The euphoria of a 3-0 start, capped by the dismantling of a Super Bowl contender, came to an abrupt halt yesterday with an exasperating, endlessly frustrating road loss to the Detroit Lions. Early bye weeks are the fucking worst, and this one lasted through the first quarter for the whole team (and the entire first half for the defense), resulting in a quick 14-0 deficit that put the Eagles behind the eight ball for the final three quarters. Overall, it was exactly the kind of reality check game we needed to remind ourselves that this Eagles team is still in the building phase and has fatal flaws that will prevent it from being the regular juggernaut we saw steamroll the Steelers.

THE GOOD

Carson Wentz

I just have to keep reminding myself that, above all else, this season has one purpose: Determining whether Carson Wentz is for real and the right quarterback to lead this franchise for the next decade-plus. He is. Wentz put forth another impressive performance and was by far the best player on offense. Wentz was in complete control, comfortable in the pocket, patient going through his reads to find the open man, continued to improve on third down, and showed off improvisational skills that separate truly great quarterbacks from the pack. I also love that he flashed his legs as a weapon with the zone read keep that resulted in a 10-yard gain; it only happened once in this game, but I’m hopeful it becomes a much more regular occurrence moving forward (since it needs to be given the lack of big play options).

The only glaring blemish for Wentz was what amounts to his first real rookie mistake on the game-ending interception. We’ve seen glimpses of the gunslinger mentality, and it’s a risk-reward proposition we’re going to have to accept since it’s what will contribute to making Wentz a transcendent player. I appreciate the gumption in going for the jugular on the first play of the final drive since it’s certainly not what the defense was expecting and would’ve effectively ended the game had it worked. But it didn’t.

Second half defense

It was night and day from the first half, where the defense that had asserted itself as one of the best in the NFL went all 2015 on us and showed the resistance of Swiss cheese in letting Matthew Stafford slice and dice them for three touchdown on three possessions. Whatever tactical adjustments were made at halftime by Jim Schwartz, the most notable difference was in one key personnel decision. Vapid, “we were just experimenting with different personnel packages” bullshit aside, we all know Nigel Bradham didn’t play in the first half because of team-imposed discipline for being a breathtakingly dumb individual. But this is the NFL, and the desire to win a football game is greater than the desire to send a message. Bradham was unleashed after halftime, played like a bat out of hell and helped change the entire tone of the defense. He can obliviously carry a loaded gun in my airport anytime.

The Lions ran 23 plays in the second half, lost a fumble and gained just 44 yards. Of course, 27 of those yards came when they needed them most on the game’s most crucial third down and got them into position for the deciding field goal.

Discounting inconsequential end-of-game drives, here’s what the Eagles defense has done in the second half of games so far:

Browns – 20 plays for 72 yards, 2 turnovers (one on downs), 3 points

Bears – 28 plays, 140 yards, 3 turnovers (one on downs), 0 points

Steelers – 30 plays, 136 yards, 4 turnovers (two on downs), 0 points

Lions – 23 plays, 44 yards, 1 turnover, 3 points

Totals: 101 plays, 392 yards, 10 turnovers, 6 points. Not bad.

Darren Sproles

I’ll have to keep eating crow for asking for him to be featured less in the offense after the first two games. He averaged nine yards per carry, had 68 yards on nine total touches against the Lions and looked dangerous each time he had the ball in his hands. Now I have to ask, why wasn’t his number called more?

THE BAD

Mychal Kendricks

He had a chance to prove something and show Jim Schwartz he’s capable of playing in this defense. Instead, all Kendricks did was show Schwartz he’s right for not trusting him and parking his ass on the bench. It’s not a coincidence how bad the defense looked with him on the field versus how good it looked when Bradham played in his place. For someone with such obvious athletic ability, Kendricks is clueless how to take advantage of it (especially in coverage) and a gross liability in space. Add that to the missed reads, missed tackles, being generally out of position because he’s only concerned with potentially making a play that makes him look good instead of staying within the scheme, and here’s what you have: A player who won’t see the field this season except for injury/suspension reasons and who won’t be on the roster in 2017. However, I’m sure if you ask Mychal Kendricks, he’ll neglect taking any kind of personal responsibility since he thinks he’s the best linebacker in the NFL. He’s a guy who harnessed his talent just enough to get a big contract and then stopped caring. I wonder if he ever bagged Rihanna?

Stephen Tulloch

I know Jim Schwartz loves Tulloch, but he’s old, slow damaged goods who’s not even good inside the tackles anymore and will be targeted every time he’s on the field. Safe to say that whatever personnel variations Schwartz experimented with at linebacker in the first half of this game failed miserably.

The first interception of Carson Wentz’s career

Again, on its face this was a bad decision by Wentz given the time on the clock and the fact that the Eagles only needed a field goal to win, but it’s something we should all be fine living with since it’s going to come with the territory of his mentality as a player. Furthermore, it’s not like Nelson Agholor was in triple coverage and this was an ill-advised YOLO ball. Agholor beat the deep safety and was one-on-one with inside position on the boundary corner. Unfortunately, it was the Lions’ best cornerback and one of the league’s better yet probably most underrated cornerbacks, Darius Slay. That’s not a matchup Agholor has proven he can win, or really even compete since his play strength is severely lacking. Wentz’s throw was not a good one; he needed to lead Agholor inside but left it over his outside shoulder, which is the only way Slay had a chance to make a play. There was a subtle grab and pull of Agholor by Slay, but that’s a veteran move and regardless of how awful the officiating crew was (and they were as bad as you’ll ever see), there’s no way they were going to make a pass interference call there unless it was super egregious. On the whole, Wentz’s throw wasn’t perfect but he still gave his guy a chance to make a play, and Agholor didn’t help him out at all. I know it’s easy to nitpick after the fact, but how about having a modicum of awareness to feel the defender on your back and, I don’t know, even so much as jumping to attack the ball in the air instead of settling to watch it into your hands? Fair or not, that’s the kind of play that’ll stick with me to encapsulate Agholor’s substandard compete level, overall nonchalance and the fact that he simply shows no top-level skills. But hey, I’m sure someone will point out that he made a nice catch with a Slay draped all over him earlier in the game. Baby steps!

