With 2m40s left in the fourth quarter and the 11-4 Philadelphia Eagles and 3-12 Arizona Cardinals knotted at 31-all, a disgusted AJ Brown walked off the field shaking his head at his team’s lackluster offensive playcalling. The Eagles, already in field goal range a reckless onside-kick attempt gifted them winning field position, went soft. On 1st-and-20 they dialed up a designed run for quarterback Jalen Hurts despite having one of the league’s most effective rushers in D’Andre Swift. Four-yard gain. Hurts ran it again on second down, this time for a three-yard loss. Even saddled with a 3rd-and-19, most teams closing in on an NFC East title and eying return Super Bowl appearance with last year’s MVP runner-up under center, would take a shot. Not the Eagles. They called a tunnel screen to running back Kenneth Gainwell that gained, well, only four yards.
It was a pitiful series from a playcalling standpoint. Their conservative tack against an overmatched Cardinals team that had nothing to lose after being trailing 21-6 is a quintessential example of playing not to lose.
But in speaking to reporters postgame, Nick Sirianni disagreed.
“I don’t think that’s conservative,” the Eagles third-year head coach said. “If they’re blitzing the gaps, you run a gap scheme. We could’ve thrown it, but we chose to run it, and it didn’t hit. It didn’t work. The screen, that’s gonna be tough to convert, the wind was blowing in our face there. We had to get in range.”
Philadelphia converted the field goal, but allowed the Cardinals to march down the field and nail down a 35-31 win at the death. The Arizona running back James Conner, who torched the Eagles for 128 yards and almost five yards per carry, scored the decisive touchdown.
Arizona head coach Jonathan Gannon, the Eagles’ defensive coordinator during last year’s Super Bowl run, called the perfect game plan in his return to Philadelphia. Not only did Gannon’s Cardinals leave Philly with the shock win, thet held the Eagles’ suddenly apprehensive offense to 251 yards.
As fate would have it, the present-day Eagles’ defense, or lack thereof, was most to blame for Philadelphia’s disastrous loss. Arizona did not punt, even once, and scored four straight touchdowns to close the game. Their run defense was torched by Conner and they generated almost no pass rush. Their third-down coverage was risible. That seemingly reckless onside kick with 5:19 remaining in a tie game that gifted the Eagles a short field? Gannon had that much confidence in his offense’s ability to score.
What an epic fall from grace for the Eagles, who have lost four of five games from a 10-1 start. More important, the Eagles just handed control of the NFC East to the Dallas Cowboys and face the prospect of playing their postseason run entirely on the road.
Even Sirianni’s big fix after back-to-back losses earlier this month, transferring defensive playcalling duties from Sean Desai to Matt Patricia, has been a disaster. On Sunday the Eagles, whose defense last year flirted with the all-time record for most quarterback sacks, looked like the worst defense in football.
This is still a proud unit that theoretically should be producing given the talent it has in guys young and old: like Jalen Carter, Brandon Graham and Fletcher Cox among others. Yet Carter had the team’s lone sack against Arizona, which is a microcosm of the season’s regression. Philadelphia have only 41 sacks on the season after a league-leading 70 in 2022.
Eagles players are keeping the faith.
“We’re not that far off as a defense, man,” Graham said from his locker. “We have to finish the season off right and from there, it’s a week to week thing. …I’m not worried. I believe in us.”
Good for Graham, in his 14th year the longest tenured Eagle in club history, for remaining positive. That’s part of the job, and the right thing to say.
But the truth is, other than crack-shot placekicker and Super Bowl LII hero Jake Elliott, there is much to be worried about in south Philadelphia. They started the day poised to host a playoff game and now they’ll likely to have to win out on the road.
It used to be sunny in Philadelphia, not all that long ago, and that’s why the Eagles will be in at the postseason regardless. But unless this team finds a pulse in the next week, its offseason is right around the corner.
MVP of the week
Lamar Jackson, Baltimore. The Ravens thrived in all three phases in a 56-19 trouncing of Miami but it was Jackson’s quarterbacking masterclass that stole the show. The 26-year-old punctuated his MVP trophy-in-waiting with a sensational five touchdowns, 321 passing yards and just three incompletions. Coincidentally (or not), the trifecta of Zay Flowers, Rashod Bateman and Odell Beckham have quickly become one of the league’s most exciting and sure-handed wideout corps. With the 2019 NFL MVP playing the best ball of his career, and giving OC Todd Monken endless options, the sky’s the limit for the Ravens, who have now clinched the AFC’s top seed.
