House
10-05-2008, 09:59 PM
Eagles crumble in loss to Skins
By Bob Brookover
INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
Now the Eagles are standing on a fault line.
There is no way of knowing if the earth is going to open beneath them and swallow them whole or if they'll still have some nice beachfront property three months from now in their posh NFC East community.
All that's known for sure is that they are the team in their talent-rich division with the least margin for error with 12 weeks remaining on the NFL's regular-season calendar.
The Eagles placed themselves in this precarious position today by squandering an early two-touchdown lead on their way to a 23-17 loss to the surging Washington Redskins at Lincoln Financial Field.
A second straight loss left the last-place Eagles at 2-3 in a division in which the other three teams - the Redskins, New York Giants and Dallas Cowboys - are a combined 12-2.
"It was going to be a tough fight anyway," veteran Eagles safety Brian Dawkins said. "But we definitely didn't help ourselves out today by allowing the Redskins to do what they did – controlling the ball and controlling the clock and winning this game. We didn't help ourselves out."
All the things you might have thought about the Eagles just two weeks ago after they beat up the Pittsburgh Steelers are now open for debate.
The offense that was so explosive in a win over St. Louis and a loss at Dallas got running back Brian Westbrook back today, but it didn't look any more explosive and wasn't any more effective at picking up one lousy yard near the goal line in the fourth quarter.
The defense, ranked first against the run and third overall coming into the game, was carved up for 203 rushing yards by the Redskins. Clinton Portis (29 carries for 145 yards) did the bulk of the damage.
Special teams provided an early punt return for a touchdown by rookie DeSean Jackson but also allowed the momentum to swing back to the Redskins late in the first quarter when David Akers missed another long field goal.
Afterward, Andy Reid spoke in that language only he seems to truly understand or at least appreciate.
"Obviously, Washington played a better football game than we did," the Eagles' coach said. "I'll tell you that it's my responsibility that we play better. That's absolutely my responsibility. I have to get guys in better positions to make plays and when they're in those positions, we have to make sure that the plays get made."
Quarterback Donovan McNabb was clearly disturbed by the defeat, which saw the offense get just five first downs and three points after the opening quarter.
"I was embarrassed these last two weeks," McNabb said. "I mean, we lost to two teams we shouldn't have lost to. When you make mistakes and you don't capitalize on opportunities, things like this happen.
"Not taking anything away from them, but there is no way that team is better than us. The same went for last week and then you find yourself here wondering why. It's what we didn't do. Not what they did, but what we didn't do."
The list of things the Eagles didn't do was long.
From the end of the first quarter until their final offensive possession, the offense was in hibernation. And when the Eagles finally got things going with a 12-play, 86-yard drive in the final quarter, the result - a 23-yard field goal by Akers - was still disappointing.
The Eagles had a second-and-1 situation from the 2-yard line with just over nine minutes left in the game. After Westbrook failed to pick up any yardage on second down, confusion ensued on third down.
McNabb started to signal for a time-out because he thought the play clock was going to expire. Alerted that the play clock had been reset to 15 seconds, the quarterback called an audible at the line of scrimmage.
Westbrook said he thought the original play could have worked, but he didn't dismiss McNabb's audible as a bad play call.
"I think when the play came in, there was a little miscommunication," Westbrook said. "We didn't execute the play very well."
That much was obvious. Westbrook was stopped for a 3-yard loss by defensive end Andre Carter and the field-goal unit was sent onto the field. Akers' kick made it 23-17, leaving the game in the hands of the Eagles' defense.
More than seven minutes remained and the Eagles had two time-outs and the two-minute warning on their side, but the defense could not give the malfunctioning offense one more chance to win the game.
Redskins quarterback Jason Campbell converted a third-and-4 chance with an 11-yard pass to Antwaan Randle El, then scrambled for 15 yards on a third-and-9 play.
Faced with a fourth and 1 from the Eagles' 38, Redskins rookie coach Jim Zorn gambled and went for it. Portis rewarded him with a 3-yard run that allowed Washington to run out the clock and celebrate its fourth straight win since an opening-night defeat to the unbeaten New York Giants.
"We had the right defense on fourth down," defensive coordinator Jim Johnson said. "We had an eight-man front and two backers blitzing, but [Portis] just kind of bowled us over."
That was just the final failure for the Eagles' defense, which surrendered a season-high 388 yards and 22 first downs while also allowing the Redskins to convert 11 of 19 third downs.
"We can't get in a hole in this division because there are so many talented teams, once you start to slide downhill, it's a mudslide after that and you get covered up," wide receiver Reggie Brown said.
Next stop is San Francisco, an appropriate location for a team standing on a fault line.
"I think it's very important that we get a win next week." Brown said. "I think everybody knows that we need to get a win."
