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.
