The Philadelphia Eagles' wild, crazy, and unpredictable season continued on Sunday, as they followed a 5-game win streak with a 48-30 loss to then 3-9-1 Minnesota on the road to fall to 8-6 on the season. The Vikings, whom were without Pro Bowl running back Adrian Peterson, had no problem racking up yards and points against what had been an improved Eagles defense.
The Vikings took control of the game early and forced the Eagles to go away their game-plan, as, due to falling down by 18 points midway in the 3rd quarter, they had to all but abandon the run game. For the game, Philadelphia rushed the ball just 13 times for 79 yards (6.1 per).
To Philly's credit, they did fight for all its worth to come back in yesterday's game. Scoring two quick touchdowns late in the 3rd quarter, the Eagles closed the gap from 18 to 5, before Minnesota put their closing touches on a gem of an offensive performance by scoring 14 straight points in the 4th quarter to go back up by 19. The two teams then traded touchdowns to reach the eventual final score.
Offensively, the Eagles were fairly efficient overall, but struggled inside the red zone, as they scored touchdowns on just 2 of 5 such opportunities. For the game, Philadelphia gained 475 yards from scrimmage, including 396 through the air. Nick Foles threw a fairly costly interception in the game and was sacked four times for an astounding 32 yards, but did all he can to bring his team back. Foles finished completing 30 of 48 pass attempts for 428 yards (8.9 per), 3 touchdowns, and 1 interception, for a quarterback rating of 103.5. He also led the team in rushing, carrying the ball 5 times for 41 yards (8.2 per). LeSean McCoy wasn't utilized much in the run game due to the wide margin the team was facing. He carried the ball just 8 times for 38 yards (4.8 per). McCoy also chipped in with 5 catches for 68 additional yards (13.6 per). DeSean Jackson led the way in the passing game, as he caught 10 passes for 195 yards (19.5), and a touchdown. Zach Ertz and Jason Avant also caught touchdown passes for the Eagles.
The special teams were pretty solid for the Eagles as well. On two kick returns, the Eagles averaged 41.5 yards per return. Meanwhile, they held the Vikings to just 9.0 yards per return on five kick returns. Place kicker Alex Henery made all three of his field goal attempts, including a 51-yarder, which tied his career high. Punter Donnie Jones wasn't as player-of-the-week worthy as he had been in recent weeks, but still pinned Minnesota down inside the 20-yard line on one of four kicks.
Defensively is where the Eagles fell apart yesterday. Minnesota has not been known for their offense this season, so it was really quite something to see the team excel on that side of the ball yesterday, especially without Adrian Peterson in the backfield. Minnesota gained 455 yards from scrimmage, including 370 through the air. Backup quarterback Matt Cassel completed 26 of 35 pass attempts for 382 yards (10.9 per), 2 touchdowns, and 1 interception, for a quarterback rating of 116.6. The Vikings were 8 for 13 on 3rd down conversions (61.5%), were 5 for 6 scoring touchdowns inside the red zone (83.3%), held onto the ball for over 36 minutes, and committed just three penalties for 25 yards. The Eagles, meanwhile, committed nine penalties for 94 yards.
Up next for the Eagles will be a home game against 8-6 Chicago on Sunday night. The Bears, with Jay Cutler back behind center, found a way to beat the pesky Cleveland Browns 38-31 yesterday to temporarily place them in first in the NFC North (pending the Detroit Lions outcome tonight). While the Bears defense hasn't been one Mike Singletary, Brian Urlacher, and others could be proud about, the offense, regardless of quarterback, has been one of the best in the league. Like the Eagles, they've been quite unpredictable, especially on the defensive side of the ball, and it should make for an interesting and very important match-up. The Eagles, surprisingly enough, are still in 1st place in the NFC East, after the Dallas Cowboys blew a 26-3 halftime lead against the Green Bay Packers yesterday, eventually falling by the final score of 37-36, which left them at 7-7 and still one game back of Philadelphia. With the Eagles going to Dallas to take on the Cowboys in the regular season finale in a couple of weeks, the game against the Bears will likely be more meaningful for Chicago than Philadelphia. No matter what happens in that game, it's unlikely any NFC East team could land a Wild Card spot, and the only game which will really matter is the one between Dallas and Philadelphia. The only scenario where that game won't be relevant is if Philadelphia defeats Chicago to improve to 9-6 and Dallas falls to Washington to drop to 7-8. Then, not even a season sweep of the Eagles would be able to save the Cowboys season.
For as unpredictable as the Philadelphia Eagles' season has been thus far, one thing is for certain - their defense needs to play better. Excluding two aberration games in the middle of the season when the team was transitioning from Michael Vick to Nick Foles and got outscored by the Dallas Cowboys and New York Giants 32-10 in a pair losses, the Eagles defense has been the biggest indicator of the team's results. In their 8 wins, the defense has allowed a total of 158 points (19.8 per). In 7 of Philadelphia's 8 wins, the defense has allowed 21 points or fewer. In the team's four losses outside of the two I mentioned earlier, the defense has allowed 159 points (39.8 per). In all four games, they've allowed at least 26 points, have allowed 33 or more in three of the four, and have allowed 48 or more in half of the four defeats. The offense has been fairly productive under both Michael Vick and Nick Foles. The true key to the team's successes and failures this season have come by the way the defense has played. If they master the bend-but-don't-break philosophy which helped anchor their nine wins to this point in the season, they should have a fair amount of success the rest of the way through. However, if they break like they did in the majority of their losses, it's going to be a bumpy ride through the final two weeks of the season.
http://espn.go.com/nfl/boxscore?gameId=331215016
The Vikings took control of the game early and forced the Eagles to go away their game-plan, as, due to falling down by 18 points midway in the 3rd quarter, they had to all but abandon the run game. For the game, Philadelphia rushed the ball just 13 times for 79 yards (6.1 per).