By Bob Brookover
INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
Now the Eagles are standing on a fault line.
There is no way of knowing if the earth is going to open beneath them and swallow them whole or if they'll still have some nice beachfront property three months from now in their posh NFC East community.
All that's known for sure is that they are the team in their talent-rich division with the least margin for error with 12 weeks remaining on the NFL's regular-season calendar.
The Eagles placed themselves in this precarious position today by squandering an early two-touchdown lead on their way to a 23-17 loss to the surging Washington Redskins at Lincoln Financial Field.
A second straight loss left the last-place Eagles at 2-3 in a division in which the other three teams - the Redskins, New York Giants and Dallas Cowboys - are a combined 12-2.
"It was going to be a tough fight anyway," veteran Eagles safety Brian Dawkins said. "But we definitely didn't help ourselves out today by allowing the Redskins to do what they did – controlling the ball and controlling the clock and winning this game. We didn't help ourselves out."
All the things you might have thought about the Eagles just two weeks ago after they beat up the Pittsburgh Steelers are now open for debate.
The offense that was so explosive in a win over St. Louis and a loss at Dallas got running back Brian Westbrook back today, but it didn't look any more explosive and wasn't any more effective at picking up one lousy yard near the goal line in the fourth quarter.
The defense, ranked first against the run and third overall coming into the game, was carved up for 203 rushing yards by the Redskins. Clinton Portis (29 carries for 145 yards) did the bulk of the damage.
Special teams provided an early punt return for a touchdown by rookie DeSean Jackson but also allowed the momentum to swing back to the Redskins late in the first quarter when David Akers missed another long field goal.
Afterward, Andy Reid spoke in that language only he seems to truly understand or at least appreciate.
"Obviously, Washington played a better football game than we did," the Eagles' coach said. "I'll tell you that it's my responsibility that we play better. That's absolutely my responsibility. I have to get guys in better positions to make plays and when they're in those positions, we have to make sure that the plays get made."
Quarterback Donovan McNabb was clearly disturbed by the defeat, which saw the offense get just five first downs and three points after the opening quarter.
"I was embarrassed these last two weeks," McNabb said. "I mean, we lost to two teams we shouldn't have lost to. When you make mistakes and you don't capitalize on opportunities, things like this happen.
"Not taking anything away from them, but there is no way that team is better than us. The same went for last week and then you find yourself here wondering why. It's what we didn't do. Not what they did, but what we didn't do."
The list of things the Eagles didn't do was long.
From the end of the first quarter until their final offensive possession, the offense was in hibernation. And when the Eagles finally got things going with a 12-play, 86-yard drive in the final quarter, the result - a 23-yard field goal by Akers - was still disappointing.
The Eagles had a second-and-1 situation from the 2-yard line with just over nine minutes left in the game. After Westbrook failed to pick up any yardage on second down, confusion ensued on third down.
McNabb started to signal for a time-out because he thought the play clock was going to expire. Alerted that the play clock had been reset to 15 seconds, the quarterback called an audible at the line of scrimmage.
Westbrook said he thought the original play could have worked, but he didn't dismiss McNabb's audible as a bad play call.
"I think when the play came in, there was a little miscommunication," Westbrook said. "We didn't execute the play very well."
That much was obvious. Westbrook was stopped for a 3-yard loss by defensive end Andre Carter and the field-goal unit was sent onto the field. Akers' kick made it 23-17, leaving the game in the hands of the Eagles' defense.
More than seven minutes remained and the Eagles had two time-outs and the two-minute warning on their side, but the defense could not give the malfunctioning offense one more chance to win the game.
Redskins quarterback Jason Campbell converted a third-and-4 chance with an 11-yard pass to Antwaan Randle El, then scrambled for 15 yards on a third-and-9 play.
Faced with a fourth and 1 from the Eagles' 38, Redskins rookie coach Jim Zorn gambled and went for it. Portis rewarded him with a 3-yard run that allowed Washington to run out the clock and celebrate its fourth straight win since an opening-night defeat to the unbeaten New York Giants.
"We had the right defense on fourth down," defensive coordinator Jim Johnson said. "We had an eight-man front and two backers blitzing, but [Portis] just kind of bowled us over."
That was just the final failure for the Eagles' defense, which surrendered a season-high 388 yards and 22 first downs while also allowing the Redskins to convert 11 of 19 third downs.
"We can't get in a hole in this division because there are so many talented teams, once you start to slide downhill, it's a mudslide after that and you get covered up," wide receiver Reggie Brown said.
Next stop is San Francisco, an appropriate location for a team standing on a fault line.
"I think it's very important that we get a win next week." Brown said. "I think everybody knows that we need to get a win."