Eagles-Rams Final Score: Observations from Philadelphia’s costly win over Los Angeles, 43 to 35

The Philadelphia Eagles defeated the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum by a final score of 43 to 35. The Eagles advanced to 11-2 on the 2017 NFL regular season. Read on for a recap and observations from the game. Up next for Philadelphia is a road game against the New York Giants. Watch the BGN Radio postgame show LIVE in the video below (click here if you can’t see it).

FIRST QUARTER

Rams win the toss and elect to defer. Eagles offense up first.

On the first play of the game, the Eagles fake a run and Carson Wentz throws a screen to Torrey Smith for a short gain. What’s with the urgency to get Smith involved early in games lately? LeGarrette Blount runs the ball on second down. On third down, Nelson Agholor drops a pass and the ball lands right in the arms of a Rams defender. Interception. Cool start! Not.

Rams take over with a short field to work with. A toss to Todd Gurley goes for a big gain into goal-to-go territory. Then Gurley punches it in on a short touchdown run. Ugh. Rams lead, 7-0.

Wentz hits Corey Clement on a screen for a 28-yard gain. Nice immediate response. Jay Ajayi bounces off a tackler to put the Eagles in 3rd-and-3. Then he runs for a first. Birds gotta feed him all day. Wentz hits Alshon Jeffery for another first, good throw. Into the red zone now. Wentz targets Brent Celek in the end zone and it’s incomplete, but there’s a flag. Pass interference on Alec Ogletree. Ball at the 1-yard line. Blount’s carry goes for no gain. Then Wentz sneaks it in for a score, but Lane Johnson gets called for a false start. No touchdown. More dumb penalties. Doesn’t matter though because Wentz hits Celek for a short touchdown. Who needs Zach Ertz anyway? The Eagles celebrate by doing the Flying V! Tie game, 7-7.

Gurley breaks off ANOTHER big run but the Rams are flagged for holding. Bringing it back. Great bull rush from Vinny Curry on 2nd-and-11 forces Jared Goff into an incompletion. No small accomplishment there going up against a good left tackle in Andrew Whitworth. Eagles crowd noise assists Philly in getting a third down stop. Three-and-out. Rams punt.

Eagles get to 3rd-and-1 and air it out deep. Jeffery draws a pass interference penalty for a big gain. Jeffery gets open deep again after Wentz scrambles, but the ball is overthrown. C’mon, Carson. Gotta hit wide open receivers. The Eagles move the ball into the red zone with a completion to Agholor. Then it’s Halapoulivaati Vaitai with a false start. Then Wentz throws a beauty to Hollins for a potential touchdown ... dropped. Ugh. The rookie heard the footsteps. Too many mistakes right now. 3rd-and-11 from the 20-yard line and the Eagles score a TOUCHDOWN! GORGEOUS throw from Wentz to Trey Burton in the end zone for a score. Burton had two guys draped all over him. Wow. Eagles lead, 14-7.

Goff hits John Barchard’s most favorite wide receiver, Cooper Kupp, for an 18-yard gain. But then after picking up that one first down the Rams have to to punt. Fletcher Cox hits Goff on 3rd-and-4 to force an incompletion. Punt.

Eagles take over. Wentz to Agholor for a small gain. Blount plods his way to a 3rd-and-1. Feels like Ajayi should be in for Blount at this point. Just not getting any explosion from Blount. Wentz avoids multiple pass rushers on third down, buys time, and fires to Jeffery for a conversion. Just ridiculously good stuff from Wentz. Then Ajayi goes for a big run. Good! That’s 35 yard on three carries for him.

SECOND QUARTER

Celek drops a would-be first on 2nd-and-10. Wentz hits Burton over the middle to set up 4th-and-1 from the Rams’ 31 yard-line. Doug Pederson goes for it and Wentz connects with Agholor for a gain that puts the Eagles into the red zone. Wentz throws a really bad pass off his back foot that almost gets picked but hits the ground instead. Phew. Third down ... Wentz hits Burton AGAIN for another EAGLES TOUCHDOWN. Touchdown Trey, as they call him. Terrific throw and catch. MVP chants reigning down in LA for Wentz after his 32nd touchdown of the season. Eagles lead, 21-7.

Goff hits Kupp on 3rd-and-10 for a HUGE catch and run to put the Rams in the red zone. Wtf is that?! Terrible tackling from the Eagles’ defense allows 40 yards that shouldn’t have been there. Big whiff from Malcolm Jenkins after Rodney McLeod got beat. McLeod also kind gave up on the play after getting beat. Bad effort. Goff throws a pass that was destined to be picked off by Nigel Bradham but the linebacker drops it. Need to have that one! That was a gift. The Rams make the Eagles pay with Goff hitting Kupp for a short touchdown. Come on. That wasn’t even the Rams playing great. Just a totally dumb and bad defensive series from the Eagles. Eagles lead, 21-14.

Chance Warmack in for Stefen Wisniewski as the Eagles take back over. Looks like Wis got his ankle taped up. Wentz takes a big sack to put the Eagles in 3rd-and-20. A screen pass to Blount is predictably short of the sticks and Philly has to punt. Too much Blount!

Jim Schwartz’s defense forces the Rams into a 3rd-and-3. Cox gets another big hit on Goff to force an incompletion and a punt. Good bounce back series for the D.

Ajayi runs for another big gain as the Eagles take over. He’s up to four carries for 49 yards, gotta keep feeding him. So naturally the Eagles take him out and Clement gets stopped for a loss. Why? Wentz’s pass on 3rd-and-11 is incomplete. Punt.

Bradham has another chance to pick off Goff but the ball goes through his hands again. Gotta have at least one of those, man. McLeod makes a tackle on Josh Reynolds to bring up fourth down. But for some reason the refs spot it as a first down?! Downright AWFUL spot from the officials. Pederson throws the challenge flag (which he shouldn’t have had to) and the first down ruling is reversed. Good job, Doug.

