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EAGLES CAN'T HOLD 10-POINT LEAD IN FOURTH QUARTER, LOSE TO RAMS 24-20
One play, one series can change an NFL for the good or the bad. Midway through the fourth quarter of their NFC matchup against the Los Angeles Rams, the Eagles were in such a situation.
With 9:40 left in the fourth quarter the Philadelphia Eagles were set up with a first and goal from the nine-yard-line.
The Birds, leading 20-10 at the tine, ran three three straight running plays and could only get to the two-yard line.
With the 7:31 left in the fourth, if the Eagles score points, the game is likely over.
But Head Coach Nick Sirianni and Offensive Coordinator Sean Mannion called a pass play.
When Jalen Hurts took the snap, he was unable to find anyone open and was forced to throw a bad pass to Darius Cooper which he couldn't get his hands around.
The play never had a chance.
It was now up to Vic Fangio's defense to hold future Hall-of-Fame quarterback Matthew Strafford from rallying his team over the final 7:26 of the game.
The failed scoring opportunity seemed to have impact on both teams.
The impact on the Rams rallied the visitors to score two touchdowns over the next six minutes and pull out a 24-20 win over the Eagles at a damp Lincoln Financial Field.
The Rams first touchdown in the fourth quarter came at the end of a 98-yard drive that ended with a one-yard run by Rams running back Kyron Williams.
The Birds put up 20 points in the first half, zero in the second including the ill-fated fourth quarter drive.
Hurts was asked what happened to the offense that produced in the first half despite losing running back Saquon Barkley early to a hamstring strain.
“Poor execution. Poor execution," Hurts said at his post-game press conference. Yeah, poor execution.”
He was about issues with the third downs. The Eagles were 0 for 12 on third downs. “Poor execution,: Hurts repeated. I don't think there's any other way to put it.”
With the amount of injured or missing players the Birds (2-2) were missing at kickoff, no one would blame the Eagles for losing to the talented Rams team.
But when you play well enough to win, it is frustrating for Eagles fans.
THE BIRDS ENTERED THE GAME SHORT HANDED
The Eagles were already down a number of key players when dawn broke Sunday morning.
The Birds were facing the talented Rams team missing Pro Bowl offensive guard Landon Dickerson, wide receivers DeVonta Smith and Hollywood Brown plus tight end Dallas Goedert.
On defense All Pro linebacker Zack Baun was out because of a concussion.
When the inactive list came out, All Pro right tackle Lane Johnson was on it for personal reasons.
If that wasn't horrible enough, one the Eagle second drive of the game, All Pro running back Saquon Barkley suffered a strained hamstring in his right leg after a six-yard run.
The Eagles led 6-3 with 6:57 left in the second quarter.
Another top player was lost for the game when All Pro cornerback Quinyon Mitchell suffered a knee injury on the first play of the third quarter while chasing Rams running back Blake Corum to the sideline following a three-yard gain.
At the 4:50 mark of the third quarter All Pro safety Cooper DeJean went down but jogged off the field.
With seconds left in the third, Rams committed an illegal block penalty that put the ball back on the Eagles 45-yard line.
DeJean did re-enter the game and played the remainder of the contest.
The Rams were missing their star defensive players Aaron Donald and Myles Garrett.
PLAYERS TALK ABOUT THE FRUSTRATION
Training Camp Darling Darius Cooper was having the game of his life through three quarters.
He caught two touchdown passes in the first half from Hurts and seemed on his way to a monster day.
But it wasn't meant to be. Cooper caught just one pass for five yards in the second half.
"We're disappointed,” Cooper said at his locker after the game. “We're going to clean it up, watch the film, move on.”
Cooper was asked about the offense working well the first half, scoring 20 points, then going cold, no points in the second half.
What went wrong? “Execution,” said Cooper, echoing his QB1. “We've got to make the plays we're supposed to make...the take no talent stuff.. We're going to continue to improve on that. We're going to fix it.”
Left tackle Jordan Mailata also talked about what went wrong in the second half.
“You've go to trust the concepts...but it's about finishing drives,: Mailata said at his locker after the game. “Execution? I'd love to day it was execution. That's all I'm saying at this point. I can't tell you if it's a concept issue, a coaching issue...I've got to watch the film.”
On fourth and two, was it the right call to pass the ball instead of kicking a field goal?
“I love the call,” Australian born athlete said. “But!...execution . I don't know what happened on that play exactly...I've got to watch the film exactly.”
The defense was outstanding through three quarters, allowing just ten points. Then the unit seemed to fall apart over the last eight minutes of the contest.
Jeremiah Trotter, Jr. talked about it.
