Iggles Blitz

by Tommy Lawlor

Tough Losses

Posted October 3rd, 2018 | 2 Comments »

I was a guest on a podcast tonight and we obviously discussed Sunday’s game quite a bit.

That got me to thinking about what a frustrating, torturous loss that was. The Eagles are 22-14 since Doug Pederson took over so there aren’t that many bad losses to discuss, but I thought I would put together a list of my 5 worst losses of the Pederson era.

5- CIN 32, PHI 14 – 2016

This was the low-point of the Pederson era. The Bengals were on a three-game losing streak and struggling to score points. The Eagles needed a win in the worst way. This felt like a huge opportunity. Instead, Cincy dominated the Eagles. Dominated. The score was 29-0 at one point. I will admit that I questioned Pederson and whether he had what it took after seeing this performance. There were a lot of problems. He got the team to bounce back and they never played like this again.

4 – WAS 27, PHI 22 – 2016

The Skins have been a thorn in the Eagles side in recent years. Washington was up in this game, 21-13, at the end of the 3rd quarter. Leodis McKelvin had a pick-six that cut the lead to 21-19 in the 4th quarter. Caleb Sturgis nailed a 41-yard FG with under five minutes left to give the Eagles a 22-21 lead. It looked like they were finally going to beat the Skins. Oops. Washington went for a late TD on a 25-yard run by Chris Thompson to win the game. Ugh.

3 – DET 24, PHI 23 – 2016

The Eagles were 3-0 and looked like one of the best teams in the league. Detroit had a great gameplan and got off to a 21-7 lead. So much for 3-0. The Eagles took control of the game in the second half and led 23-21 with 6:40 left in the game. The Eagles had a chance to put the game away, but a fumble from Ryan Mathews proved costly. The Lions were able to go kick a FG and take the lead. Carson Wentz threw a bad pick to close out the game.

2 – TEN 26, PHI 23 in OT – 2018

4th and 15. That’s all I have to say.

1 – DAL 29, PHI 23 in OT- 2016

The 5-1 Cowboys hosted the 5-2 Eagles on SNF. This was a big game. The Eagles played really well and led 23-13 in the 4th quarter. Dak and Zeke were nothing compared to Carson and Sproles. It was beautiful to see the Eagles playing so well against their biggest rival in a big game. And then things slowly came apart. Doug Pederson did a terrible job of calling plays and managing the game. The defense forgot how to tackle/cover. Dallas tied the game at 23 and then won in overtime. Jason Witten was wide open for a TD pass, making the loss all the more torturous. How does a 74-year old man get that open in overtime? Ugh.

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We see things through an Eagles-centric lens. We focus on the Eagles losing that game and making mistakes.

We also have to give the Titans credit. They are now 3-1 and certainly look like a team on the rise.

Tennessee spent a Top 10 pick on WR Corey Davis to give them an explosive receiver. He sure looked like an explosive receiver on Sunday. Marcus Mariota played like a franchise QB. And that defense made their share of big plays.

I’m not excusing the Eagles mistakes, but we do need to make sure we give the Titans some credit as well.

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Benjamin Solak wrote a good piece on the Eagles defensive scheme.

There were problems with the players and the scheme.

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This makes for a fun thought, but I still don’t see how it works financially.

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I mentioned a podcast earlier. It will be posted on Thursday.

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2 Comments on “Tough Losses”

  1. 1 Eagles News: Two Philadelphia players named to PFF 2018 first-quarter All-Pro team - Football News Latest said at 9:01 AM on October 4th, 2018:

    […] Tough Losses – Iggles BlitzWe see things through an Eagles-centric lens. We focus on the Eagles losing that game and making mistakes. We also have to give the Titans credit. They are now 3-1 and certainly look like a team on the rise. Tennessee spent a Top 10 pick on WR Corey Davis to give them an explosive receiver. He sure looked like an explosive receiver on Sunday. Marcus Mariota played like a franchise QB. And that defense made their share of big plays. I’m not excusing the Eagles mistakes, but we do need to make sure we give the Titans some credit as well. […]

  2. 2 Eagles News: Two Philadelphia players named to PFF 2018 first-quarter All-Pro team – SportsNewsNow said at 9:44 AM on October 4th, 2018:

    […] Tough Losses – Iggles BlitzWe see things through an Eagles-centric lens. We focus on the Eagles losing that game and making mistakes. We also have to give the Titans credit. They are now 3-1 and certainly look like a team on the rise. Tennessee spent a Top 10 pick on WR Corey Davis to give them an explosive receiver. He sure looked like an explosive receiver on Sunday. Marcus Mariota played like a franchise QB. And that defense made their share of big plays. I’m not excusing the Eagles mistakes, but we do need to make sure we give the Titans some credit as well. […]