As Usual, Eagles Self-Destruct On Final Series Of Another Loss

The game ended the way we all could have predicted.  The Eagles beat themselves on the final series without help from the Redskins.

On the final play of the game, Nick Foles should have had the clock in his head set at five seconds.  Once he counted out the five seconds and nobody was open, he should have thrown the football away.  Instead he tried to do too much and it cost the Birds their final opportunity to tie the game up.

Foles took the snap dropped into the pocket.  The offensive line was doing an outstanding job on this particular play, but the receivers weren’t getting open.  The quarterback looked to his right, to the middle then to his left, but still there was no where to go with the football.

He felt some pressure to his right, so he started rolling to his left.  The pressure was closing in so at the last split-second he decided to get rid of the football with a second to go on the game clock, but he wasn’t able to follow through on the throw because he was falling backwards.

The fact that he wasn’t able to get his body into the throw prevented the ball from going past the line of scrimmage and that resulted in a intentional grounding penalty, which meant ten seconds had to be run off the clock, so it ended the game, fittingly.

It’s the way the season has gone for the Eagles, self-inflicted wounds have doomed them time and time again.

Foles made that same mistake earlier in the game when he had about ten seconds to find an open receiver.  He rolled to his right and rolled to his right and rolled to his right.  Eventually Redskins linebacker Ryan Kerrigan arrived, stripped him of the football.  It was scooped up by Washington defensive back Richard Crawford, who could have returned it for a touchdown had Eagles rookie offensive tackle Dennis Kelly not been in the area.

The young quarterback also missed a wide open Jeremy Maclin, who had run an out route in the end zone, but Foles’ throw was short.  You’ve got to be able to make this throw if you want to be a franchise quarterback in the NFL.

Redskins defensive coordinator Jim Haslett was making things easy for the Birds by not jamming any of the Birds receivers at the line of scrimmage.  Maclin was in the slot on the out route and was able to release and run a one-on-one route with the safety, which is a dream come true for any receiver.

On another play in the final series the Birds lined recently signed tight end Evan Moore up wide to the right side.  He ran a quick slant and Foles hit him right between the numbers.  It would have been a sure touchdown, but the tight end let the ball go through his hands.  It  hit off of his chest and fell to the ground as the receiver fell to the ground.

It was a good call and good throw, but you wonder why the Birds didn’t give starting tight end Brent Celek a chance to make the catch rather than Moore.

It was fitting that