Eagles' Sam Bradford can't do it himself

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - The play that told you all you needed to know about this offense occurred with 12 minutes left in the fourth quarter. The Eagles were trailing by five points. They needed 10 yards for a first down. They took a timeout. Then they ran a bubble screen.

A bubble screen.

On third-and-10.

Think about that. Chip Kelly the coach could have tried to beat his opponent using the talent that Chip Kelly the general manager had assembled. Instead, he tried to trick his opponent. And that speaks volumes.

Not that we needed the help. By the time Luke Kuechly spun Josh Huff down to the turf with 12:07 remaining in a 27-16 loss to the Panthers, the problem with this Eagles team was clear.

Jordan Matthews? Miles Austin? Huff?

At some point, somebody needs to make a play.

Hey, maybe it's the quarterback. Maybe Sunday night settled it. Maybe Sam Bradford simply does not have what it takes. Because, right now, what it takes is a quarterback who not only has the ability to make correct reads and accurate throws in the face of a near-constant pass rush, but also the ability to run his own routes and catch his own passes.

It's safe to say that Bradford cannot do any of those things, and that makes the quarterback question close to irrelevant at this point. Bradford, Mark Sanchez, Nick Foles - no version of any of them would have made a difference Sunday night.

Heck, keep on going up the hierarchy. Brady, Rodgers, Luck - none of them would have put the ball in a better position for Huff in the back of the end zone midway through the third quarter. None of them would have guided the ball any surer to Matthews in the second quarter. None of them would have put Austin in a more opportune position to extend the game on fourth down with 1:55 left.

Nobody is suggesting that Bradford has shown himself to be anything close to a quarterback of that caliber. But even if he had, would it matter? Is this team really only a quarterback away? Or is it a team that, it turns out, is devoid of all of those weapons and playmakers that Bradford was told he had back when the Eagles acquired him? That is what we told the guy, isn't it? That he finally had an offensive line that could block. That he finally had receivers who could catch. That he finally had teammates who would make the field look like a wide-open space.

Aren't you excited, Sam? Aren't you looking forward to it? That's what we asked him. Man, were we wrong.

Each week, it becomes more and more apparent that this team's problems are a lot simpler than we have been making them out to be. The Eagles are not talented. They cannot separate from defensive backs and they cannot catch when they do. An offensive line that has been inconsistent played the final three quarters without its best player. The official word on Jason Peters was back spasms. We'll see where that goes from here.

In the meantime, we shouldn't expect to see much out of this team. No doubt, the Panthers are a different team than the one the Eagles destroyed last season, particularly on the defensive side of the ball. But this is still a team that is starting Ted Ginn Jr. at wideout and Roman Harper and Kurt Coleman at safety.

Zach Ertz made a great leaping catch over man coverage from Harper down the left sideline for a 24-yard first down late in the third quarter. Ryan Mathews seemed to make a play every time he touched the ball, only to disappear to the sideline and forfeit whatever momentum the offense seemed to have gained. There were moments. But that's all they were. Moments.

Seven drops is what the unofficial tally said, but neither the number nor the label seemed to do them true justice. Matthews had to make that catch on the final possession of the second quarter. Instead, the Eagles kicked a field goal. The interception that bounced off his hands in the first quarter was not a perfect throw, but he has to make that one, too.

"It's embarassing," Matthews said afterward, and, in fairness to the guy, every day during training camp you saw him out there after practice working with the JUGS machine.

At the same time . . .

"I feel like I'm No. 1 on the list to take that responsibility on my shoulders to get it fixed," Matthews said.

Same goes for Huff, who had inside position and a clear look at the football on the second-to-last possession of the first half but was unable to corral it, thus forcing a kick. The worst one, though, was when he was being guarded by an out-of-position linebacker in the back of the end zone in the third quarter, and the ball was placed perfectly in his hands by a quarterback who was slithering up in the pocket while surrounded by rushers. The ball bounced off those hands, and down to the turf, and the Eagles settled for a 24-yard field goal.

Maybe the right quarterback overcomes all of these things. Or maybe the Eagles need the rest of their positions to make some plays.