Wentz, Birds quickly turn attention to Green Bay

PHILADELPHIA >> Game-winning drops in back-to-back weeks.

A 100-yard kickoff the opposition returned for a score. Two sacks in three games from a defense that rarely went two games without double-digit sacks.

High rookie draft picks overwhelmed by the moment.

What more to say about this crazy 1-2 Eagles season where the next stop is Lambeau Field than, it is what it is?

That 27-24 loss Sunday to the Detroit Lions was so bad that head coach Doug Pederson doesn’t want the players to see it. Not with a crucial conference game Thursday against Green Bay at Lambeau Field.

“We won’t watch this game at all,” Pederson said. “We are getting ready for Green Bay right now. So, I haven’t really spent any time looking at it. … As coaches we have to prepare and get ready for Thursday night. I have to flip the script. Now we can come back when we get some time and watch this game and make corrections from that but at the same time, gosh, we have a game in a couple days, so we’re right on to Green Bay.”

Outside the organization the blame for the miserable start is everywhere beginning with quarterback Carson Wentz, who is oh-for the last two weeks in game-winning drives. Then there’s Pederson, whose game plans either work early or late, but rarely early and late, and defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz, who used to blow off the considerable yardage his defense gave up with lines like it’s about points allowed and wins. The Eagles are allowing too many points. And they have a two-game losing streak in this, the first month of the season.

The reality is somewhere between the extremes. Wentz would have had those triumphant drives if veteran Nelson Agholor and rookie JJ Arcega-Whiteside hadn’t butterfingered passes in the clear the past two games.

Pederson’s plans would pass muster minus those mistakes as well as fumbles by rookie running back Miles Sanders and Agholor.

Schwartz’s inability to generate a pass rush would be excused, too.

But you are what your record is, and that’s why there is concern.

Certainly, this is no time to panic, not with 13 games remaining. But the Eagles are digging themselves a possible playoff tiebreaker hole losing two of three conference games. And the schedule gets tougher.

The Eagles are in the super-challenging part of their season, as they play four of their next five games on the road.

The road trip from hell starts against the Pack, where the undefeated Packers have won five of the last six in the series, including a 53-20 romp over the Eagles in 2014.

The bright spot in the schedule is a home date with the New York Jets (03) after Green Bay.

The Eagles then play at Minnesota (2-1), Dallas (30) and Buffalo (3-0) before returning for a three-game homestand against Chicago (1-1), New England (30) and Seattle (2-1).

In essence, this season could go north or south a few weeks after the bye.

Hopefully the Eagles will welcome back injured receivers Alshon Jeffery and DeSean Jackson long before that. Maybe the Eagles could get some help from injured defensive tackle Tim Jernigan in a few weeks, although that seems a reach.

Jalen Ramsey might still be on the table. He’d instantly help any team.

Until then the Eagles need to get production out of the young players they kept around as inexpensive depth, the list topped by Sanders and Arcega-Whiteside.

Sanders fumbled twice against the Lions, with the Eagles recovering the first one. Beyond that he provided another glimpse of his immense upside hauling in a 40-yard pass and piling up 126 yards from scrimmage.

Arcega-Whiteside, on the other hand, is on the cusp of being compared to Agholor, whose on-again, off-again reputation is off again. That’s dangerous, dangerous territory.

Veteran Brandon Graham has been there, done that in an always entertaining career with the Eagles that began as a first-round draft pick in 2010. He has a suggestion the young guys should heed in the coming weeks.

“Don’t listen to the fans, don’t listen to nobody, what the media says,” Graham said. “Ain’t nobody played. Ain’t nobody know what we’re going through so just make sure that you stay together and lean on your teammates more than anything if you have an issue. I’m just throwing it out there because everybody is going to try to pick us apart. Like these guys aren’t getting sacks or this ain’t happening. Ain’t nobody knows nothing.

“For the rookies and all the young guys, just stay focused. Stay focused on the task at hand. At the end of the day our No. 1 goal is to win the NFC East and get in the postseason and go from there.”

Stay focused, stay together and don’t listen to anybody.

Sounds like a plan.