FINAL SCORE: Eagles secondary struggles in loss to Vikings, 38-20

The Philadelphia Eagles are 3-3 after losing to the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday afternoon. Final score: 38 to 20. Pretty bad loss.

Read on for a recap.

FIRST QUARTER

Coin toss: Eagles win the toss and defer. Vikings offense up first.

Vikings 1st drive: Kirk Cousins throws towards Sidney Jones on the first play of the game and it’s Stefon Diggs for a 4-yard gain. Brandon Graham jumps early to bring up 2nd-and-1. C’mon, BLG. Dalvin Cook’s first carry goes for a first down. Vikings starting left tackle Riley Reiff is limping off the field, not good for them. Vikings run a reverse to Diggs and it goes for another first. Could’ve been much worse if Rasul Douglas didn’t make a good play to save a touchdown. Fletcher Cox swallows up Cook in the backfield to bring up 3rd-and-13. Cousins has a clean pocket on third down and he hits Adam Thielen for a first. Cooks takes another carry for a first into the red zone. Vikings get to 3rd-and-2 from the 7-yard line. Cox stuffs Cook short of the sticks to bring up 4th-and-1 but Mike Zimmer challenges and it’s overturned for 1st-and-goal. Hassan Ridgeway sheds a block and stuffs Cook for a 1-yard loss. Nice play. Cousins drops back and floats a pass to Thielen, who beats Jones on the double move. Vikings clearly view Jones as a weak point given the way they’re throwing at him. Not the start the Eagles were looking for. EAGLES 0, VIKINGS 7.

Eagles 1st drive: Rudy Ford holding penalty on the Vikings’ kickoff forces the Eagles to start at their own 7-yard line. Bad decision by Miles Sanders to bring the ball out of the end zone there. Carson Wentz hands off to Jordan Howard for a five-yard gain to start the drive. Sanders runs to bring up 3rd-and-2. On third down, Howard is stopped for no gain as Isaac Seumalo misses his block. Ugh. Why not put the ball in Wentz’s hands there? Eagles have to punt.

Vikings 2nd drive: Vikings take over at their own 44-yard line. Cousins to Diggs on a short pass and Jones whiffs on the tackle to give up a big gain. He stinks. Cousisn runs on 3rd-and-6 and he takes a big hit from Nigel Bradham. The defense gets a stop! Actually, nope. Douglas called for defensive holding. Free first down for the Vikings. Douglas is now traveling with Thielen. Not a common practice for the Eagles. On 3rd-and-8, Cousins airs it out to Thielen but Malcolm Jenkins pushes him out JUST before Thielen can get two feet in. Better throw from Cousins there and that’s a touchdown. Vikings settle for the field goal instead. Eagles were down 10-0 in Green Bay before beating the Packers. Now they’ll need another comeback to beat the Vikes. EAGLES 0, VIKINGS 10.

Eagles 2nd drive: Eagles start at their 25-yard line after a touchback. Wentz runs forward for eight and there’s a defensive holding to give the Eagles a first down. Hey, it’s a start! Howard runs twice to bring up 3rd-and-3. Eagles run a quick screen to Alshon Jeffery for a first down to bring up the end of the first quarter. Wentz’s first passing attempt of the day.

SECOND QUARTER

Eagles 2nd drive (continued): Howard runs for five yards. Eagles offensive line is getting some decent push up the middle. Wentz fires to Jeffery on a curl for another first down. Jason Peters hobbles off and Andre Dillard is in at left tackle. Dillard immediately allows Everson Griffen to pressure Wentz but the quarterback spins out a sack and completes a pass for one yard. Phew. Wentz’s third down pass is tipped by Eric Kendricks and almost picked off. Yikes. Instead of going for it on 4th-and-6 from the Vikings’ 35-yard line, the Eagles settle for the 53-yard field goal attempt and Jake Elliott’s kick is ... good! He remains perfect on the year. Not ideal but it’s something. EAGLES 3, VIKINGS 10.

Vikings 3rd drive: Eagles defense gotta come up with a three-and-out or a takeaway here. Instead, Alexander Mattison runs to the edge for 13. Josh Sweat lost contain. Cousins airs it out deep to Diggs, who has Douglas burnt for the touchdown. Just runs right by him. No safety help. Not looking great! EAGLES 3, VIKINGS 17.