Wentz throws to Jeffery but the receiver fails to win another one-on-one. Jeffery hasn’t been the most efficient target this year. Wentz throws to Smith and it’s complete for a first down. Nice job on the comeback route. Eagles run a draw with Clement and it goes for negative one yard. Still not enough Ajayi. 3rd-and-11 and Wentz hits a wide open Smith over the middle of the field who runs to put the Eagles at the Rams’ 24-yard line. Amazing pocket presence with defenders all in his face. Wentz throws to Burton to put Philly at 1st-and-goal from the 9-yard line. Wentz runs to the 4-yard line. 3rd-and-goal, Wentz’s pass is incomplete. Eagles settle for the short field goal from Jake Elliott. Eagles lead, 24-14.

THIRD QUARTER

Rams get the ball to start the second half.

The Eagles have Gurley dead to a loss or a short gain but MORE poor tackling results in a Rams first down. Sloppy. McLeod really struggling. Rams run a screen to Gurley that puts L.A. into field goal range. Then a play-action Goff throw to Kupp puts the Rams in the red zone. Goff throws to Sammy Watkins for a touchdown. Too easy. Eagles lead, 24-21.

Warmack still in at left guard despite the Eagles saying Wisniewski was probable to return. No clue what’s going on there. Wait, no, that’s wrong. Isaac Seumalo is now in at left guard for the first time since losing the job after Week 2. Oh boy. First play is a bubble screen to Agholor that goes for a 1-yard loss. Wentz runs to make it 3rd-and-5. Wentz gets blitzed, somehow holds on to the ball, and throws to Burton but it’s incomplete.

The Rams block the Eagles’ punt and return it for a touchdown. F word. What a shitty start to the second half. Former Eagles draft pick Blake Countess was the one who scored the touchdown, because of course. Rams lead, 28-24.

Wentz comes up big with a clutch third down throw to Smith to put the Eagles past midfield into Rams territory. Seumalo gets called for holding to set the Eagles back. 3rd-and-9 and Wentz’s throw to Jeffery is dropped. Trumaine Johnson got a hand in there but Jeffery is being paid to make that catch. Johnson gets called for unsportsmanlike behavior after the play. VERY lucky break for the Birds there. 3rd-and-3 from the 11-yard line. Wentz goes to Agholor for a first. The Eagles pick up more yards thanks to a late hit on the Rams. 1st-and-goal from the 3-yard line. Wentz runs in for a touchdown! But it’s a hold on Lane Johnson. You gotta be kidding me. Eagles pick the yards back up with a Clement draw up the middle. Another Clement run goes for no gain. 3rd-and-goal. Throw to Jeffery is incomplete. Pederson goes for it on 4th-and-goal ... the pass is thrown into the end zone ... and it’s CAUGHT! Wow! A fingertips catch by Jeffery to redeem himself. That’s huge. By the way, Wentz is now the Eagles’ franchise leader in single-season touchdown passes with 33. He’s only in his second year. And the 13th game of the season isn’t even over yet! The bad news is Wentz is limping after that touchdown run which didn’t count. Eagles lead, 31-28.

Rams take over and Gurley runs for a big gain. Where did the stout run defense go? Rams move into field goal range with ease.

FOURTH QUARTER

Gurley runs the ball in for another touchdown. This Eagles defense is looking pathetic. Rams lead, 35-31.

Nick Foles takes over with Wentz ruled out for the game. Kill me. Foles makes a few nice throws to put the Eagles into long field goal range. Then there’s a handoff to Ajayi to put the Eagles at the 25-yard line. Hey, how about that! Foles gets pressured with Seumalo having no chance to block Donald. Foles throws for a 2-yard gain on 3rd-and-10 instead of finding Agholor wide open for a first. Brutal. Eagles settle for the field goal. Rams lead, 35-34.

Rams take over and the Eagles get a third down stop. Nope, Jalen Mills called for holding. But then Chris Long strip sacks Goff and the Eagles recover! The former Ram comes up HUGE against his old team. McLeod on the recovery and the run back to the Eagles’ 25-yard line.

Eagles take over and get set back with a holding penalty. Awesome. Rare flag on Brandon Brooks. The Eagles get pushed back again when Foles is sacked on third down. Foles threw to Halapoulivaati Vaitai (LOL) and it could’ve been illegal touching, but the refs said he was in the grasp, so no flag. Eagles attempt a 54-yard field goal and Elliot DRILLS it right down the middle despite a low snap from Rick Lovato. But then the Rams get called for a 15-yard penalty! Automatic first down. Wow. The Eagles can’t do much with it though. Elliott attempts a 33-yard field goal after Foles fails to convert another first down. It’s good. Eagles lead, 37-35.

Rams offense takes over. Nothing going. Great stop by Schwartz’s defense to force a three-and-out with 2:12 remaining. Still a lot of time left.

Ajayi runs for a 3-yard game to bring the game to the 2-minute warning. Third down. Foles throw to Agholor for a FIRST DOWN. Really clutch catch there by Snagholor. Ajayi runs for a short gain and the Rams take their final timeout with 1:37 left. 3rd-and-9 and Ajayi runs for a gain. Eagles punt the ball.

Rams take over with ONE second remaining. They try to get some lateral stuff going. Brandon Graham gets hold of the ball and runs it in to seal the game. Eagles lead, 43-35.

FINAL SCORE

Eagles win. The Eagles are 11-2 heading into Week 15. The Eagles are officially NFC East champions. That’s the good news.

The bad news is Carson Wentz might be out for the season.

Ugh.

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Stay tuned for much more Eagles-Rams postgame coverage (click here).