Eagles comeback falls short in loss to Redskins

At the start of the Eagles game against the Washington Redskins, the Eagles looked like a team that could hang with the playoff bound Redskins. Nick Foles looked awesome and the defense played great behind another strong performance from Brandon Graham.

Then they were remembered they were the Eagles.

Much like Andy Reid's tenure here in Philadelphia, things from from good to bad quickly in the Eagles 27-20 loss to the Redskins. Time and time again this season we have seen the Eagles come out strong but fall apart when even just the littlest thing goes wrong. That was no different against the Redskins as the Eagles fell apart quickly and were unable to recover despite a late comeback.

Nick Foles got off to a strong start and showed great touch on his 1st quarter touchdown pass to Jeremy Maclin. With the Redskins jumping off sides Foles took advantage and took a shot down the field. Maclin was able to get behind two Redskins defenders in the corner of the endzone and Foles hit him in stride. The throw answered some questions about Foles arm strength.

Foles had the Eagles driving again later in the 1st quarter when he Ryan Kerrigan stripped Foles of the ball as he scrambled to the outside. The play showed the good and the bad of Foles, as he did a great job of recognizing the called screen play was not there and moved on from it. As he tried to get to the outside Foles felt the pressure but Kerrigan but thought he could get away from it. He couldn't, and Kerrigan's forced fumble nearly turned into a Redskins touchdown if it wasn't for Dennis Kelly. Foles will never trick any coach into thinking he is an amazing athlete, but the play was an example of how his real lack of athleticism could hurt him at this level.

From there things fell apart for the Eagles as the Redskins scored 13 unanswered points to take the lead. Only an Alex Henery field goal at the half kept the Eagles from being shut out after their opening touchdown.

Things got worse for the Eagles in the 2nd half as the Redskins took the opening possession and drove right down the field. RG3 moved the Redskins all the way down to the Eagles 10 yard line with completions to Pierre Garcon and Niles Paul. The Redskins other standout rookie- Alfred Morris- finished the job from there as he went untouched into the endzone from 10 yards out. It looked like Colt Anderson took a bad angle on a tackle that allowed Morris to spring free.

Give the Eagles credit for fighting back and staying in a game it would have been easy to let get away. Foles, despite getting knocked around all day in the pocket, got the Eagles down to the Redskins 17 yard line. Dion Lewis, looking like the player he showed he could be during training camp, took it in from there with some nice cuts. The Eagles nearly pulled off the comeback as Foles had the Eagles deep in Redskins territory late.

The Eagles now stand at 4-11, losers of 10 of their last 11 games.

What did you take away from the game, good or bad?