“I felt good, but at the end of the day I was upset, we didn't get the win, we came up short,” Trotter said after the game. “We didn't get the win and that's the ultimate goal.”
“This definitely hurts,” he continued. “But at the end of the day we can't feel sorry for ourselves. Nobody cares about that. We've got to find a way to fix it.”
Rams center Coleman Shelton admitted the defensive stop at the two-yard line was a trigger that go them going.
“Yeah, our defense did a great job keeping us in the game,” Shelton said at his locker after the game. “They put themselves on the line and just gave us that fire that we needed. Our offense, every time we took a step forward, we took two steps back.
“We were trying to find a rhythm, find a grove. Seeing our defense really step up for us. We had to go. We had to go show them how we can pick it up them and how we can be there.”
The eight-year veteran out of Washington seemed surprised to hear Nick Sirianni was 4-0 as a head coach against the Rams. “I wasn't aware of that,” Shelton said.
STATS
Hurts finished 12 of 27 for 93 yards, two touchdown passes, no turnovers. He was sacked four times.
The Eagles as a team rushed 27 times for 104 yards. Tank Bigsby, who was injured near the end the game, led the Birds with 14 carries for 55 yards.
Trotter led the Eagles with 15 total tackles (10 solo) and a defended pass.
Cooper DeJean and Andrew Mukuaba each recorded an interception.
Matthew Stafford was 32 of 51 for 317 yards with two interceptions. He was sacked once (Nolan Smith).
Kyren Williams led the Rams with 80 yards on 23 carries and two touchdowns.
Rams outside linebacker Byron Young registered 2.5 sacks.
SIRIANNI AFTER THE GAME
The head coach was asked about going 0-for-12 on third down, 2-for-9 last week. What is it? Execution? Is it play calling? Is it scheme? It seems like you have 20 third down opportunities.
"Obviously, everybody contributed to that. Everybody," Sirianni said. "So, there's execution errors, there's coaching errors. Everybody contributes to it. It's an ultimate team game. You can't sustain drives and do the things that you want -- Some of our problems offensively has been [that] we've been behind, but it wasn't quite the same case today where we were in second-and-long and all those different things. It was more we couldn't convert on third down for multiple different reasons.
"So again, there's always a lot of contributors to that. I need to go watch the tape before I react to anything. But I know when you're 0 for whatever we were today, everybody has a hand in that. Our job is to figure out what happened and get better from it and not assign blame. That's what we'll be doing."
The sixth-year head coach was about the fourth-and-two decision from the goal line and what went into that decision?
"In that situation right there, try to make it a three-score game," Sirianni said. "It was a two-score game, up 10. We would've gone up 13, but I wanted to make it a three score game right there. Fourth-and-two from the two, you leave them in a true backed up scenario. I'm very well aware of how the fourth down decisions go as the head coach.
"You go for it and you get it, great. You go for it and you don't get it, that's on the head coach. We didn't get it, so that's on me. A lot of things that we've got to look at and see what went down on that particular play, obviously same deal. It wasn't good enough as coaches and wasn't good enough at playing there."
The Rams blitzed on every third down. Clearly, the offensive line is having troubles at pass protection, having the right numbers to protect Hurts. What is the issue there?
"Again, there's different things that lead to that. I know you guys are looking for answers. I respect the job you guys have to do. It's never just, 'Hey, it's this.'
"I wouldn't say never. Sometimes it is, but in my opinion of what happened in that situation on third down, it wasn't good enough obviously, but it wasn't just one thing that accounted for it.
"That is something definitely I'll have to look at and watch through. But again, 0-for on third down, that hurts.
"It hurts your drives. It hurts you being able to do the things that you want to do on offense. It can put you in a pressing situation at times. One of them obviously turned into a fourth down conversion that did lead to points, but that to me is where we had our biggest issues here today, was there."
Sirianni continued.
"Then not being able to finish with -- We got a short field with [S] Andrew [Mukuba]'s pick. We lose yards on a run play there playing that kind of like, 'Hey, you have four downs, two more downs to get it on third down, then we lose yards.'
"And then third-and-two at the two, to not finish that one, you're essentially putting the game away there in that scenario and we didn't in that particular case. I think what has to happen at the end of the day, what I told our guys is that when you've got a team down, you've got to finish it. That's everybody. Coaching, playing, everybody."
Sirianni was asked about Lane Johnson and if he expects him back?
"We'll see where we are," is all Sirianni would say at first. Then he was asked about the sequence of events with Johnson and what information did you get about him not being at the game and how he addressed it with the team.
"I think you guys know that he's dealing with a personal matter and that's really all I'm going to say on that."
Email Al Thompson at al.thompson@footballstories.com.
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