Eagles lose on late Washington score

LANDOVER, Md. — The Eagles' preseason glow has all but vanished, with quarterback Sam Bradford declaring those summer expectations "gone" after Sunday's 23-20 loss to the Washington Redskins.

Nowhere in Chip Kelly's offseason overhaul was this part of the plan. The organizational aspiration of going from "good to great" did not include a 1-3 record at the quarter point of the season.

"Everyone's a little frustrated right now," Bradford said. "This is not where we wanted to be or expected to be after Week 4."

The loss came by a slow death, with the final points coming at the end of a 15-play, 90-yard drive that ate up 5 minutes, 39 seconds late in the fourth quarter. But the defense's inability to preserve the lead was not the sole reason the Eagles lost.

It was a collective defeat from an offense that continues to work only one half and a special teams unit with a kicker whose critical misses might limit his employment to one week.

The end result is a team that has now lost three of four games by an average of five points, has two division losses, and finds itself entering the second quarter of the season needing a resurgence if it's going to fulfill preseason expectations.

"At this point, when you're 1-3, those expectations are gone," said Bradford, who went 15 of 28 for 270 yards and three touchdowns.

Bradford spread the ball to seven different receivers, with Riley Cooper's 71 yards leading the group. The running backs averaged 4.8 yards, but had only 18 combined carries. DeMarco Murray rushed eight times for 36 yards, and he said after the game that he does not think he's getting enough touches. The Eagles played most of the game without Pro Bowl left tackle Jason Peters, who reaggravated a quadriceps injury.

The Eagles offense finished with 320 yards, but Washington totaled 417 and went 9 of 17 on third downs.

The Redskins' game-winning drive will linger. The Eagles led by four points when the Redskins started at their 10-yard line with 6:05 to go. The Eagles defense, undone by big plays last season, did not allow a play of more than 16 yards on the drive. But they were twice penalized and allowed two third-down conversions.

When the Eagles needed a goal-line stand from the 4-yard line with under a minute to go, quarterback Kirk Cousins found Pierre Garcon in a sliver of space between defensive backs Walter Thurmond and Eric Rowe. It was a 4-yard touchdown with 26 seconds remaining, and it effectively ended the game.

"Sometimes you have to let your receivers pay their bills, too," Washington coach Jay Gruden said. "Pierre did that and made a great play."

The touchdown came with the Eagles missing three of their 11 defensive starters from the beginning of the game: Brandon Bair (groin injury), Mychal Kendricks (hamstring), and Byron Maxwell (quadriceps).

It also came on the Eagles' 79th defensive play, but safety Malcolm Jenkins said fatigue was not the problem.

"Execution was an issue," Jenkins said. "They probably ran the ball a little more than we'd like. A couple third-down conversions on third and short. And then a couple penalties to extend the drive. That would take you 90 yards."

But the Eagles' problems happened well before that point.

The offense did not come alive until after halftime, when the Eagles showed a downfield passing game that barely existed in the first three weeks. Bradford attempted only seven passes of more than 20 yards in the first three weeks. On Sunday, Bradford completed four of them. Kelly said it was a product of the matchup against Washington's defense.

"You guys act like we don't want to throw the ball downfield," Bradford said. "I think we saw something we could take advantage of this week."

Bradford hit Cooper for a 62-yard touchdown pass deep down the middle of the field to start the Eagles scoring. New kicker Caleb Sturgis missed the extra point, so the Eagles only cut Washington's lead to 13-6.

After Bradford connected with Brent Celek for a 10-yard touchdown pass to tie the game at 13, Washington took the lead again when it settled for a field goal after going 65 yards on nine plays. That left the Eagles offense — a weakness in September — within striking distance. The Eagles' first lead came 20 seconds into the fourth quarter when Bradford found Miles Austin for a 39-yard score.

"It's not like we had any huge change to the game plan at halftime," Bradford said. "It's just what they presented us in the second half."

If only they had it in the first half, when the Eagles were scoreless. They only have one offensive touchdown in the first half this season.

"We didn't sustain anything in the first half offensively," Kelly said. "In the second half, we protected Sam better and gave him an opportunity to throw the football, and you saw what he could do."

There were plays in the first half that will gnaw at the team when they watch the film. After Nelson Agholor made a one-handed catch on a 45-yard pass in the second quarter, on the next play he mishandled the pitch on a reverse and Washington recovered the fumble.

The Eagles appeared to have a touchdown late in the second quarter when Zach Ertz caught an 11-yard pass in the end zone, but the play was nullified because Agholor lined up incorrectly. The Eagles settled for a 33-yard field goal attempt, which Sturgis missed.

The Eagles could have used those three points when the scoreboard read 23-20 at the end of the game. It left the team in a position it never expected after four games: last place entering a Week 5 game against New Orleans.

"We haven't given Philly really nothing to cheer about," Peters said. "We dug ourselves this hole, and we're going to try to get out of it."

zberman@phillynews.com

@ZBerm