Eagles don’t show much in loss to Cardinals

GLENDALE, Ariz. - There's no crime in being pretty good.

Consider Canada; even Americans agree their neighbors are all right.

Malaysia isn't Singapore, but it's hard to have a bad time in Kuala Lumpur.

Sweden and Norway get all the press, but you might actually come out smarter if you're raised in Finland.

There is no häpeä in hailing from Helsinki, no shame having kinfolk in Calgary.

So, too, there is nothing wrong with being an Eagle; nothing wrong with being pretty good.

They had a chance to become the next Tokyo or Sydney; a shot to stand among the NFL's elite.

Instead, they turned the ball over three times; twice, inside the Cardinals' 20. They committed 11 penalties for 103 yards. They gave up two monstrous touchdown passes to receivers they knew could hurt them deep.

The Eagles are pretty good, but that's it.

They fell to 5-2, and the Cards moved to 6-1. The Eagles lost, 24-20, on a 75-yard bomb with 81 seconds left, thrown to a third-round rookie draft pick who has an NFL job mainly because he is obscenely fast.

John Brown ran a 4.33-second 40-yard dash at the NFL combine, second-fastest by just one-hundredth of a second. He played at Division II Pittsburg State, which last sent a player to the NFL via the draft 11 years ago - a first-round defensive end named Jerome McDougle, who spent time there before heading to Miami and then busted with the Eagles.

Brown's speed got him a lot of attention. In fact, it should have made him the Eagles' top priority. The Eagles were leading by three with 93 seconds left as the Cards faced third-and-5 at their own 25.

Nevertheless, Brown managed to split the notorious duo of Cary Williams and Nate Allen. He drew away from them and scored, with 81 seconds to play.

"That one's on me," Allen said.

Said Williams: "We knew he was fast. Out there on the field, though, it's a different beast . . . Just gotta play deeper in that situation. I thought I could catch him.

"We know now."

So do we.

Despite shutting out the Giants 2 weeks ago, their last game before their bye, we know now the Eagles' secondary cannot be counted on to secure a late lead. The 80-yard catch-and-run by star wideout Larry Fitzgerald early in the third quarter - that one beat a blitz, so it is easier to swallow.

The 75-yarder to Brown will stick in the Eagles' throats like pickled silli.

"It's all about making the plays late in the game," defensive coordinator Billy Davis said. "All the stuff that happens before in the NFL gets you to the last 2 to 4 minutes, and that's where you have to make a play.

"We had a four-man rush. No communication. Everybody knew what kind of coverage we were in. We just have to play it better."

For the most part, they played it pretty well.

"Absolutely. This group is close. We're not perfect. We make mistakes," Davis said. "We just make them at the end."

We also know, better, that the Nick Foles Experience of 2013 might be a herring of the red variety; that the 27-touchdown/two-interception performance in his part of last season increasingly looks like a combination of consistent offensive line play and the speed threat of departed receiver DeSean Jackson.

At the very least, we know that Foles, in his first full season as a starter, cannot be counted on to make sound decisions for a full game. His interception in the second quarter cost the Eagles at least a field goal. His interception in the fourth quarter set up the Cardinals' field goal that tied the game at 17.

"I was a split-second late," Foles said of the first; the second, he explained, "I missed him."

Sound familiar?

We know that rookie Josh Huff, drafted just before Brown, has to secure the football better. Huff's fumble at the Cardinals' 5-yard line early in the second quarter cost the Eagles at least three more points. He was coolly stripped from behind by Frostee Rucker, a 280-pound defensive tackle.

"I've just got to hold the ball closer," Huff observed.

"We've got to clean that up, especially in a game like this," said Eagles coach Chip Kelly. "It's so close, against a really good, quality opponent."

Before the game, Fitzgerald and Bennie Logan agreed about the quality issue. This measuring stick of a game would make one of these teams a team by which others are measured.

Fitzgerald caught seven passes for 160 yards and that touchdown. Logan anchored the middle of the Eagles' defensive line that dominated the last 40 minutes.

They were bright spots on teams that did much to prove that . . .

Neither is elite. The Cards are a little closer - they're Toronto, or maybe even Montreal - but neither is London nor New York.

Then again, neither is all that bad.

Carson Palmer passed for 329 yards and those two big touchdowns. Foles hit Jeremy Maclin for a 54-yard bomb, the centerpiece of a 411-yard passing day, which included 12 catches for 187 yards and two touchdowns to Maclin, the former a career high for him.

The quarterbacks' performances were not as sterling as those individual plays indicate. Palmer completed 20 of 42 passes, less than 50 percent. Foles threw his 11th and 12th touchdown passes but also threw his eighth and ninth interceptions.

The teams combined for 21 penalties for 198 yards.

The Cards' pass defense, their weakness thus far, got weaker when cornerback Patrick Peterson left with a concussion late in the second quarter. Certainly, both teams have strengths; the Cards have beaten the 49ers, an excellent team that the Eagles played to a standstill.

Both can grow. Both expect reinforcements, in the form of injured veterans returning.

For now, they will make do with what they have: Some good players, fine head coaches in Bruce Arians and Chip Kelly, momentum heading into the season's second half.

What they have is not elite.

The Eagles' defense was, largely, competent. Their special teams remain a revelation. Foles didn't make all bad decisions; just some.

The Cards' run defense is stifling. LeSean McCoy managed 83 yards on 21 runs. Call that an interesting standoff.

It was an Ottawa sort of game.

On Twitter: @inkstainedretch