What happened?
Up 19-10 in the fourth quarter, the Eagles let Tennessee score 27 points in the last 13 minutes of the game and fell to 4-3 and the season.
The Good:
This won't take long.
David Akers was 4/4 on field goal attempts just a week after missing three against the Falcons.
Sav Rocca averaged almost 50 yards per punt.
Riley Cooper had three catches for 51 yards and his first NFL touchdown.
Chris Johnson had a quiet day, being held to 66 yards on 24 carries.
The Bad:
LeSean McCoy only had 48 yards on 16 carries. At just three yards a carry, that's not good enough. He did have six catches for 54 yards, though.
A week after having a career game, Jeremy Maclin caught just five passes for 42 yards.
Kevin Kolb did everything he could to give the starting job back to Michael Vick, completing 26 of 48 passes for 231 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions. He also fumbled at the Tennessee three yard line in the third quarter.
The Ugly:
The fourth quarter was one of the worst that I've ever seen. The Eagles allowed Kenny Britt to run wild through their secondary, and Britt finished the day with 225 yards and three touchdowns.
Ellis Hobbs was covering Britt for most of the fourth quarter. That was a mistake.
Nate Allen got burned on the 80 yard touchdown pass to Britt, and had the worst game of his young career.
Philadelphia had four trips into the red zone, and only scored one touchdown.
The Eagles committed ten penalties, costing them 100 yards.
Once again, I have to mention the fourth quarter. 27 points in 13 minutes? Really?
The Breakdown:
Two days after this game, and I still can't quite come to terms with it. For 45 minutes, the Eagles had handled the Titans, with the defense sacking Kerry Collins three times, intercepting him twice and forcing him to fumble as well. Then, after a David Akers field goal, his fourth of the day, things went south in a hurry. Kenny Britt caught an 80 yard touchdown pass on the next offensive play, and from that point out, the Eagles couldn't stop Tennessee's offense. Every Titans drive for the rest of the game resulted in points, and by the time the dust had settled, the Titans had scored 27 points in 13 minutes, and the Eagles had been handed their worst loss of the season.
While it would be easy to pin this loss on the defense, and trust me, I'll get there, the core of this entire defeat comes down to one simple fact: the Eagles didn't perform in the red zone. Four times, Kevin Kolb got the offense down inside the Tennessee 20 yard line, and just once did they come away with a touchdown. Two times, David Akers kicked short field goals, and the other time was the turning point in the game. On third and goal from the three yard line, Kolb lost a fumble that the Titans recovered. Tennessee kicked a field goal on the ensuing drive, and while the Eagles came back down the field and answered with another field goal, the tide had turned in the game. It wasn't the only time that Kolb cost the Eagles a chance at points during the game, either. In the second quarter, Quintin Mikell forced a Kerry Collins fumble that Juqua Parker recovered. On the very next play, Kolb threw an interception at midfield. That's not what a starting quarterback in the NFL should be doing. Kolb still struggled against the Tennessee defense, and though the running game never got established and some of the play calling was predictable, it wasn't good enough. The Eagles had the Titans on the ropes for most of the game, but their failures in the red zone doomed them.
Of course, the defense in the fourth quarter was as bad as they've been all year. While they were able to shut down Chris Johnson for most of the game, Kenny Britt burned them for three touchdowns and 225 yards on seven catches. His 80 yard touchdown catch early in the fourth quarter began the Tennessee onslaught, and his 16 yard touchdown later in the quarter gave the Titans an eight point lead that they wouldn't give up. Quite simply, Ellis Hobbs should not be a starting cornerback for this team. He looked horrible against Britt, and was called for a pass interference call when the Titans were facing a second and 12 at their own one yard line that allowed them another chance. Tennessee kicked a field goal on that drive, and Kerry Collins picked on Hobbs the rest of the game. Nate Allen had his worst game as a pro, as he struggled to cover Britt as well. The only silver lining to the entire thing was that Britt was benched for part of the first half, so he didn't get a chance to set an NFL record for receiving yards. Had he played the entire game, he might have done just that.
There are no excuses for this game. This was a total team failure. The offense couldn't score touchdowns when they needed to, and the defense couldn't stop the Titans when the Eagles were up 19-10. A stop on Tennessee's drive at that point, rather than an 80 yard touchdown pass to Britt, might have allowed the Eagles to drive back down the field and score again, then who knows how the game turns out. Instead, the Eagles had a complete and total breakdown. The offense could do nothing, going three and out for most of the fourth quarter, and the defense allowed the Titans to score almost at will. It may have only been 15 minutes, but that fourth quarter could define the entire season for the Eagles. The NFC isn't very good this year, and if the Eagles had won that game, they would have been sitting at 5-2, the best record in the NFC. Now, they're at 4-3, tied for second place in the NFC East with the Redskins and they're dealing with a horrible loss against a team that they should have beaten.
The only good part about this whole thing is that the Eagles have their bye week next week. Michael Vick will be the starting quarterback again, so says Andy Reid, when the Eagles play the Colts in Week 9.
Dammit, they play the Colts next? Oh, that's not going to be fun to watch. Peyton Manning's going to have a field day if this team doesn't get their act together.
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