To Philly's credit, they did fight for all its worth to come back in yesterday's game. Scoring two quick touchdowns late in the 3rd quarter, the Eagles closed the gap from 18 to 5, before Minnesota put their closing touches on a gem of an offensive performance by scoring 14 straight points in the 4th quarter to go back up by 19. The two teams then traded touchdowns to reach the eventual final score.
Offensively, the Eagles were fairly efficient overall, but struggled inside the red zone, as they scored touchdowns on just 2 of 5 such opportunities. For the game, Philadelphia gained 475 yards from scrimmage, including 396 through the air. Nick Foles threw a fairly costly interception in the game and was sacked four times for an astounding 32 yards, but did all he can to bring his team back. Foles finished completing 30 of 48 pass attempts for 428 yards (8.9 per), 3 touchdowns, and 1 interception, for a quarterback rating of 103.5. He also led the team in rushing, carrying the ball 5 times for 41 yards (8.2 per). LeSean McCoy wasn't utilized much in the run game due to the wide margin the team was facing. He carried the ball just 8 times for 38 yards (4.8 per). McCoy also chipped in with 5 catches for 68 additional yards (13.6 per). DeSean Jackson led the way in the passing game, as he caught 10 passes for 195 yards (19.5), and a touchdown. Zach Ertz and Jason Avant also caught touchdown passes for the Eagles.
The special teams were pretty solid for the Eagles as well. On two kick returns, the Eagles averaged 41.5 yards per return. Meanwhile, they held the Vikings to just 9.0 yards per return on five kick returns. Place kicker Alex Henery made all three of his field goal attempts, including a 51-yarder, which tied his career high. Punter Donnie Jones wasn't as player-of-the-week worthy as he had been in recent weeks, but still pinned Minnesota down inside the 20-yard line on one of four kicks.
Defensively is where the Eagles fell apart yesterday. Minnesota has not been known for their offense this season, so it was really quite something to see the team excel on that side of the ball yesterday, especially without Adrian Peterson in the backfield. Minnesota gained 455 yards from scrimmage, including 370 through the air. Backup quarterback Matt Cassel completed 26 of 35 pass attempts for 382 yards (10.9 per), 2 touchdowns, and 1 interception, for a quarterback rating of 116.6. The Vikings were 8 for 13 on 3rd down conversions (61.5%), were 5 for 6 scoring touchdowns inside the red zone (83.3%), held onto the ball for over 36 minutes, and committed just three penalties for 25 yards. The Eagles, meanwhile, committed nine penalties for 94 yards.
Up next for the Eagles will be a home game against 8-6 Chicago on Sunday night. The Bears, with Jay Cutler back behind center, found a way to beat the pesky Cleveland Browns 38-31 yesterday to temporarily place them in first in the NFC North (pending the Detroit Lions outcome tonight). While the Bears defense hasn't been one Mike Singletary, Brian Urlacher, and others could be proud about, the offense, regardless of quarterback, has been one of the best in the league. Like the Eagles, they've been quite unpredictable, especially on the defensive side of the ball, and it should make for an interesting and very important match-up. The Eagles, surprisingly enough, are still in 1st place in the NFC East, after the Dallas Cowboys blew a 26-3 halftime lead against the Green Bay Packers yesterday, eventually falling by the final score of 37-36, which left them at 7-7 and still one game back of Philadelphia. With the Eagles going to Dallas to take on the Cowboys in the regular season finale in a couple of weeks, the game against the Bears will likely be more meaningful for Chicago than Philadelphia. No matter what happens in that game, it's unlikely any NFC East team could land a Wild Card spot, and the only game which will really matter is the one between Dallas and Philadelphia. The only scenario where that game won't be relevant is if Philadelphia defeats Chicago to improve to 9-6 and Dallas falls to Washington to drop to 7-8. Then, not even a season sweep of the Eagles would be able to save the Cowboys season.
For as unpredictable as the Philadelphia Eagles' season has been thus far, one thing is for certain - their defense needs to play better. Excluding two aberration games in the middle of the season when the team was transitioning from Michael Vick to Nick Foles and got outscored by the Dallas Cowboys and New York Giants 32-10 in a pair losses, the Eagles defense has been the biggest indicator of the team's results. In their 8 wins, the defense has allowed a total of 158 points (19.8 per). In 7 of Philadelphia's 8 wins, the defense has allowed 21 points or fewer. In the team's four losses outside of the two I mentioned earlier, the defense has allowed 159 points (39.8 per). In all four games, they've allowed at least 26 points, have allowed 33 or more in three of the four, and have allowed 48 or more in half of the four defeats. The offense has been fairly productive under both Michael Vick and Nick Foles. The true key to the team's successes and failures this season have come by the way the defense has played. If they master the bend-but-don't-break philosophy which helped anchor their nine wins to this point in the season, they should have a fair amount of success the rest of the way through. However, if they break like they did in the majority of their losses, it's going to be a bumpy ride through the final two weeks of the season.
http://espn.go.com/nfl/boxscore?gameId=331215016
Comments
Post a Comment