Bob Ford: Patchwork D comes up short

You just can't win that way very often.

The Eagles lost to the San Diego Chargers, 31-23, for a number of reasons yesterday, but biggest among them was the first number in that score. Thirty-one points. It was only the third time this season the Eagles had allowed more than 17 points in a game, and those occasions account for three of their four losses.

This isn't a team - despite the offensive weapons available - that puts up a lot of points. Some of that is because the offense loses its super powers in the Kryptonite-laced strata of the red zone. That was probably something that stood out yesterday, for instance.

If the Eagles give more than 20 points or so, they're going to be in trouble. If they give up 31, well, it's probably going to be a loss.

"When you get down to it, we beat ourselves," cornerback Dmitri Patterson said. "We had them in situations and we just didn't get it done."

The members of the defense were most upset about the Chargers' last drive to a field goal. San Diego got the ball with just over seven minutes to play, holding a five-point lead. If the Eagles had stopped the Chargers and given Donovan McNabb back the ball with time to work, who knows? San Diego certainly wasn't stopping him from piling up yards.

"I know we gave up something like 450 yards receiving, but we played a good game," San Diego cornerback Antonio Cromartie said.

No, actually not. The Chargers' defense was merely fortunate that the Eagles couldn't make their layups after the football equivalent of driving the length of the floor.

The failings of the Eagles' defense were quite different. Even though San Diego came into the game with the lowest-ranked rushing offense, and with the rest of the league operating under the assumption that LaDainian Tomlinson was long past his prime, the Chargers ran the ball effectively, with Tomlinson gaining 96 yards. He scored two touchdowns, including a 20-yard run that highlighted the Eagles' inability to get in the right place and make tackles once arriving there.

While the last failure was the most apparent - leaving the Eagles trailing by eight points with no time-outs and just 30 seconds to play - it was no more important than when the Eagles couldn't defend a direct snap on one drive in the first half or react to a well-timed draw play on another. The Chargers scored touchdowns on both of those drives, and added two more in the third quarter.

On the first drive, Asante Samuel had his weekly missed tackle and there was a silly roughing penalty. On the second, a crucial third-and-2 play became an automatic first down when Ramzee Robinson lined up offside at the cornerback position.

You say you didn't know there was a player named Ramzee Robinson on the roster? It would have remained a secret had Ellis Hobbs and Joselio Hanson not been lost last week; Hobbs because of a neck injury, Hanson because he can't digest Kung Pow pork, apparently.

Too many changes all at once was the problem yesterday. There were too many new parts being thrown into the engine for it to operate properly. The bad news it that it might not get better any time soon.

"We can't use injuries as an excuse," defensive coordinator Sean McDermott said. "We have to keep the focus on getting the job done. We've got good football players with a lot of heart and soul."

Yeah, the thing is, so do the other teams. And if you are playing your third- and fourth-string options against the other teams, there will be mismatches and execution breakdowns and more stupid penalties . . . which is quickly becoming an Eagles specialty.

"That was more points than we wanted to give up," said Will Witherspoon, who was moved from middle linebacker to the weak side to make up for the loss of Akeem Jordan. "But we know this is a process. We expect the next guys in line to step up."

That would be nice, but it won't always work that way. Chris Gocong, who played middle linebacker yesterday for the first time since high school, did well enough, but that doesn't mean it was seamless.

"There were times when I had to think about what I should be doing," Gocong said. "For the most part I felt good."

The Eagles don't have time for a slow process, and their desperate situation got worse when Sheldon Brown injured a hamstring and missed the second half. This is not the part of the schedule in which they can coast along and pick up wins without playing particularly well.

"We came up stinking short," said Andy Reid. "But with that kind of fight and that kind of heart, we're going to be OK."

Eventually, the Eagles are going to have to realize this is a test of talent, not personality. Fight and heart are wonderful. Talent would be more useful.

Contact columnist Bob Ford

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