Eagles’ season comes crashing down at home in loss to Redskins
When Kirk Cousins dropped a perfect rainbow into the awaiting arms of Pierre Garcon on Saturday night, it was the final dagger in a death-by-a-thousand-papercuts season for the Philadelphia Eagles.
DeSean Jackson and the Washington Redskins are going to the playoffs. The Eagles, who are not, now can head into the offseason — the same, dark place that Chip Kelly’s questionable moves altered the face of this team less than a year ago.
The Redskins pounded the Eagles, 38-24, highlighting the Eagles’ flaws that were apparent early in the 2015 season but were seemingly swept under the rug — and then back out — depending on the week in the pathetic NFC East race that saw the Dallas Cowboys fail to get eliminated until they suffered their 10th loss in 14 games.
Kelly likely will be back in 2016, as will other key Eagles, many of whom are now reviled, but others most certainly will not. Defensive coordinator Billy Davis is an easy scapegoat for the way his unit performed this season, even if it’s unfair to put all the blame on his head.
The Redskins were 9-for-17 on third downs in the teams’ first matchup back in Week 4, and they converted three key third downs in the second half — a third-and-10, a third-and-14, a third-and-6 (for a touchdown) and a third-and-13 (for another touchdown). It was the third time this season the Eagles allowed 38 or more points at home, this one coming against a Redskins team that had been 2-12 entering game the under head coach Jay Gruden.
Yes, Redskins quarterback Kirk Cousins had been hot and remained so — in his past nine games, Cousins has 20 TD passes and only three interceptions — but the Eagles can look first in the mirror.
Then there’s the DeMarco Murray conundrum. Miscast in this offense, Murray got more early run in this game than he had in recent ones. And he ran hard, too: Murray barreled in for a touchdown that cut the third-quarter lead to 23-17 and appeared to be having his best game in weeks.
But Murray coughed up a toss from Sam Bradford late in the third, and the Redskins’ DeAngelo Hall scooped it and scored to deliver a huge blow, which was followed by Garcon’s TD — the final haymaker for the Eagles’ season.
Will Murray be back? It feels unlikely, but with Kelly continuing to make excuses for Murray and the team’s usage of him, it’s anyone’s guess.
The irony, perhaps, is that Bradford played relatively well in this one, building on a solid second half of the season after many questioned his effectiveness in the Kelly offense and Kelly’s wisdom for trading draft picks for a free-agent-to-be without knowing what he had.
Hard to blame Bradford for this one, though. The Eagles still had a chance to take the division entering the game, which was a minor miracle considering the team’s insanely up-and-down performance this season — losing to five teams with losing records but beating the New England Patriots in December in Foxborough. There were glimpses of greatness but no consistency. That was the story of the season.
The Eagles took less than three minutes to score on their opening possession, the Eagles’ fastest TD drive in 36 games, going 80 yards in six plays. Sam Bradford was 4-of-4 for 50 yards on the drive, and two big penalties by the Redskins helped move the ball for the initial score, a 1-yard Ryan Mathews plunge.
They threatened to keep their foot on the pedal, but a Will Compton sack (the first of his career) helped short-circuit the Eagles’ second drive. Then the Redskins cranked up the passing game, and Cousins hit Jordan Reed for 28 yards on a skinny post and then 22 more for the touchdown — Cousins’ 15th straight game with at least one. The missed extra-point try made it 7-6, Eagles.
The Cousins-to-Reed combo worked even better on the next drive. This time it was three connections — for 6, 19 and 12 yards, the last of which was his second score of the game. The Eagles bit on play-action, and Cousins burned them with a strike for the 13-7 first quarter lead.
The teams traded field goals in the second quarter, but the Redskins missed on a chance to make it a two-score lead heading into halftime. After a boneheaded Eagles penalty set up the Redskins at the 6-yard line with the clock ticking toward halftime, Cousins — instead of spiking the ball — inexplicably took a knee with no timeouts remaining, missing out on a scoring chance.
The Redskins came out sharp on their second drive of the second half, carving up this Eagles undermanned defense and mauling them up front. The Eagles did their part in dropping would-be interceptions on two occasions. So the Redskins made them pay with a Cousins-to-Chris Thompson touchdown.
So the Eagles have regressed in each of Kelly’s three seasons. They went 10-6 and hosted a playoff game his first season, hailed as a savior. They went 10-6 in his second season, missed the playoffs and things just weren’t quite the same. And this season’s Eagles sit at 6-9 heading into the season finale after an offseason of sweeping change that either made Eagles fans scratch their heads or pull out whatever hair was left.
What is ahead, assuming Kelly returns, this offseason? Do we dare suggest fewer bold moves and stick with what they have?!
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Eric Edholm is a writer for Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Eric_Edholm
