It got worse for Eagles
Eagles find new, more appalling way to lose in Buffalo.
It got worse for Eagles
Phil Sheridan, Inquirer Columnist
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. – It turns out we were all wrong about the Eagles after last week’s collapse against the San Francisco 49ers.
It could get worse. And it did.
After another week of tinkering by Andy Reid and his staff, the Eagles turned in a truly lousy performance against the Buffalo Bills. They avoided another blown fourth-quarter lead by turning the ball over, falling behind early and failing again and again to make tackles.
Then they added a fourth-quarter knife-in-the-gut by rallying from 31-14 down to 31-24. But a possible game-tying touchdown drive ended when Jason Avant coughed the ball up for a final, game-clinching turnover.
The wheels are off. The Eagles are 1-4 and reeling. They have one more game, on the road at Washington next Sunday, before staggering into their bye week.
The bye has often provided Reid an opportunity to tweak his team in preparation for a playoff push. At this point, the goal has to be fielding a competent offense and defense. There was neither on display at Ralph Wilson Stadium Sunday afternoon.
Quarterback Michael Vick took another pounding and responded by throwing three first-half interceptions. The man who boasted that no defense could be devised to stop him and this potent offense was right. The Eagles do a good enough job of stopping themselves.
The defense was no better. Fred Jackson ran freely through the Eagles secondary, and quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick had no trouble finding open receivers. The Bills were able to take advantage of the Eagles’ mistakes, and the Eagles generously gave them plenty of chances.
There were a couple of real howlers. After an interception by linebacker Jamar Chaney, the Eagles had the ball at midfield with 39 seconds left in the half. It goes without saying that they had no timeouts left. After one completion and a Vick scramble, the Eagles spiked the ball to stop the clock with 13 seconds. They were at the 26.
Vick underthrew an open DeSean Jackson on second down. The clock stopped with 8 seconds left. Reid decided to take another shot at the end zone. Vick dropped back, held the ball a few beats and threw it out of the end zone. The clock showed zeroes and the Eagles had squandered a chance for a field goal.
To open the second half, the Eagles tried a daring onside kick. Unfortunately, they failed to wait until the referee signaled that the ball was in play and they had to kickoff again.
The Eagles’ second-half comeback attempt, though thwarted, showed what some desperation can do. Vick broke off a 53-yard run to set up a 10-yard touchdown run by LeSean McCoy. He found DeSean Jackson for a fourth-quarter TD, then drove the team down for a 35-yard field goal.
The defense, which offered little resistance early, clamped down. The Eagles took the field with a chance to drive for the game-tying score. But Avant turned it over one last time.
For the final insult, the Bills faced a fourth-and-inches at midfield with 1:23 left. They lined up as if going for it, but everyone in the stadium knew they were just trying to draw the Eagles into a penalty before punting. Everyone except defensive end Juqua Parker, who jumped offside and killed the Eagles’ final hopes.
It was a bad, bad loss in a string of bad losses.
But no worries. Reid and his staff will get back to work this week. Things can’t get worse.
Right?
How does Andy survive the rest of the way. Stubhug tix are plummeting. Bad investment this season.
Total lack of discipline and preparation.— scootch- Release Juqua Parker today and fire Andy tomorrow. Loser bronze standard organization!!!!!— shawnmac
- A failing baseball team on the way down, a football team that may win no more than 3 games. The another era of dark ages in Philly sports are upon us. It will be interesting to see how many fans stay with the Phillies through their impending dark ages...my bet is the Bank will be as empty as the Vet in the late 80s in 2 years.— Repubrebirth
- tick..tick..tick...time's ticking Andy!!!— diehardeagle
- The 94 WYSP curse!— comin4ya23
- Goodbye Andy!
Please, is anybody listening? Jeff?— jakeAZ - I hope they lose every game out . That way Laurie will have no choice except to get rid of Reid— Big_Omar
- "tick..tick..tick...time's ticking Andy!!!
— diehardeagle"
remember though...he can't manage a clock.— jakeAZ - A Philly Pholdball weekend. Why is it the entire city, league and nation knows Reid will never win a Super Bowl except the owner. Same coaching mistakes, poor play calling, terrible time management and the refusal to address the linebacking situation for twelve years. Enough is enough. If that egotistic idiot down in Dallas could dump an underchieving head coach in mid season so could Jeffrey unless of course Joey "Nickles" Banner tells him we can't afford to.— nasjo
So this is Andy's idea of putting his players in better positions to win football games, eh? This is his idea of doing a better job? I could fall down the stairs and do a better job, and there are perhaps thousands of people out there who can do much better than I can. This is the type of season you get when a coaching philosophy has run itself out. C'mon Lurie, fire the man from all his jobs and hire someone that can do one of them well enough to win a Super Bowl. How you can call yourselves The Gold Standard is beyond most people. But it speaks volumes about the delusional attitude which pervades the Eagles mindset. As of last count, that's 3 Super Bowl titles for the Patriots to none for the Eagles. You ain't even The Bronze Standard. I'm sending a copy of this to the Eagles and I ask all to do the same with theirs. It's time to stop the insanity.— Atomic Fury- Terrible!! The Castillo experiment needs to come up with a solution fast or it will be Juan and done. Andy and his offensive calling is crazy. This could be a very, very good running team and it would allow Vick to survive this season. Oh what what the heck...it is the same thing year after year with these clowns...more time with family and friends and less worrying about this "stuff" to be it nicely.— psubrian
- I love it. Now I can enjoy the rest of the season without cringing every week when they scroll the Eagles score across the bottom of the screen. 1-15 Baby. No Andy. No more phony expectations from the team AND the Kool Aid-drinking media. Whos says this is a bad week for Philly sports. We get rid of Andy and Ryan Howard in the same week. Go Flyers.— Bama
- LETS GO FLYERS (CLAP, CLAP, CLAP CLAP CLAP)— techdiver
- Jeffrey and I continue to support Andy. Keep buying that Eagles merchandise Eagles fans.— Joe Banner - Eagles President
