NFL

3 things we saw as the Eagles fell to the Lions in Detroit

3 things we saw as the Eagles fell to the Lions in Detroit
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A Ryan Mathews fourth-quarter fumble — the Eagles’ first turnover of the 2016 season — led to the team’s first loss of the season, 24-23 in a heartbreaker in Detroit.

The Lions jumped to a big lead and even a poised and professional Carson Wentz (25-for-33, 236 yards, two touchdowns and an interception) nearly overcamea slew of bad calls, unforced errors and bad luck.

Philly battled back from down 21-7 to lead late in the fourth quarter, 23-21, with six minutes to go.

After holding the Lions to a three-and-out, Ryan Mathews fumbled the ball as the Eagles looked to run down the clock. Detroit recovered and gave itself a very a short field afterGolden Tate caught a 27-yard pass to get the Lions into the red zone. Matt Prater drilled a 29-yarderto put the Lions up.

Wentz threw his first career interception to end the game on the Eagles ensuing comeback try.

Wentz more of the same

Wentzshook off the weight of his first real, big NFL deficit by leading several scoring drives to get the Eagles back into things down 14-0 after the first 15 minutes.

Wentz first engineered a drive that ended with a short pass to Ryan Mathews to chip into the Lions’ lead. Then at the end of the first half, somehow the Birds fought through a few costly penalties to get a field goal, entering the locker room down 21-10.

In the third quarter, the Eagles wasted no time again marching down the field 75 yards on nine plays (the same make up of their first touchdown drive) posting a touchdown on a pass to Josh Huff. Later, on Detroit’s first possession of the second half, the Birds forced a fumble in the red zone setting up a chip shot field goal for Caleb Sturgis, the Eagles down 21-20.

Despite Wentz’ deep ball to Agholor that was picked off to end the game, the rookie had another impressive performance in Week 5.

Defense comes to earth

The Eagles defense was putrid to start things off, committing several lazy penalties (alongside the unwarranted ones) and surrendering three touchdown passes to Matthew Stafford.

But Philly turned it up in the third quarter, keeping the Lions out of the end zone in the second half. Philly ran away with a key takeaway on a Nigel Bradham strip sack to help keep the game tight.

The offense was unable to turn it into more than six points on two field goals, though a fourth quarter triple did put Philly ahead 23-21.

A clutch three-and out got the Eagles defense off the field quickly and gave Wentz and the offense the chance to run down the clock.

Too many mistakes

It was just one-sided. The Eagles couldn’t get a break, stifling several drives with big penalties on offense and extending several Lions ones on defense. On paper (and during the game) itseemed selective — as the Eagles were flagged 14 times for 111 yards and Detroit just twice for 18. Many looked to be unfair but several were of the Eagles’ own doing like a pair of delay of games calls on Wentz.

The Eagles turned it over twice in the fourth quarter, sealing their own fate with Mathews’ costly fumble as the Eagles attempted to run the clock down and Wentz’ interceptionto end the game. Both of these were avoidable and ball security as well as discipline on the field, no doubt,will be stressed in practice next week.