Tight end involvement in the offense

Zach Ertz’s return was supposed to jumpstart the ballyhooed three-TE set and add a dynamic dimension to the offense. The Lions posed the ideal opportunity to make it happen, seeing as how the defense had allowed 21 catches, 236 receiving yards and a staggering six (6!) touchdowns to tight ends through four games.

Nope.

Wentz targeted his tights ends just five times (three for Ertz, two for Trey Burton, zero for Brent Celek), resulting in four catches for 42 yards. Ertz wasn’t even targeted in the second half.

I don’t know if the Lions specifically schemed to take the tight ends away, Pederson/Reich simply didn’t call enough plays for them, or if none of the three got open, but this was a huge failure from both a game-planning and position group performance standpoint.

Zero touches for Wendell Smallwood and Kenjon Barner

What the fuck? Come on.

THE UGLY

Officiating crew

Honestly can’t remember a more pathetically officiated game. Take your pick on at least five of the 14 penalties accepted against the Eagles (and there were plenty more called) that were beyond absurd. I’ll choose to highlight the “hold” on Brandon Brooks in which the defender flopped and threw his hands up and the ref bought it to negate a long Ryan Mathews’ run that would’ve set the the Eagles up with first and goal but instead forced them to settle for a field goal to make it 23-21. Sproles’ “chop block” when the defender tried to hurdle him and Sproles speared him instead also comes to mind. Dean Blandino absolved them of the embarrassment of possibly not knowing the live-ball-touching-an-out-bounds-player-is-a-dead-ball rule by asserting it was “inconclusive” (looks pretty conclusive to me) whether the ball actually touched Jason Kelce before the Lions recovered. These refs were stone-cold buffoons and made no mention of it after the review, so I’m inclined to believe they didn’t know the rule. Of course they wouldn’t know the rule. I’m now too enraged to think of more garbage penalties because they all blend together anyway. Add in the fact that the Lions, who were averaging 10 penalties per game coming in, only were penalized twice, and you have a fucking shameful debacle of epic proportions.

Pete Morelli and his crew were the same ones who screwed the Lions over in the playoff game against the Cowboys, so maybe they were feeling extra charitable. I’m sure they’ll be “reprimanded” by the league, aka absolutely nothing will happen. Excited to see them again later in the season!

Settling for a field goal after recovering Stafford’s fumble at the 16-yard line

The Eagles had just marched down the field and scored a touchdown to open the second half, then the defense went to work and Stafford fumbled inside his own 20. It was time to capitalize on the momentum shift and step on the Lions’ throat, but the Eagles let them off the hook.

Raise your hand if you immediately felt like the Eagles were going to lose after not turning that gift into touchdown. Everyone’s hand should be raised. They ran three plays for two yards, including a Dorial Green-Beckham dropped touchdown, and had to settle for a Caleb Sturgis field goal to make the score 21-20. It should’ve been 24-21. There’s no question in my mind that the floodgates would’ve opened much the same way they did following Sproles’ touchdown against the Steelers. Leaving the four extra points on the field is unacceptable, and it came back to haunt the Eagles.

First half defense

It was Thanksgiving of last year all over again.

Three drives, three touchdowns

32 plays, 225 yards

Zero resistance

The cherry on top: A critical facemask/helmet removal penalty by Fletcher Cox that erased a third down sack in the red zone and set up the third touchdown.

Ryan Mathews and the fundamentals

There’s only one thing that can’t happen when you’re protecting a slim lead on your side of the 50-yard line with a chance to ice the game: A turnover. For a veteran like Ryan Mathews, there’s no excuse not to be hyper aware of that. Utterly indefensible. The play call itself was DOA. Mathews should’ve just put two hands on the ball and braced for contact/been ok to go down for a loss of yards. Instead, he took a shit all over the fundamentals by putting the ball in his inside hand; then he tried to bowl over the defender, who stuck with pristine tackling fundamentals and popped the ball loose with his shoulder (what do you know, it was Darius Slay). Instead of being safe and smart, Ryan Mathews did the exact opposite in every way, and it cost his team the game. Hell of a time for the offense’s first turnover of the season. This was such a classic Eagles snatch-defeat-from-the-jaws-of-victory play.

NEXT WEEK

Washington at Washington. After an 0-2 start, the Skins are riding a three-game win streak and right back in the hunt for the division. The certainly have the weapons on offense to give our defense fits (you know DeSean is going to do something to devastate us). It’s the Eagles’ first NFC East game of the season and also poses the first major test of this group’s collective resolve. We’re about to get our first look at how this team bounces back from disappointment. Life comes at you fast, and a loss next Sunday means staring 3-3 in the face with a daunting task at home the following week against the Vikings and their vicious defense.