This game capsulized the Eagles'season as well as any other. It’s not that the Eagles lose games as much as how they lose them, and this one -- a 34-13 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals -- was as ugly as it gets.
The Eagles committed five turnovers and four of them allowed the Bengals to score 24 points in a span of just 3:23 in the second half and allowed them to overcome a 13-10 halftime deficit to win going away.
Perhaps one play, more than any other, summed up the game and the season. The Eagles were forced to punt early in the first quarter, but rookie linebacker Ryan Rau didn’t get onto the field in time and the mix-up forced rookie wide receiver Marvin McNutt to line up as a blocker against the Bengals’ Daniel Herron.
And even though McNutt had a slight size advantage (he’s 6-2, 216 and Herron is 5-10, 215), the Bengals player bulldozed him right into punter Mat McBriar and McNutt ended up blocking his own team’s punt with his butt.
On the bright side, there are only two more games left to play.
Offense: F
They only scored 13 points and got shut out in the second half. Rookie QB Nick Foles looked like a rookie QB again and failed to strike the spark he did last week against Tampa Bay. Rookie RB Bryce Brown, who rushed for 347 yards in his first two starts, has rushed for 40 in his last two after he gained just 34 yards against the Bengals.
All of that is bad enough, but turnovers once again killed this team and this would have been, at worst, an even game without them. A poorly thrown interception by Foles, poor ball security by WR Jeremy Maclin and a botched handoff between Foles and Brown helped doom the Eagles. Previous game’s grade: A-
Defense: B
This wasn’t a bad game for these guys, despite the score. The Eagles offense and special teams forced their defense to play on a short field most of the night. The Eagles kept the heat on Bengals QB Andy Dalton all night and recorded six sacks, 2 ½ of them by rejuvenated DE Brandon Graham. Bengals RB BenJarvus Green-Ellis did rush for 106 yards, but he needed 25 carries to do it, so he earned that yardage the hard way. And the Eagles did a pretty good job against the Bengals receivers, especially A.J. Green. He came into the game averaging seven receptions and 88 yards per game and the Eagles held him to six catches for 57. Now, if these guys could just get their hands on an interception every once in a while… Previous game’s grade: C+
Special teams: F
The botched punt mentioned above would be enough to gives these guys a bad grade. Not only was is a bad play, but it made them look bad, too, and when somebody puts together a blooper sequence of the 2012 NFL season, that play will definitely make it. But that wasn’t the only disastrous play the special teams made. The Eagles were trailing 27-13 with 14:16 left in the game, which means they still had time to rally like they did last week against Tampa Bay. The Bengals kicked off and Josh Brown booted it toward a mostly-empty space in the Eagles’ return alignment – the only player there was Cedric Thornton, a back-up defensive tackle. The strategy worked to perfection – the ball went right to and then right through Thornton and the Bengals recovered on the Eagles 33 to set up the touchdown that put the game out of reach. Previous game’s grade: F
Coaches: F
Andy Reid constantly preaches discipline and sound fundamentals and week after week his team shows none of that. He and coordinator Marty Mornhinweg didn’t do a very good job finding ways to get the offense on track and they couldn’t come up with anything in the second half, when they were shut out. The Eagles needed to come up with a better intermediate passing game to take the heat off of QB Nick Foles and take the ball out of the hands of fumble-prone RB Bryce Brown. But it’s the sloppy and sometimes stupid play of the Eagles team as a whole that reflects back on the head coach and his staff and it’s pretty obvious that the Eagles’ 4-10 record isn’t a fluke. Previous game’s grade: B
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