Spread the blame all around for this loss

On offense, the Eagles couldn’t hold on to the ball.

On defense, the Eagles couldn’t pressure the QB and couldn’t cover in key moments.

On special teams, the Eagles gave up a kick return for a TD. “Listen, there’s enough [blame] to go around in this football game,” coach Doug Pederson said. “Offense. Untimely penalties. Fumbles. Drive killers on offense that kept us from scoring. Kickoff return for a touchdown. Defense not getting off the field on third down — key third downs. There’s enough to go around — you just can’t put your finger at one thing.”

No, you can’t. But here are five things that stood out from Sunday’s 27-24 loss to the Lions.

1. Agnew’s TD: The Eagles scored in the first quarter for a change as Jake Elliott hit a 25-yarder to cap a nine-play, 69-yard drive.

Then on the ensuing kickoff, something looked off from the start, and Jamal Agnew sailed 100 yards for a TD. Agnew had an abundance of running room, safety Rudy Ford had the best shot at him but whiffed badly, and the Eagles trailed 7-3.

“It just appeared like we got stuck on blocks on the back side, and the ball bounced outside, which can’t happen,” Pederson said.

Per NBC Sports Philadelphia’s Reuben Frank, the return matched the second-longest kickoff return ever against the Eagles. The Cowboys’ Reggie Swinton had a 100-yarder against the Eagles in 2002, and the Broncos’ Trindon Holliday had a 105-yarder in 2013.

2. Second-quarter turnovers: Ball security was one of the knocks on Miles Sanders coming out of Penn State, and late in the second quarter he fumbled twice on one drive. Isaac Seumalo recovered the first — Sanders was stripped while on his feet — but the Lions recovered the second. The ball was punched out just before Sanders was down.

The Eagles held the Lions to a field goal, and things didn’t get any better for Sanders on the ensuing kickoff. Doug Pederson stuck with the rookie, who held onto the ball but lost his helmet, as safety Miles Killebrew grabbed the face mask and ripped it off — yet somehow the none of the officials saw it. No penalty.

Pederson didn’t elaborate on the missed call but did explain why he didn’t yank Sanders.

“We just told him we have a lot of confidence in him, still have a lot of trust in him and kept him out there,” Pederson said. “That’s the only way to have trust and confidence in a player — keep him out there and keep playing.”

Late in the quarter, Nelson Agholor, who earlier in the game dropped a sure first-down catch, caught a pass, pivoted and dropped the ball. It was enough of a football move to be ruled a fumble.

“They made the right call,” Agholor said. “It slipped out of my hands when I was trying to move upfield.”

The Eagles held the Lions to a pair of field goals on both and trailed 20-10 at halftime.

3. Woah Nelly: Think Agholor was reverting to his paddlehanded form?

Nah.

Midway through the third, on third-and-five, Agholor took a 2-yard pass and bounced off a pair of Lions for a 20-yard touchdown to get the Eagles within 20-17.

Agholor finished with eight catches for 50 yards and two scores — his second came minutes after Dallas Goedert dropped an easy touchdown. The Eagles had several dropped balls — the exact number (between five and 10?) depends on your definition — but regardless, it was simply too many.

Asked to explain the drops, Pederson said “drops can be a number of things,” including lack of focus and not being strong to the ball, but said, “today it was probably more on the focus part of it.”Sure, they missed Alshon Jeffery (calf ) and DeSean Jackson (abdomen), but dropping the ball is dropping the ball.

“Can’t make no excuses,” Agholor said. “We had opportunities on balls. We’re supposed to make plays. The … hurts, it really does.”

4. Stafford slings one: Third-and-four on the ensuing drive. The Linc was rocking.

The Eagles blitzed Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford, who stayed poised and slung one like a shortstop to Marvin Jones for a 27-yard completion.

It was the key play in a nine-play, 75-yard drive that ended when Jones beat Sidney Jones to the corner of the end zone for a 12-yard score, and the Lions again led by 10.

5. Miracle erased: The Eagles, aided by a pair of Detroit penalties — including a roughing the passer on third down — got within 27-24 on Agholor’s second TD.

With 1:53 left, it looked like the Eagles were on their way to a miraculous win.

Malcolm Jenkins blocked Matt Prater’s 46-yard field goal to give the Linc life and set the Eagles up at midfield. They would have been on the Lions’ 40, but a block in the back called on Jenkins during Rasul Douglas’ return moved them back 10 yards.

All they needed was a field goal, but they couldn’t even get close enough for Elliott to try a 61-yarder.

On fourth-and-15, J.J. Arcega-Whiteside, with a Lions hand in his way, couldn’t hang on to what was a contested but catchable ball inside the 5.

A fitting way to end a day where the Eagles simply dropped the ball.

“Our special teams gets a big play like that with a blocked field goal … we gotta capitalize on that,” Agholor said.

Twice the Eagles had a chance to drive for the game-tying field goal or game-winning TD, and twice they failed. In those final two drives, they netted minus-5 yards.

“There were a lot of things going on within those plays and no-huddle communicating,” Carson Wentz said. “It was super frustrating to have a shot like that and come up short.”