Eagles' line comes up weak in defeat

During an afternoon of unfathomable mishaps and maladies for the Eagles offensive line, there was one moment that best represented the worst of it all.

From the falling sky, midway through the final quarter, the offense was given an opportunity to turn this stinker of a performance into something sweet. Cornerback Byron Maxwell stripped the football from Dallas tight end Gavin Escobar at the Eagles' 34-yard line, and safety Malcolm Jenkins returned the forced fumble 34 yards to the Cowboys 30.

With a field goal, the Eagles would have been within seven points on a day when they played poorly enough to be down by 70. With a touchdown, they would be down by only three and have all the momentum against a Cowboys team that had lost starting quarterback Tony Romo to a fractured clavicle.

Blink, and you missed the Eagles' chance to make this a game, and center Jason Kelce rightfully took all the blame.

"It was just real loud," Kelce said. "I thought I heard a snap count, and obviously there wasn't a snap count, and Sam [Bradford] wasn't ready for the snap because I snapped it early."

Things like that happen in a loud environment on the road. This was the Eagles' home opener.

Perhaps it was a by-product of always wanting to go fast. Sometimes it is better to settle in before you proceed, but that is not how the Eagles have been programmed to operate. Whatever, it looked like absolute chaos. Kelce's fellow linemen were not set, which drew a flag from the officials. The bigger problem was the ball bounced off Bradford and was covered by Dallas defensive tackle Nick Hayden.

The Eagles' millisecond of momentum was gone.

"Obviously you're trying to get any kind of energy or momentum you can get," Kelce said. "You're trying to pick guys up and get something started, and we just never did."

No, they did not, which is why the Eagles were left to explain a 20-10 loss that has left them at 0-2 and the rest of us wondering whether Chip Kelly's 2015 team is going nowhere fast. At the root of the problem is the offense, which failed to score a single point through the first three quarters and had just one first down and 21 net yards at halftime.

"At times like this, people will start pointing fingers, and that's not going to help," tackle Lane Johnson said. "The only thing we can do from this point is go up. What you saw today is probably the worst that you can see from us."

If it can get worse, this is going to be one of the most shocking Eagles seasons in a long time. Johnson said he had never been part of a worse offensive performance. Kelce recalled a Week 8 home loss to the New York Giants two seasons ago that was just as bad.

Perhaps the offensive line's signal caller picked that game because the following week the Eagles went on the road and put up 49 points against Oakland. That team, however, had Todd Herremans and Evan Mathis at the two guard positions. Those two veterans were discarded by Kelly in the offseason, and it sure appears as if Allen Barbre and Andrew Gardner are struggling to replace them.

Kelly seemed to pin more of the blame on the offensive line than running back DeMarco Murray, who carried 13 times for a total of 2 yards in his first game against his former team. As a team, the Eagles ran 17 times for 7 yards.

"Yeah, very disappointing," the coach said. "Couldn't get anything started. I don't think the running backs even really had time to assess if there was a hole. Too much penetration up front. Too many guys in the backfield."

Kelly would not discount changes before the Eagles' next game, Sunday against the New York Jets.

"We'll see," he said before repeating the same two words. "We've got to assess everything."

Kelce, meanwhile, did point a finger for the offensive line's failures. It says something about him that he pointed in his own direction.

"Right now, it doesn't matter who the running back is because we're not doing anything up front to be able to give him an opportunity," the center said. "We have got to get this fixed up front, from blocking assignments to double teams, whatever it is. Right now, I'm not playing well, and it doesn't matter who is playing next to me if I'm not getting my job done."

Kelce's ill-fated snap was the worst moment for the offensive line in Sunday's unsightly loss. But it was only one of many botched assignments. Now, the only thing the Eagles and their offensive line need to do fast is fix the long list of things that are wrong.

bbrookover@phillynews.com

@brookob