LONDON — Philadelphia linebacker Jeremiah Trotter Jr.’s ejection from Sunday’s 19-17 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars in London came 21 years after his father was also tossed from an NFL game.
Bryan Thomas Jr. of the Jaguars also was ejected after a scrum at midfield at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium that followed the opening kickoff.
Trotter’s father, Jeremiah Trotter, was tossed in 2005 with Philadelphia after a pre-game scuffle in a meeting with Atlanta.
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Jacksonville rookie Josh Cameron returned the kickoff 90 yards for a would-be touchdown, but it was called back because of offsetting penalties that included a hold by Branson Combs of the Jaguars.
Once officials got all the players separates, Trotter and Thomas were thrown out.
There was another wild scene on special teams to end the game, as the Jaguars pulled off an improbable victory on Cam Little’s 57-yard field goal as time expired.
The Eagles have lost three in a row and are 2-3 for the first time since 2021.
Jalen Hurts had led a late-game drive to set up Jake Elliott’s 48-yard field goal, giving the Eagles a 17-16 lead.
All they had to do was finish off the final 8 seconds. But the ensuing kickoff was kept inbounds and Ameer Abdullah returned it 53 yards, leaving 1 second on the clock.
Enough time for Little to send it through the uprights.
Eagles coach Nick Sirianni didn’t sugarcoat it.
“I didn’t make the right decision, and it cost us the game,” he said. “There’s no other way around it. There’s nothing really else to say about that. It’s just I didn’t do my job good enough in that situation.”
Sirianni fielded several questions about the fateful kickoff.
“There’s really nothing else to say. I didn’t make the decision — the right decision in that situation,” he said. “They returned it to where they returned it, and then they made a kick. You know, credit to them on that. Again, bad job by me.”
In some ways, Sunday’s game had seemed a tough task for the Eagles. They only arrived in London on Saturday and were undermanned.
They played without injured leading rusher Saquon Barkley and his backup, Tank Bigsby, who was placed on injured reserve this past week. They were also missing wide receiver DeVonta Smith and had a patchwork offensive line after the retirement of Lane Johnson and the trade of Cam Jurgens.
The Eagles rushed for only 22 yards but Hurts kept them in contention by spreading the ball around to multiple receivers and converting on 6 of 15 third down attempts — a week after going 0 for 12 on third down.
Hurts completed 21 of 40 passes for 220 yards and one touchdown. His 62-yard touchdown pass to Darius Cooper gave Philly a 14-7 lead in the second quarter.
But he also missed open receivers.
“We didn’t perform well enough. I didn’t perform well enough, and that obviously starts with me,” Hurts said. “I’ll be thinking about all the different things that ultimately I could have done. I always use them as learning lessons, so I think that’s what’s great. We’ve got to learn from it.”
Before Elliott’s go-ahead field goal, Hurts threw incomplete on first down from the Jacksonville 34, which stopped the clock.
Hurts was asked about the play and said “ it’s not my place.”
“I’m prepared as a quarterback to not worry about those things. I’m honoring the play call, honoring the things that are coming in the game,” he said.
“When I’m up at night, yeah, I think … should have I said something or should I have took a step back and said, wait,” he continued. “But ultimately, there’s a commitment to that and going out there and executing. So this was one where it did not work in our favor.”
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