Lackluster effort drops Birds to 1-2 with unbeaten Packers coming up on Thursday
PHILADELPHIA – Once again, the Philadelphia Eagles had to battle from behind in their house against a supposedly inferior team on Sunday.
This time, they couldn’t find a way to pull it out and dropped a lackluster 27-24 decision to the Detroit Lions with a game looming against the Green Bay Packers on the road on Thursday.
Here are some thoughts about how it all went down and what it means now for a team that’s 1-2 and fading fast.
Why didn’t they punt? Down by three with 2:25 to play, all three timeouts remaining and another guaranteed clock stoppage with the two-minute warning, Eagles coach Doug Pederson elected to keep his offense on the field on fourth-and-eight from their 22-yard line.
With nobody open, quarterback Carson Wentz made a run for it, was stopped two yards short, and the Lions took over in field goal range.
Jenkins giveth, Jenkins taketh away: As it turned out, the Eagles would get another chance anyway when Malcolm Jenkins broke through an opening on the line and blocked a 46-yard field-goal attempt with just under two minutes remaining.
But Jenkins was flagged for an illegal block during a return by Rasul Douglas to the Lions 23 — well within field-goal range of Jake Elliott. Because the penalty happened on the Lions 40, it meant the Eagles would start their series at midfield instead.
They still couldn’t get a first down, and Wentz’s fourth-down toss to J.J. Arcega-Whiteside down near the goal line was dropped to essentially end the game.
“I’ve got to see the tape,” Jenkins said.
“You’re just trying to get a block, trying to get the ball down the field and score if we can. I didn’t even know they called a block in the back until I saw the offense line up at the 50.”
Agholor regression: Don’t look now, but wide receiver Nelson Agholor is quietly on a descent back to his 2015-2016 form, and that thought can’t be comforting, especially to a team that was without two starting receivers coming in and might not have top man DeSean Jackson for weeks to come.
One week after he had two crucial drops at Atlanta, Agholor fumbled away a reception near the end of the first half Sunday, setting up a field goal for Detriot. The Lions took a 20-10 lead and some extra momentum into halftime.
Though he did redeem himself in the third quarter by bouncing off heavy contact and turning a short pass into a 20-yard TD reception, the damage from the first half and the week before still couldn’t be undone.
Without Jackson and Alshon Jeffery, this was the perfect time for Agholor to step up and make a statement that he at least deserves big money from some other team when his contract expires at the end of this season. Instead, he delivered an uneven performance for a second straight week. He offered no excuses.
“You can’t make no excuses,” he said. “… We are supposed to make plays. This hurts. It really does because we love this game, we try really hard, we practice hard and there are no excuses. We have to make plays.
“The plays that you messed up on could have been the plays that determined an opportunity to win. In my mind, I am trying to eliminate bad plays. I think good plays are going to come. I think I am gifted, I am coached well, and I am put in great positions. But in terms of making mistakes, it can’t happen especially with me being a veteran in the group.”
Injuries: The Eagles’ injury situation went from bad to worse in the first half when starting left tackle Jason Peters (illness) went out and then his replacement, rookie Andre Dillard, followed him to the sideline with a knee injury.
Halapoulivaati Vaitai came in for Dillard to finish out the half, but Peters was back in to start the third quarter.
The Eagles also lost defensive end Derek Barnett to an ankle injury. Fortunately for them, they had an extra defensive end (Daeshon Hall) dressed because they were short at defensive tackle.
Barnett was able to return in the second half as well.
Eye Check: We see examples of egregious calls and missed calls by NFL officials across the league every week. Sunday’s game in Philly featured at least two calls that could not be explained.
In the second quarter, Eagles kickoff returner Miles Sanders had his helmet — and nearly his head — ripped off by a clearly illegal clothesline tackle in which his facemask was grabbed and twisted 180 degrees.
No call.
Earlier, Hollins was called for a bogus offensive pass interference penalty that should have been called on the defender for having both arms wrapped around him while the ball was in the air. Hollins just gave him an armbar to break free.
Bad call.
But hey, we’ve seen worse. Much worse.
Every. Single. Week.
Substitution, Mass Confusion: Lyrics of The Cars’ “Bye Bye Love” come to mind on a 44-yard reverse that led to a Lions field goal in the second quarter. The Lions said the Eagles had only 10 men on the field for that play.
“I’m really supposed to seal the end on that play,” said Lions quarterback Matt Stafford, who threw a key block. “We only had 10 [defenders] because there was no end over there, so I just kept moving and found the next guy. I’m sure he’s been hit a lot harder than that, but I tried to get in the way.”
Unreal.
Special teams: All the Eagles injuries affect special teams the most, and that likely came into play on the 100-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by the Lions’ Jamal Agnew.
More on this later in the week.
Peeking ahead: The Eagles (1-2) visit the unbeaten Green Bay Packers (3-0) Thursday night. The Packers are coming off a 27-16 win at home over Denver.