Eagles 3rd drive: Eagles dinking and dunking to get to midfield. Wentz takes a deep shot and Nelson Agholor is shoved by Trae Waynes ... there’s no call. Wow. No challenge from Doug Pederson. Wentz’s 3rd-and-2 pass over the middle is dropped by Dallas Goedert. Eagles go for it on fourth down and the pass goes ... right ... through ... Jeffery’s hands. Great.

Vikings 4th drive: Vikings go play-action and Cousins airs it out to a wide open Diggs in the end zone. Douglas burnt again with no safety help. Just entirely too easy for Minnesota. EAGLES 3, VIKINGS 24.

Eagles 4th drive: Gonna call my shot and say this drive ends without the Eagles scoring! And I’m wrong! The Eagles move into Vikings territory and then Wentz floats a pass to Sanders, who has a step on Kendricks, for a 32-yard touchdown! Well, that’s a good response. Sanders has been so much more impressive as a pass catcher than a runner. EAGLES 10, VIKINGS 24.

Vikings 5th drive: Okay, so when do the Vikings take their deep shot on this drive? Answer: they don’t. On 3rd-and-4, Graham comes up with a big sack on Cousins to force a punt! Omg! The Vikings finally have a drive where they don’t score!

Eagles 5th drive: Eagles take over at their own 22-yard line after Boston Scott — not Agholor, as previously reported — handles the pun return. Howard is stopped for a 4-yard loss. Love too run the ball down 14. Then Wentz hits a wide open Jeffery over the middle for a first down. Sanders dances around and gets tackled for no gain despite having room to work with. He really hasn’t been great as a runner. Wentz’s third down pass is ... incomplete as it goes through Zach Ertz’s hands. Ertz wants a defensive holding penalty but there’s no flag. Thanks, refs. Eagles punt. Wasted drive.

Vikings 6th drive: Cousins throws a pass to Diggs along the sideline ... and it bounces off his helmet into the arms of ... Andrew Sendejo?! Lol, what a lucky break. Eagles needed that.

Eagles 6th drive: Eagles take over at their own 48-yard line with about a minute left. A screen to Sanders moves the Eagles into Vikings territory. Wentz to Jeffery for a first down with 50 seconds left as the Eagles take their first timeout. Eagles move to 3rd-and-2 and Wentz hits a wide open Agholor, who runs out of bounds as he picks up the first. Eagles move to the 21-yard line with 28 seconds left and no timeouts. Now it’s 3rd-and-4 from the same marker. Wentz throws into the end zone for Mack Hollins and the ball is just a little too high on the tightly contested player. The Eagles line up for the field goal ... but it’s a fake! Jake Elliott doesn’t have anyone open, though, and he throws a ball to Goedert that gets tipped up a pick. Don’t hate the aggressiveness, but, like, maybe put the ball in Wentz’s hands there instead? Also, even if the Eagles get a first there, is Elliott running up to the line of scrimmage to spike the ball since the Eagles have no timeouts? Just to maybe attempt a shorter field goal? The Eagles were basically counting on that fake to be touchdown or bust, even though Goedert was running a short route? Ugh, ugh, ugh. Not a great game for Doug Pederson thus far.

Vikings 7th drive: Vikings take a knee to end the first half.

THIRD QUARTER

INJURY UPDATE: Nigel Bradham is hurt.

Eagles 7th drive: First play of the second half is a run, because of course it is. Wentz throws a perfect pass to Agholor off his back foot for a first down. Wentz hits a WIDE OPEN Sanders for a catch-and-run that takes the Eagles to 1st-and-goal. Pick play worked to get him open. Wentz dodges pressure in the pocket, improvises, and throws to Jeffery for a TOUCHDOWN! Awesome play by No. 11. Great start to the second half. Suddenly a one score game. EAGLES 17, VIKINGS 24.

