This was a game Super Bowl teams don't lose

[time2rock]

This was a game Super Bowl teams don't lose

 

 

 

Reuben Frank

EAGLES INSIDER

There were maybe 12 moments in that game Saturday night where if the Eagles made a play -- got a stop, finished a sack, gained one more yard, recovered a fumble, protected the ball -- they win the game.

None of those 12 moments went their way, and now they've got to crank it back up and beat the Saints or the Giants to lock up the No. 1 seed. 

They've made life much more difficult for themselves, and they only have themselves to blame.

I want to say that true Super Bowl contenders make one of those 12 plays, but that's not quite right. I still think the Eagles can be a legit Super Bowl team, although I'm not as convinced as I was 24 hours ago.

The Eagles have to be better, and I get that there was a lot working against them Saturday. By the end of the game, they were missing Lane Johnson and Avonte Maddox and they were already obviously without Jalen Hurts. They were on the road in a difficult environment against a very good team.

But those are the types of things great teams overcome.

When you're up 10 points over your fiercest rival with five minutes left in the third quarter, you win that game.

When you record back-to-back sacks to put a team in 3rd-and-30, you don't allow a 52-yard pass, no matter who's in the game.

When your big-play receiver has five passes come his way, he doesn't let defenders out-muscle him for interceptions twice.

When you're down three with 2:19 left, your Pro Bowl running back doesn't fumble for no apparent reason inside your own 25-yard-line.

When you pile up 246 yards in a second half against a top-10 defense, you score more than 14 points.

The Eagles' costly mistakes Saturday weren't limited to the players.

When your third-string running back hasn't had a carry in two weeks and has never taken a handoff from Gardner Minshew in his career, maybe don't pick late in the third quarter in the biggest game of the year for the first one?

When you get a monster weapon like Dallas Goedert back in the lineup after a five-week absence, maybe give him more than three targets ... especially when Quez Watkins had five.

When you can essentially lock up the No. 1 seed just by stopping a 3rd-and-30, for crying out loud, you find a way to stop a 3rd-and-30. That's a play that shouldn't happen in a thousand years.

All year, the Eagles have played like winners. Winning plays at winning moments. They've won a few blowouts, but coming into Dallas they were 6-0 in one-possession games, which is the sign of a true championship contender. They've been finding a way all year.

Saturday, they didn't make those plays, and they actually did the opposite -- they made losing plays. In their biggest game in a few years, they came up shockingly small in the most important moments.

The Eagles did a lot of things well Saturday night in North Texas. DeVonta Smith looked like Mike Quick out there. The D-line became the first in NFL history with six sacks in four straight games and they did it against a team that hadn't allowed six sacks in two years. The O-line didn't allow a sack to a front that was second in the NFL in sacks. Josh Sweat had another monster game with 1½ sacks and a ridiculous pick-6. Two more sacks for Haason Reddick.

There's an awful lot to like about this Eagles team, and by winning 13 of their first 14 games, they've given themselves a cushion where they can afford to blow two 10-point leads against their biggest rival on Christmas Eve and still control the NFC.

I have little doubt that they'll beat the Saints at the Linc Sunday with or without Hurts. The Saints are pretty good defensively and Andy Dalton has played fairly well, but they're 1-6 on the road, 6-9 overall, 0-4 against winning teams. 

And if that doesn't happen, bring on the Giants.

But I don't even want to look that far ahead.

The Eagles still have an opportunity to do some really special things. They're well-coached, the roster is jammed with talent and they're still a 13-2 team that's one win away from a first-round bye.

But they've got to make sure that the mistakes we saw Saturday don't happen again. Or a season with so much potential is going to be over way too early.

https://www.nbcsports.com/philadelphia/eagles/eagles-loss-cowboys-super-bowl-teams-dont-lose

[birdman#12]

This is why rueben frank is one of the worst sportswriters I've ever read.

One game........one f-------- game.  The eagles gave a game away and Frank comes out with these idiotic articles like "This is a game the super bowl teams don't lose"...are you f------ kidding me?  Contenders lose these kind of games all the time.  Especially when the opponent is also a contender, at home playing against a back up QB.  The eagles shot themselves in the foot for the 2nd time in 15 games.....15 games.  They're 13-2 and will be the top team in the NFC and NFCE champs.

The the idiotic comment that "he THINKS the eagles can be a legit super bowl contender, but he's not as convinced as he was 24 hours ago"  WTF kind of an idiotic comment is that??

Again, one f------- game and Frank is ready to throw in the towel.  This idiot almost does a 180, despite all the things eagles have done this year.  How the f---- could this moron spent all these years around pro football and come up with these idiotic comments........he's worst than a completely clueless fan who doesn't understand football at all.

Hey, none of us like the eagles losing to Dallas, especially, giving the game away with so much on the line.  Dallas needed the eagles to hand them that game.  And the cowpies know that the eagles had to make multiple mistakes, to lose that game....they know that was an outlier and not likely to be repeated in the playoffs.   

It's amazing how a moron like rueben frank likes to throw historical, statistical, and useless, information around......his articles are loaded with ridiculous stats from the past......yet, after losing a game, he forgets all the things that propelled the eagles to the top of the NFC.  

The guys is a f------- terrible writer......if the eagles were as bad as rueben frank, they'd be 0-15.  The guy simply sucks.

 

[eagle45]

Superbowl teams lose games like this all the time.  

Super Bowl teams bounce back and obliterate the Saints the following week and then rest everyone up in the last week of the season though.  So we'll see how it goes.

[time2rock]

I don’t disagree with either of the above responses but I will say, legit Super Bowl contending teams clean up those mistakes and don’t allow them to become a pattern.  If they play sloppy against NO like they did against Dallas I’ll become concerned.  

[Erie]

This was an Article that Award Winning Journalists Don't Write

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[Portyansky]

I didn't read the whole article, just a few things. If everything stayed the same and it was Hurts with those final 3 downs, he gets into the end zone. I have absolutely ZERO doubt about it. And you know he would have seen Watkins standing there wide-open. That play reminded of ATL looking for only Julio, seemed that Minshew had his mind made up where he wanted to go. He's not as fast as Hurts so was a little rushed on his scramble, Hurts would have seen Watkins for at least a 1st down.

[UK_EaglesFan89]

Oh Roob you're such a Noob.

One game, one game that statistically was always going to be very hard to win. One game on the road against a division opponent on a short week. One game without your MVP candidate QB and a game you lost others to injury. One game where the opportunities were there to win but individual mistakes cost you.

Yes it was disappointing, yes there were chances to win that game and get things wrapped up for the year. But it was still a good performance in a game that I don't think many thought we'd win. 

[eagle45]

This one.  This one was a game Super Bowl teams don’t lose.

[LacesOut]

Yup this was bad. Embarrassingly bad.

[time2rock]

F this team.  Their season will end Jan 14 when they go 1-and-done in the playoffs.  F this complete joke of a team.  

[xxeaglesfanxx]

Any given Sunday but Super Bowl contenders don’t usually play like this in December. That first half was one of the worst I’ve ever seen. And this coaching staff is definitely not a Super Bowl one.

[LacesOut]

Beat the Giants, get as healthy as possible, and lets see what happens in January.

I don't feel really confident in the OC, DC, or HC though. Trying to be the smartest guy in the room gets a performance like we saw against the Saints and Cowboys.