Marcus Hayes: The timeout that burned the Eagles

GLENDALE, Ariz. - When the Eagles burned that timeout at the start of the second quarter, you knew it was going to bite them.

It always does, right?

Michael Vick later got sacked and fumbled. The Cardinals ran it back for a touchdown on the final play of the first half, effectively sealing the win.

On that play the Cardinals blitzed without fear, from Vick's left. Safety Kerry Rhodes, untouched, hammered Vick and forced the fumble.

Why did they blitz fearlessly?

Why did they know it had to be another pass?

Because the Eagles had no timeouts.

Because they had burned that timeout at the start of the second quarter.

The Eagles had to pass three times in a row from the Cardinals' 1 in the last 16 seconds of the half. They could not run. They didn't have enough time. So, Rhodes blitzed without reservation.

His sack was the ninth hellacious hit Vick took in the first half, one of five sacks and 17 total hits Sunday, and about the 50th he has taken in the short season. He took that particular hit, at least in part, because the Eagles burned a timeout at the start of the second quarter.

Six seconds remained in the first half, and it was third-and-goal. The Eagles trailed, 17-0. They had three points in the bag, but the Cardinals' defense hadn't allowed a point so far. It didn't look like it was going to allow many more, either. Also, the Cardinals would receive the second-half kickoff.

The Eagles could have kicked a field goal with 6 seconds left, but they needed a touchdown, not a field goal, to end the half.

They needed to give it to running back LeSean McCoy, who, in 2011, was the best touchdown machine in the franchise's history.

They might have opted for Vick to hold on to the ball, given him a keeper call, the way they did to beat the Ravens.

But they couldn't take that chance. If Vick or McCoy didn't score, the Eagles would not have had a chance to run another play.

Because they had burned a timeout at the start of the second quarter.

Why?

"We had a problem on that play," coach Andy Reid muttered.

He actually muttered it.

Well, Reid knew what was coming: another critique of his biggest bugaboo, clock management. Reid has won 138 games, and he might be the best coach in Eagles history, but he hates this particular criticism. So, he muttered.

Whenever the Eagles play poorly, Reid always says it is his fault. He said it again Sunday. In this instance, it was.

However, at fault or not, Reid declined to elaborate why the timeout was called.

Others were less reluctant.

Vick exited the stoppage between the first and second quarters with an assigned play for first down from the Cardinals' 38. He changed the play at the line when he saw Arizona's defense.

The play clock was dwindling, but the play was called.

Offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg said Vick did "a beautiful job" adjusting to the Cardinals' blitzes and feints.

Mornhinweg also said the Eagles frequently had trouble communicating with Vick via his helmet. Mornhinweg said he could not remember if the helmet malfunctioned on that particular play.

Regardless, Vick walked to the line, switched the call, then was startled.

"I changed the play. The coaches thought the clock was going to run out," Vick said. "So they called the timeout."

Fourteen minutes, 44 seconds later, that timeout haunted the Birds.

"That timeout would have helped us there," guard Evan Mathis said.

He agonized over the "little things" that have cropped up in the Eagles' two close wins and, again, in the pounding they took Sunday.

Little things . . . like wasting a timeout?

"There were a lot of things," Mathis said.

One of those little things got big real fast.

When Vick was sacked and fumbled, McCoy was baited by a blitz fake from a defensive back on the right side. McCoy could not recover quickly enough to block Rhodes, who blazed in from the left.

James Sanders scooped up the ball and scooted 93 yards to make it 24-0.

With the Cardinals' defense playing at its elite level, that was that. The Eagles simply had too many other problems to recover.

Left tackle Demetress Bell, Plan C at the position, had false-started and had held and had been manhandled all game. King Dunlap's hamstring and Jason Peters' Achilles' ached in sympathy.

Center Dallas Reynolds, an inspired substitute for Jason Kelce, who sustained a season-ending knee injury a week before, was an uninspiring replacement Sunday.

Rookie Damaris Johnson replaced No. 1 receiver Jeremy Maclin, who even with a bad hip last week caught a touchdown pass. Listed at 5-8 and 175, Johnson is 4 inches shorter and 23 pounds lighter than Maclin.

They desperately needed Maclin at the end of the second quarter. He is their only real threat in that situation.

Because they couldn't run the ball.

Because they burned a timeout at the start of the second quarter.

The other two timeouts had to be used when they used them.

Vick scrambled for 20 yards with 24 seconds left in the half, so they needed to burn that one. DeSean Jackson was smothered at the 1 with 16 seconds left, so they needed to burn that one, too.

Both times, spiking the ball would have taken too long.

Neither time, should it have mattered.

Because, with 16 seconds left and the ball at the 1, the Eagles should have had a timeout left.

But they did not.

Because they burned a timeout at the start of the second quarter.

Yes, the Cardinals showed the Eagles a defensive look the Eagles did not recognize. Yes, it is loud at the University of Phoenix Stadium.

But this was the third game of the season.

This was the 230th game of the Andy Reid era.

And, probably, the 200th instance in which the time-management skills of a Reid offense have fallen short.

This might seem like spitting into the wind, yelling into a storm.

There are bigger issues:

Vick's decision-making. The continued abuse of Vick, due to coverage, his reluctance to throw the ball away and his willingness to scramble.

The third straight undressing of the Eagles' offense, which now has scored 47 points in three games, fewest in the NFL.

And, of course, the 12 turnovers in 12 quarters, a significant contributor to scoring 47 points in three games.

But Vick's pocket unawareness is a careerlong problem. The offensive line is a reconstituted hodgepodge which, without Peters, can be expected to be no more than ordinary. Turnovers are as much physical mistakes as mental. Physical mistakes happen.

Mental mistakes are unforgivable.

Mental mistakes such as, say, calling timeout on the first play of the second quarter.