Vikings 8th drive: Knowing the Eagles defense like I do, they’re totally going to give up the momentum following a big drive from the offense. Right? Derek Barnett pressures Cousins into an incompletion on first down. The Vikings run with Cook to bring up third down. Cousins throws it and it’s incomplete but Jones is flagged for pass interference. Just an absolute horseshit, tacky call. Cook breaks a big run but it comes back due to holding. Vikings knocked back to 1st-and-20. Vikings called for a block in the back to bring up 1st-and-30 from their own 15-yard line. Diggs drops a pass to bring up 2nd-and-30. Mattison is tackled in the backfield (lol at the Vikings running the ball!) to bring up 3rd-and-33. A screen to Thielen is stopped WELL short of the sticks. Vikings have to punt. I was wrong again!

Eagles 8th drive: Eagles take over at their own 45-yard line. Wentz throws an accurate strike to Jeffery for a first down. GREAT throw and it should’ve been an even bigger gain! He couldn’t stay balanced in bounds. Eagles get to 3rd-and-3 and they run the same screen they successfully ran to Jeffery multiple times earlier in this game ... but it’s stuffed this time. Maybe try throwing BEYOND the marker? Jake Elliott makes the 40-yard field goal, still perfect on the season. EAGLES 20, VIKINGS 24.

Vikings 9th drive: Nigel Bradham is OUT for the rest of the game with an ankle injury. Vikings drive into field goal range. Vikings move into the red zone. Craig James now in for Sidney Jones at cornerback. Jones isn’t getting looked at by medical staff, just sitting on the bench. Hmmm. Cousins to Diggs for the touchdown. Great toe-tapping catch from the Vikings wide receiver as James is beaten in coverage. Back to a two score game. EAGLES 20, VIKINGS 31.

Eagles 9th drive: Eagles with another running play. Because you gotta run the clock when you’re down 10 points. Wentz buys time to make a nice play to Ertz along the sideline for a first down and the end of the third quarter.

FOURTH QUARTER

Eagles 9th drive (continued): Eagles drive past midfield. Wentz takes a deep shot to Agholor in the end zone and it’s overthrown (and/or Agholor fails to track it once again as he slows up on the route?). 3rd-and-4 and Wentz is calling for the ball to be snapped but the crowd noise gets the Eagles into a delay of game penalty to bring up 3rd-and-9. On third down, Wentz is sacked for a big loss. Howard fails to pick up the blitzer as Wentz is immediately met with a free rusher in his face. Wentz slams his helmet on the sideline. Eagles punt.

Vikings 10th drive: Eagles defense really needs a turnover as the Vikings start from their own 12-yard line. Sidney Jones back in the game. Mattison breaks off a big run into the red zone. Jones flagged for defensive holding to bring up 1st-and-goal from the Vikings’ 3-yard line. Mattison takes it to the 1-yard line. Toss to Cook for the touchdown. And that’s probably game. Sigh. EAGLES 20, VIKINGS 38.

Eagles 10th drive: Wentz has a pick dropped. Then he’s sacked. Jaleel Johnson is trying to knock the ball out of Wentz’s hands on the ground clearly after the play is over, which causes Wentz to get up and get in his face. Not happy. Eagles facing 3rd-and-15 and Wentz’s throw for Ertz over the middle is incomplete. Not on the same page. Eagles going for it on 4th-and-15, obviously. Wentz rolls left and fires back to Ertz for the first down. Wentz fires another nice strike to Ertz ... who then fumbles the ball. Vikings recover. Gotta be kidding me.

Vikings 11th drive: Vikings run the ball and force the Eagles to burn their remaining timeouts. Vikings punt.

Eagles 11th drive: Eagles take over and Wentz is immediately picked off. Just a bad throw over the middle with the game already out of reach.

Vikings 12th drive: Vikings get to 4th-and-5 and Cousins converts it with a throw to Laquon Treadwell along the sideline. Jenkins forces a fumble and Kamu Grugier-Hill recovers for a chunk return. Not going to change the result but could allow the Eagles to get some garbage time points.

Eagles 12th drive: Eagles yank Wentz to put Josh McCown in the game with 1:48 remaining. Boston Scott takes his first NFL carries as the Eagles run down the clock.

FINAL SCORE: 38 to 20.

Bad game. This team has some real flaws.

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