on the subject.

“Gentlemen, it is better to have died as a small boy than to fumble this football.”

Turnovers can be game-changers. You want to avoid them as much as possible. That doesn’t mean you don’t take any risks, but you need good situational awareness. If you’re losing in the fourth quarter, you should be more willing to take chances. If you’re winning, protect the ball. Simple stuff.

Think back to Super Bowl LIX. The Eagles were up 17-0 with 1:49 left in the half. KC was backed up deep in their own territory. They were desperate to get something going before the half, but were not in a favorable position. Mahomes didn’t handle that well.

The Eagles scored a TD after that. Game over. If Mahomes does a better job of protecting the ball, KC might have gone into the half down 17-0, which would have felt worlds different than 24-0. I still don’t think it would have changed the outcome because of how well the Eagles played, but gifting the Eagles that turnover basically ended the game. Punting would have been better than the pick.

Modern football is about taking chances on favorable fourth downs and trying to extend possessions. That doesn’t mean that punting has no value. We used to talk about flipping the field (pinning your opponent deeper in their own territory) and then going to play good defense to try and get the ball back. There is still value in punting and playing defense when needed. If you do that too much, you give the opponent an advantage. It pays to be aggressive these days, but you can’t do that on every possession.

Sirianni saying he wants every drive to end in a kick might seem overly simplistic to you, but remember that that message is primarily for his players. Football players. Not astronauts. You want messaging to be simple and memorable for them. I always thought Chip Kelly did a great job of communicating certain ideas to his players. He taught QBs they should have three thoughts when scrambling.

1 – Touchdown
2 – First down
3 – Get down

Simple, but memorable. He also talked about fumbles as city vs country. A city fumble was one that was in traffic. He taught players to jump on the ball and focus on getting possession. Country fumbles were the ones out in space. Players should try to pick those up and advance them. Simple, but memorable. Good messaging for players.

Sirianni wants his offense to score TDs just like we do. No one wants to punt. But it is the best option in some situations and Sirianni simply reminded his players of that.

*****

Yesterday’s Jaylen Brown trade led to a great Tweet.

I don’t know if the move will work, but I’m a big fan of it. The Sixers needed to take a chance. They got younger and better. Let’s hope the fit works on the court. Now there is talk of going after LeBron. That would be wild if they could pull that off. The Sixers won’t be boring this year.

*****

Having a good group of RBs is great…if you use them. Jimmy Bama pointed out how little Tank Bigsby got used last year and it surprised me.

However, during a four-game stretch from Weeks 7 to 11, Bigsby proved to be an effective runner in the offense, carrying 17 times for 156 yards in those games, for an average of 9.2 yards per carry.

Thereafter, the Eagles just… didn’t use him in meaningful games. He got 17 carries in garbage time in a blowout of the Raiders, and 16 carries in the Week 18 “resting starters” game against the Commanders. But in the five other games from Week 12 on, Bigsby only got 8 (!) carries, or 1.6 carries per game.

Wow. I knew they didn’t use him enough, but didn’t realize it was that little. Let’s hope Sean Mannion changes that. Bigsby had a great spring and has some real juice. This is a guy you want to get the ball to at least five times a game. Plus you keep wear ‘n tear off Saquon.

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