Video of the week
This angle 😍
— Justin Fields Fan Club (@JustinFieldsFC) December 31, 2023
Elite throw by Justin Fields. Elite catch by DJ Moore. pic.twitter.com/EJ1ylYeZ5M
We saw a number of insane catches in Week 17, including a beauty by the Ravens’ OBJ and what seemed like a few dozen one-handed snatches. But this beauty from Justin Fields to DJ Moore takes the cake given the weather and overall degree of difficulty. Moore finished the day with nine catches for 159 yards and a touchdown and the Bears landed the No 1 overall pick in the draft from the same trade. Take a bow, Ryan Poles.
Stat of the week
17 consecutive seasons without a losing record. After a 30-23 win in Seattle, the Steelers ensured that once again they’ll finish a season with more wins than losses, all under head coach Mike Tomlin. It’s a remarkable streak given the natural ebbs and flows of the NFL, particularly for teams with uncertainty at quarterback. And the fact that some fans were hoping for Tomlin to be fired at various points this season is absurd. What this man has done is the stuff of legends. As teams that actually need a new head coach consider the options out there, Tomlin has given a clinic on the importance of organizational culture for nearly two decades. Build that man a statue.
Elsewhere around the league
• It wasn’t pretty or easy, but the emerging Rams eked out a 26-25 over the Giants. LA have now won six of seven from a 3-6 start and have far exceeded preseason expectations. Matthew Stafford’s improving heath and continued ability to make jaw-dropping throws has helped the cause. So has the incredible job by the Rams’ pro scouting department, which GM Les Snead fondly dubbed the “island of misfit toys.”
• The steal of the NFL trade deadline goes to the Bills and their acquisition of playmaking cornerback Rasul Douglas from the Packers. Douglas’s two interceptions, including one pick-six, played a pivotal role in Buffalo’s 27-21 win over the feisty Patriots. (A feisty Patriots defense anyhow.) It wasn’t Josh Allen’s best day, especially in the first half when he was just 7-of-20 for 46 yards. He also threw his 16th interception on the season, a fresh career high. His pocket accuracy needs to improve if Buffalo are going to make any noise this postseason. Though Allen does get a few redemptions point for this cool rugby play:
Josh Allen is playing backyard football
— PFF (@PFF) December 31, 2023
pic.twitter.com/ykBAYwmc4x
• Baker Mayfield was brought back down to Earth by New Orleans’ dominant defense in a 23-13 win that keeps the Saints alive headed into Week 18. But Tampa can still win the NFC South win a Week 18 win over the lowly Panthers.
• San Francisco bounced back from their Christmas loss to the Ravens with a convincing-enough 27-10 win at Washington. The 49ers pulled away in the second half as Purdy looked more and more comfortable. His 230 passing yards were enough to make him the 49ers’ single-season leader in passing yards, pretty impressive considering the franchise’s vintage at the position. By wrapping up the No 1 seed in the NFC, the 49ers don’t play a meaningful game until the divisional round. It will be fascinating see how much Kyle Shanahan plays his key starters when they host the Rams next week.
• Bears offensive tackle Larry Borom reported in as an eligible receiver twice in Chicago’s 37-17 win over the Falcons on Sunday, and both times, head referee Adrian Hill made it clear he’s no Brad Allen. No 75 reporting as eligible. No 75 reporting as eligible. No 75! Hill boomed. Allen and his crew, after a controversial end to the Lions-Cowboys game on Saturday night, remain under extreme scrutiny after making no such announcement and then throwing a flag after Detroit’s successful two-point conversion to Taylor Dekker that would have given them a late lead. Allen’s ineligible receiver verdict was later discovered to be erroneous and Dan Campbell is probably somewhere still screaming into the void. This is the same crew that in Week 13 notoriously missed flagging Green Bay’s Carrington Valentine for a clear pass interference on a deep ball to Chiefs wideout Marquez Valdez-Scantling in the closing seconds.
• Sure, there were several other moments when Detroit could have pulled out a win, including a better throw from Jared Goff on the Lions’ third (!) two-point conversation attempt. But these are decisive moments at the end of games. The officiating must be better, or the NFL can stop with its “integrity of the game” balderdash.
• With Carolina’s shutout loss to Jacksonville, the Bears have officially clinched the No 1 overall pick (via trade) in the 2024 NFL draft. If Chicago want to send a thank you card to anyone, make it Panthers wideout DJ Chark, who somehow managed to drop three catchable balls on three consecutive throws in Carolina’s 26-0 faceplant.
