The Philadelphia Eagles are now 5-5 on the season after blowing a 10-point lead against the defending Super Bowl champion New England Patriots at Lincoln Financial Field on Sunday.
The Eagles defense showed up in full force and looks to be rounding into form after battering Tom Brady during a dominant first half by Philadelphia. After a late second-quarter touchdown, The Eagles scored zero points and are now a full game behind the Dallas Cowboys in the win column.
With the Seahawks coming to the Linc next Sunday, here are four takeaways from the Birds 17-10 loss to the Patriots.
***
1. Eagles aren’t a serious playoff contender without deep threat
Nelson Agholor had four catches for 40-yards, while Zach Ertz led the Birds with nine catches for 94 yards, deep passing yards were hard to come by. The Eagles went away from Miles Sanders after a strong first half. Even with Alshon Jeffery back, this Eagles offense works too hard to gain big chunks of yards.
2. Eagles defense is ready to lead the team to playoffs
The strength of this Eagles team appears to be the defense going forward and on Sunday, they were strong and looked playoff ready. The Eagles control their own destiny from here on out and the defense will lead the way. The Eagles defense was strong and stopped the Pats from scoring a touchdown on three straight red-zone trips.
The Pass rush was strong, the secondary was active and accountable and Jim Schwartz is starting to find his groove.
The team got stops when it was needed and the defense can’t be the problem going forward.
3. Eagles are lacking innovative play-calling
On a day in which the Eagles were without Jordan Howard, Miles Sanders had 11 carries for 38 yards, but only two receptions for nine yards. Without DeSean Jackson and Alshon Jeffery in the lineup, the Eagles are a pain to watch on offense and have no vertical threat that scares any defense in the NFL. Without such a deep threat, it may be time for Doug Pederson to consider reaching out to an innovative play-caller that can help loosen things up for Wentz and the Eagles.
4. Carson Wentz was not sharp
Wentz was 20-40 on the day, for 214 yards and one touchdown. He missed some throws on the Eagles final drive, and overall he wasn’t sharp at all. Wentz was missing Alshon Jeffery and his weapons are sparse, but we talked this week about the Eagles star needing to outplay on Tom Brady on Sunday.
Wentz failed and the Eagles lost.
