Patchwork offense scores four TDs against best defense, thanks to Wentz, Pederson

PHILADELPHIA — In some ways, the coach-quarterback relationship was never stronger than on a day when the Eagles could convert only three of 13 times on third down and one of three times on fourth, and the quarterback was hit 16 times in a 30-28 loss to the Baltimore Ravens.

Because points are the only thing that matter, and the Eagles scored 28 against the league’s top-ranked scoring defense with Doug Pederson calling the plays and Carson Wentz making the throws and the reads. Wentz led a fourth-quarter comeback that fell short when, alas, Pederson proved he wasn’t perfect: calling for an ill-advised, read-option play that was botched because the Ravens saw it coming from a mile away.

More on that in a minute.

But for now, ladies and gentlemen, since you’re already thoroughly familiar with Wentz, meet the rest of the Philadelphia Eagles offense he was working with by game’s end:

At running back: Boston Scott and Corey Clement.

At wide receiver: Travis Fulgham, Greg Ward, John Hightower, J.J. Arcega-Whiteside and Quez Watkins.

At tight end: Richard Rodgers and some guy named Jason Croom.

At offensive line: Jordan Mailata, Nate Herbig, Jason Kelce, Jamon

Brown and Brett Toth.

The Eagles regret that the following injured players could not be made available for photos today: Starting running back Miles Sanders; top two tight ends Zach Ertz and Dallas Goedert; starting left tackle Andre Dillard and his replacement, Jason Peters; starting left guard Isaac Seumalo; starting right guard Brandon Brooks; starting right tackle Lane Johnson and his replacement, Jack Driscoll; and starting wide receivers DeSean Jackson, Alshon Jeffery and Jalen Reagor.

Oh, and let’s not forget wide receiver Marquise Goodwin, who opted out of this COVID-19-marred season before it began.

So without all those top-of-the

ter players, Pederson and Wentz turned to the bottom of their roster and nearly pulled one out. And they did it with a one-dimensional passing attack they were forced to go to after falling behind 24-6 in the third quarter and 30-14 midway through the fourth.

The Eagles ran 29 plays in the fourth quarter. Only three running plays were called, going for a total of 1 yard.

But Wentz was magnificent in taking what was given and sometimes what wasn’t. Under siege all day — he was sacked six times — he scrambled for 40 yards to set up one TD, which he delivered by hitting Fulgham with an 18-yard pass on fourthand-9, then hitting Arcega-Whiteside for the two-point conversion to cut the lead to eight.

When Fulgham drew a 49-yard pass-interference penalty on the next series, Wentz quickly finished off that drive with a 1-yard sneak.

The two-point conversion, however, was an awful call followed by awful execution and seemed doomed from the start because of a rush to get it off before the play clock expired.

From the shotgun, Wentz first stuffed the ball into the tummy of tiny Scott on a read option, but immediately saw that wasn’t the way to go, so he tried to pull it out. Problem was, Scott wouldn’t let go, and so both players plowed forward on the broken play into the arms of unblocked linebackers L.J. Fort and Matthew Judon at the line of scrimmage.

Not sure who the Eagles were trying to fool there, but the Ravens played it like they knew it was coming since Wednesday.

After the ensuing onside kick failed with less than two minutes to go, it was game over.

“We had a scouted look there that we felt confident in,” Wentz said, “and they made a good play. ... It was frustrating to come up short like that but hat’s off to them.”

Added Pederson: “I can do better as far as getting the play in and giving our guys a better opportunity play-call-wise in that situation. But credit them; made the stop and just a little bit short. ... My decision to go with the play call, so that’s on me. Like I said, I can put our team in a better situation.”

Pederson definitely failed his troops there. But with the personnel they had available after starting severely shorthanded and then losing Sanders, Ertz and Driscoll during the game, the Eagles had no business finding the end zone four times without the benefit of a takeaway and having a chance to pull it out at the end.

That they did is a tribute to their culture. Lesser teams under lesser coaches would be in total disarray by now.

See the Jets, New York.

But not the Eagles.

“I can stand here and I’m proud of those guys in the locker room,” Pederson told reporters. “And I know they are going to get beat down this week [by critical commentary], and that’s your job. But my job is to encourage them and say, ‘hey, you know’ — and I get it, there are no moral victories in the NFL. There are no moral victories at all and we are all graded on wins and losses. But for this team to hang together on the sideline, to not point fingers, to battle, to be in this position with all the mistakes that were made in the first half, really offensively and then we missed the ... field goal at the end of the half, those are the differences in games. Those are things that we’re going to learn from and we’re going to get better from.

“So I’m proud of the guys for the way they battled today,” he said.

The Ravens had given up more than 28 points just once this season — in a 34-20 loss to Kansas City. Their other games were all wins, 38-6, 33-16, 31-17 and 27-3. The Eagles, now 1-4-1 on the season, nearly scored as many as all the other Ravens victims combined.

So put the torches down, please. Now is not the time to fire Doug Pederson.