Peyton Manning and Matt Ryan were befuddled at the Philadelphia Eagles’ (1-1) decision to throw on third-and-3 at the Atlanta Falcons’ (1-1) 10-yard line while leading 18-15 with 1:46 remaining in the Week 2 Monday Night Football matchup.

Alongside Eli Manning on the “ManningCast,” Peyton Manning and Ryan warned head coach Nick Sirianni not to throw a pass in that situation. The alternative, of course, was running the ball and continuing to chew clock as the Falcons did not have any remaining timeouts.

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“This ball shouldn’t go in the air the rest of the game,” Ryan said.

“The push is coming. You can’t throw it here,” Manning added.

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Sirianni and the Eagles went against their suggestion. To Philadelphia’s credit, the play they schemed up saw running back Saquon Barkley wide open in the flat. Quarterback Jalen Hurts delivered the ball in the perfect spot, but Barkley was unable to reel it in. The clock stopped and Philadelphia had to kick a field goal to go up by six with 1:39 to go.

Manning couldn’t believe his eyes, immediately popping up out of his chair in disbelief.

“That’s why you don’t throw,” Manning said. “Kirk Cousins is over there celebrating. As soon as he saw him drop back, he said, ‘Yes!’”

Eagles’ Saquon Barkley drops would be game clincher against Falcons

1:39 proved to be too much time, as Cousins orchestrated a six-play, 70-yard scoring drive, capping it off with a seven-yard touchdown strike to receiver Drake London. Atlanta did leave 34 seconds on the clock for Philadelphia to go down the field and win the game. But on the second play of Philadelphia’s possession, Atlanta’s defense made the game-winning play. Pro Bowl safety Jessie Bates intercepted Hurts with 27 seconds remaining to give the Falcons a 22-21 victory.

Barkley took responsibility after the game, saying he let his team down.

“I let my team down today,” Barkley said after the game. “I shouldn’t have put the defense in that position. If I make the catch, the game is over.”

Sirianni explained the decision to throw the ball on third-and-3.

“They were running a certain defense and were junking it up in the middle, so we were trying to go around on the outside and it didn’t work,” Sirianni said. “[On] fourth-and-3… with them not having any timeouts, I wanted them to be down a touchdown and see if they could drive the field, and they did. Hats off to them.”

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