Domowitch: Bradham's playing time reduced in first half

DETROIT - Nigel Bradham has had better weeks.

There was the embarrassing arrest last Sunday at Miami International Airport for carrying a loaded gun in his backpack.

There was the ignominy of explaining the incident to reporters.

There was the pain and humiliation of hearing defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz - a man he likes and respects and loves playing for - stand in front of those same reporters and call him a "dumb ass."

Then, on Sunday, Bradham, who has been one of the Eagles' top defensive performers thus far, had to deal with spending much of the first half of his team's 24-23 loss to the Lions in an unfamiliar place.

On the sideline.

Bradham, who had played 96 percent of the Eagles' defensive snaps in their first three games, found himself rotating with Mychal Kendricks in the first half. This is the same Mychal Kendricks who has been in Schwartz's doghouse since the start of the season and played just nine snaps against Pittsburgh in Week 3.

Common sense suggests Schwartz slashed Bradham's first-half playing time as punishment for the gun incident. Schwartz doesn't talk to the media after games, so we're going to have to wait until Thursday to get his explanation.

In all likelihood, it will mirror the one given after the game by head coach Doug Pederson, who said they simply wanted to give a few more reps to Kendricks and Stephen Tulloch.

That's his story and he's sticking to it.

Anyway, with Bradham playing significantly reduced snaps in the first half, the Lions managed to put up 21 points against a defense that had allowed just 20 in the first three games.

The Lions rushed for 77 first-half yards. They had 17 first downs before the half. Quarterback Matthew Stafford picked up where he left off last Thanksgiving and threw three first-half touchdown passes, two to running back Theo Riddick.

"It was a bunch of stuff,'' safety Malcolm Jenkins said when asked for his analysis of the defense's first-half problems. "There were a lot of penalties (eight in the first half, a season-high 14 overall). There were a couple of runs we let get to the outside. We were losing contain (on Stafford). Misfitting gaps.''

In short, things the defense didn't do in wins over Cleveland, Chicago and Pittsburgh. Things it didn't do when Bradham was playing almost every down.

Things it didn't do in the second half after Schwartz wisely sat Kendricks down and kept Bradham on the field.

It was an alert Bradham who recovered Stafford's third-quarter fumble at the Detroit 16, which set up the second of Caleb Sturgis' three field goals.

It was Bradham who sniffed out a bubble screen to Riddick in the fourth quarter and dropped him for a 6-yard loss. It was Bradham who prevented Riddick from picking up a first down a play later and forced the Lions to punt the ball away with five minutes left in the game.

The Lions scored just three points in the second half, though those three points ended up being lethal. They came on a 29-yard Matt Prater field goal with 1:28 left following an inexcusable Ryan Mathews fumble, and turned what looked like a valiant road comeback into a heart-breaking, one-point defeat.

The Lions rushed for just three yards in the second half. Stafford threw for just 58 yards, though 27 of them came on a third-and-4 pass to Golden Tate that set up Prater's game-winning field goal.

It was one of just three third-down opportunities the Lions converted all day.

"I think we played a lot more disciplined, a lot more focused, in the second half,'' defensive end Connor Barwin said. "It's a lesson to be learned. You can't spot somebody two quarters and then try to come back in the second half.

"They made some nice plays and some good calls. But that's all stuff we prepared for and practiced for during the week. They tried it in the second half and we stopped them.''

Bradham said he was told during the week that they were going to rotate him with Kendricks in nickel packages.

"They pretty much told me going into the game that they wanted to figure out a rotation with the linebackers,'' he said. "Like they've been doing with Jordan (Hicks and Tulloch at MIKE). Today, they wanted to start rotating me and Kendricks.''

Kendricks had another rough game. He gave up Stafford's first touchdown pass to Riddick. Later, he had a costly missed tackle of Riddick on the touchdown drive that put the Lions up, 21-7.

Jenkins said Schwartz didn't do any yelling and screaming at halftime.

"He didn't say much beyond the obvious,'' he said. "(He told us) do your job. Fit where you're supposed to fit. Hold the edge when you're supposed to hold it. And don't commit penalties.

"We made some schematic adjustments. But it really came down to (just saying), 'OK, we're going to man these guys up. Everybody go out there and do their job.' And that's what we did. Guys fit the right way. We played and communicated.

"They weren't running anything mind-blowing or earth-shattering. They had a couple of wrinkles that we hadn't seen. But other than that, we missed contain, we got penalties, we misfit runs.''

Said Pederson: "I just think they really settled into their assignments, into their roles, the game plan. Coach (Schwartz) didn't change up anything. Guys just started making plays.

"I felt like Detroit in the first half was maybe a half step ahead of us a little bit. And then in the second half, we got together and they did an outstanding job. They gave us an opportunity to win the game.''

An opportunity that was squandered when Mathews put the ball on the Ford Field carpet with 2 1/2 minutes left.

"I feel we played our style of football in the second half,'' Bradham said. "We can't come out flat. I feel that's what happened today. We came out flat. Got penalized way too much, which is uncharacteristic for us.

"We had a couple of adjustments we needed to make (at halftime). They had a couple of screens that had gotten out(side) on us and a couple of tosses.''

By the numbers
* Carson Wentz's fourth-quarter interception ended a career-opening streak of 134 pass attempts without an interception. It's the second longest in NFL history. The Cowboys' Dak Prescott has the longest. He's at 155 passes and counting without a pick.
* Wentz and the Eagles' former quarterback, Sam Bradford, have a combined 106.5 passer rating, including 13 touchdown passes and just one interception in 260 collective attempts.
* The Eagles had 14 penalties for 111 yards Sunday. Both numbers are season-highs. The Lions were penalized just twice for 18 yards.
* The Eagles gave up touchdowns to the Lions on both of their first two possessions. That's something that never happened last season.
* The Eagles had six runs of 10 yards or more against the Lions. Darren Sproles had three of them. He had just one in the first three games.
* Three of the Eagles' 11 third-down situations against the Lions were 3 yards or less. That equals the number they had in the first three games. For the season, just six of 51 third-down situations have been 3 yards or less. That's the fewest in the league.
* Six different Eagles receivers had at least three receptions Sunday. Six different receivers also had at least 23 receiving yards.
* Punter Donnie Jones has had just two of 17 punts returned in the first four games.
* The Eagles committed their first two turnovers of the season.
* Wentz's 25 pass completions Sunday were the third most ever by an Eagles rookie.
* The Eagles had four sacks Sunday, two in the third quarter and two in the fourth. Ten of their 14 sacks this season have come in the second half.

@Pdomo Blog: ph.ly/Eagletarian.com