RECAP – Week 5: Eagles Lose in Heartbreaking Fashion Again in London to Jacksonville, 19-17
Well, it’s finally settled in.
I woke up early to watch our Philadelphia Eagles play football in London against the Jaguars.
After almost four hours of football, the Eagles took the lead with eight seconds left. Things looked great, and it felt like we were back on track. All they had to do was not allow a kick return for a touchdown or put them in field goal range with time remaining.
As we know, the Eagles allowed the latter—one of the most gut-punching losses since the one last week. Here we’re going to break down the game. While it’s mostly negative, we will look for a couple of positives.
Let’s start with the worst part about the game, the ending. If that end-of-game kickoff goes into the end zone for a touchback, the Eagles most likely win that game.
The Eagles also could’ve called a pass play while in field goal range, which would’ve let them take the kick as time expired.
This would’ve definitely given the Eagles the win. Sirianni even came out and admitted it was his terrible idea.
What’s worse, it was easily foreshadowed at the start of the game. If you were late to turn it on because you were asleep or just a regular person on a Sunday morning, you missed quite the start.
The Jaguars returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown before the penalty was called.
To then trust your kicking unit in a late-game scenario just seems like an obviously bad choice.
We’ll move on to the second-worst part of the game, which honestly includes the worst part: the entire second half. It’s a problem. I’m not sure what adjustments, if any, they’re making at halftime.
The Eagles are easily one of the worst teams in the NFL in the second half. Over their three-game losing streak, they’ve had 10 3-and-outs and just 3 total points. They also have as many turnovers as scoring plays.
It’s a bad offense and truly makes you wonder what they go over at halftime.
And before we get to the moral victories, let’s go with a moral defeat. That game instantly became an example of, “anything can happen late in the game.” Now every time there’s a kickoff with around 8 seconds in a one-score game, the announcer will most likely reference this Eagles loss.
I don’t like my team having a moment synonymous with losing. It’s the kind of stink that can linger. It’s the same one I grew up with before the Eagles’ first Super Bowl win.
If you’re a younger fan, just look what the Kawhi Leonard shot did to the Sixers; but I’ll save you from a basketball rambling.
Here’s where we get to the spin zone. There were genuine positives to take out of the game. Now, I get it: there were far more negatives (as you saw above), and you only prop up moral victories in a loss. It’s not exactly a popular opinion to still have hope in this team. That said, I’m not going to ignore whatever positive aspect I can latch onto to save my mental a little. In the end, I am a total homer for the team, and I’m not going to try and hide it. So let’s look at some of those positives to help take the sting out of the loss.
First up, Jake Elliott’s performance. Now going 2/2 on extra points and 1/1 on a 48-yard field goal isn’t very impressive on paper. But if we look at offensive trends, it’s going to cut both ways. Jake Elliott hasn’t missed a field goal or extra point all season. Considering he struggled the last few years, this is a welcome surprise. Of course you hate to see it coming in what may be a lost season, but at least it gives one less position the Eagles need to replace next season.
Second-down conversion goes to the offense at the end of the game. Yes, it’s hypocritical to say they’re a massive concern but also give them credit. They still lead a should-be game-winning drive at the end. This is something great teams do. Even after another second half from hell, the Eagles still could and should have won that game. As long as you can say your team is never truly out of it, you can do something never seen, like take the lead with only eight seconds left out of a kick return.
The last goes to the defense and specifically Jalen Carter. They’re back to form. While the numbers don’t specifically back this up, you can’t ignore the elephant in the room that makes other elephants look like mice. That would be that the offense can’t hold the ball.
If your offense can’t hold the ball, the defense will be out on the field, letting stats accumulate.
Next week the Eagles try (again) to right the ship against the Carolina Panthers. Luckily, the Eagles don’t have to adjust to a time change again while the Panthers are coming off a bye week.
Actually, they do, and the Eagles will try to avoid the butcher’s masquerade that will follow a 2-4 start. Still, they’re not out of the division yet.
The NFC East managed to go winless in a week where two teams played each other.
Impressive work, and luckily, it kept the Eagles in contention; still, 3-3 will look a lot better than 2-4.
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