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Eagles’ loss could have been worse

Eagles wide receiver Jeremy Maclin and quarterbacks Nick Foles and Mark Sanchez. (Ben Margot/AP)
Eagles wide receiver Jeremy Maclin and quarterbacks Nick Foles and Mark Sanchez. (Ben Margot/AP)Read more

SANTA CLARA, Calif. – In a span of 21 months, since the firing of Andy Reid and the final ascension of Howie Roseman, the Eagles have constructed as complete a football team as has been seen in Philadelphia in a decade.

Oh, it has its flaws.

The defense surrenders yards and points like the French.

Chip Kelly's Machine Gun offense continually sputters, especially in the early stages of games, even before the offensive-line collapsed.

Still, overall, the team has gotten production from everywhere.

If ever a whole was greater than the sum of its parts, this Eagles team is it.

Yes, they lost in San Francisco, 26-21, and fell to 3-1.

Still, the Eagles had the ball at the 49ers' 6-yard line with 2 minutes, 50 seconds to play. They had driven from their own 9. A touchdown seemed imminent, finally, and the 49ers had no timeouts.

But the Eagles couldn't finish. They ran three failed pass plays, all predicated by the dominance of the Niners' front seven.

And, so, the running game remained absent. The passing game wheezed.

The defense was victimized by the Colin Kaepernick Experience, in which a quarterback with freakish arm strength and ungodly foot speed makes a few wonderful plays that turn the game; a couple of breathtaking runs, a few bullets, perfectly delivered.

(This is the third sequel of the Experience franchise, by the way: It first was the Randall Cunningham Experience, then Donovan McNabb, then Michael Vick.)

The play-calling remained suspect. To review: With the clock in their hands, at the 49ers' 6-yard line, on first down with fewer than 3 minutes to play, they ran the ball just once.

Really, considering how decimated their offensive line is, the Eagles had no business being anywhere close to the 49ers here yesterday.

Yet, they were. By design.

"The team has a lot of heart," Roseman said. "That's what you saw today, at the end of it. A lot of heart and passion. They never give up. That's a reflection of our coach. And the city we're in. That's what I think."

The talented 49ers moved to 2-2, but they have issues: injury issues, play-calling issues, egomaniacal head coach issues. Nevertheless, they have been the class of the NFC for 2 years, and the Eagles fought them to a standstill with one arm tied behind their backs (the offensive line problems). Only left tackle Jason Peters started yesterday where he usually starts. Three linemen were backups, and Todd Herremans moved from right guard to right tackle.

Still, they remained relevant.

"That's the great thing about this team," said Brandon Graham, who sacked Kaepernick on the last play of the first half. "There's so much positivity in here. We depend on everybody, and there's no quit in us."

That's because they are deep, and they are balanced, and they know it.

In the first quarter, free-agent special-teams veteran Bryan Braman and free-agent rookie Trey Burton, primarily acquired to cover kicks, collapsed the punter's pocket in the end zone and blocked the punt. Brad Smith, also employed for special-teams expertise, recovered it for a touchdown.

Free-agent safety Malcolm Jenkins, primarily hired for his cerebral capacities and his tackling technique, intercepted a pass for the third straight game. This one, he returned 53 yards for a touchdown.

Running back Darren Sproles, acquired for a fifth-round pick, primarily hired to spell LeSean McCoy, returned a punt 82 yards for a touchdown in the second quarter.

Last week, the Eagles scored their first touchdown on a kickoff return by Chris Polk, a crucial momentum play in their comeback win over Washington. They have gotten big plays from scrimmage from Sproles all season; a 57-yard pass reception last week, a 19-yard touchdown run 2 weeks ago, a 49-yard touchdown run in Week 1 that turned the game's energy.

The Eagles might have lost, but they lost on the road, with a laughable offensive line that opened nothing for McCoy, the team's best player.

"We got whupped up front," Kelly said.

McCoy has been diminished both by opponents' schemes and by his own line's dissolution, and the Eagles are 3-1.

The offense did virtually nothing here south of the Bay but, still, the Eagles led, 21-13, at halftime.

The Eagles led, as a team.

"To have an interception returned for a touchdown, a blocked punt returned for a touchdown and a punt returned for a touchdown was big," Kelly said. "There's going to be days when one of the phases isn't playing well, and the other two can bail it out. They got us close."

They got close . . . but they lost as a team, too. The offense might have been punchless, but the rest of the team wasn't perfect, either.

Rookie linebacker Marcus Smith blew coverage on Frank Gore's 55-yard touchdown catch-and-run in the second quarter, on which safety Earl Wolff missed a late tackle.

Cornerback Cary Williams committed a holding penalty that extended the 49ers' touchdown drive in the third quarter, which cut the Eagles' lead to 21-20.

Bradley Fletcher committed a blocking penalty on the 49ers' final punt, which cost the Eagles an extra 10 yards when they began their final drive with 1:23 to play. Peters then was called for holding, which meant another 10 yards and, really, the game.

On the previous possession, Kelly declined to run the ball on three of the snaps because he refused to give the Niners a chance to collapse the line of scrimmage.

McCoy got 4 yards on the second snap, but Kelly said he believed the Niners were surprised by that play call. The Niners adjusted, he said, and he called a pass play for tight end Brent Celek: "I tried to surprise them."

He did not.

The biggest surprise of the day: The Eagles' offense, ranked second in the league in scoring, scored no points.

"You win some, you lose some," Williams said. "We came across country and played a great team."

And proved again that they are a pretty good one, too.

On Twitter: @inkstainedretch

Blog: ph.ly/DNL

Email: hayesm@phillynews.com