We knew things were gonna get worse before they got better, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy to take.

Let’s hit it!

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The roundup

This about sums it all up:

 

#nice:

 

I think maybe Carson Wentz should have thrown the ball away:

 

At least he set a record:

 

One of the worst things about the Eagles’ rough play is tweets like this:

 

Doug Pederson’s confidence did him wrong:

Pederson explained his thought process behind going for the first downs.

“Because I really felt good about how we were moving the football,” said the Eagles’ head coach. “Just my decision again to stay aggressive on the field and stay aggressive with our team. Again, it just came down to the way we were operating at that time.”

Prior to Sunday’s game, the Eagles converted all five of their five fourth down attempts this season. All of Pederson’s previous attempts at being aggressive had worked, so he entered the game with confidence it could work again. Unfortunately for him, he was wrong.

 

And Doug isn’t going to tone it down:

This is part of our growth process on offense. We’re trying to build this thing. We’re trying to do it right. By putting [the offense] in these situations, they’re going to be better for this. They’re going to be better, down the stretch; somewhere it’s going to pay off for us. It’s going to pay off for all of us, so I’m going to continue to be as aggressive as I can and try to send a message to our football team.

 

FiveThirtyEight gives the Eagles only a 4% chance to win the division.

 

As Bob Ford points out, it wasn’t so much the aggressiveness as the playcalls:

There’s also nothing necessarily wrong with going for touchdowns rather than field goals, but the play calls on Sunday didn’t match the challenges. Pederson chose a quarterback keeper to the left for Carson Wentz on the first one, a long fourth and 2 from the New York 23-yard line. That play was blown up quickly and lost 4 yards. The second decision came on a fourth and 1 from the New York 6-yard line, and Pederson called a plunge by 190-pound Darren Sproles behind a lead block by Isaac Seumalo, who lined up in a fullback position. It didn’t gain an inch.

 

Jason Peters still have a lot of faith in Carson Wentz:

“I believe Wentz is going to get the job done,” Peters said. “He’s a young quarterback. He’s going to learn from his mistakes. He threw a couple of interceptions, but I told him, ‘Don’t worry about it. Let’s go to the next play.’ He’s going to make more plays than he don’t. I just tell him, ‘Go on to the next play. Don’t worry about it. Three quarters left. Let’s go get it.'”

Sam Donnellon is worried Pederson’s mistakes are hindering the growth of Carson Wentz:

Pederson’s learning curve is impeding Carson Wentz’s learning curve. And it’s threatening to erode his early confidence, and the confidence of a team that surprised even itself with that 3-0 start, a team that in the six weeks since has left us with a recurring impression that other teams have learned more about the Eagles than they have about themselves.

That’s the lesson I’ve learned over the last five weeks of football, four of which have ended with losses. Three times those losses hinged on a couple of plays, and on more occasions than not, awful beginnings haunted potentially happy endings.

 

Zach Ertz summed it up pretty well:

“It’s not like we are in complete panic mode at 4-4, but at the same time, the margin of error has certainly dwindled for the rest of the year.”

Leodis McKelvin cursed himself out.

 

As Roob points out, close games are the downfall:

n all four losses, the Eagles have had the ball late in the game with a chance to tie or take the lead.

Every game the Eagles have won has been by at least 11 points. Every game they’ve lost has been by seven or fewer points.

This is only the second time in the last 30 years the Eagles have gotten to the midpoint of the season without winning a game by single digits.

It could be worse, you could be a (this) Rams fan.

 

Eli, WHAT DO YOU GOT?

https://twitter.com/TheNFLBeLike/status/795348345439010828

 

Travis Kelce really making the push at the title of Better Kelce.

 

Miles Teller still had to rep the birds even at a Rams game:

 

The Mannequin Challenge may be dumb, but the Jones family is very, very bad at it:

 

Everyone is all over Steelers kicker Chris Boswell for his botched onside kick at the end of the game, but it’s worked before for him:

 

If the NFL isn’t gonna let teams post their own highlights, they gotta do a better job on their own end.

 

Marc Zumoff has no time for your suggestions that his mispronounce Dario’s name:

 

Chooch was traded to the Mariners, who play at CBP in May:

 

In transit news: The SEPTA strike is over, and Uber is offering free rides to your polling place tomorrow if you need one.

 

Podcast:

We talk Joel Embiid’s amazing debut, the recent changes at WIP, Double Bird Man, the “We Matter” shirt controversy, and watching NBA League Pass:

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The Stepover Episode 14 talks winnable games, Brett Brown criticisms (before the Cavs loss), and some fun Joel Embiid stats:

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Number 1 Hockey Podcast Episode 2:

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