Missed opportunities and coverage busts plague Eagles on both sides

It’s a dirty job, but somebody’s got to do it. Of course I’m talking about breaking down the coaches film of the Philadelphia Eagles’ ugly 38-20 loss to the Minnesota Vikings.

Speaking of breaking down, the film revealed several busts and missed opportunities from an Eagles team that is struggling to get out of its own way. The busts are easy to spot and with them coming in such abundance you have to wonder who’s ultimately responsible.

For example, here’s Benjamin Solak explaining the 62-yard touchdown to Stefon Diggs that put the Eagles down 17-3 early in the game:

For as leaky as the secondary was, Kirk Cousins still left two sure touchdowns on the field. Malcolm Jenkins made a late play to push out Adam Thielen on one that was aided by a late balloon throw from Cousins. Later, Cousins would miss Diggs deep when Sidney Jones failed to help Rasul Douglas from his deep half responsibility. There’s just too many breakdowns happening and it’s not just the young corners that are having serious and frequent lapses.

Offensively, the Eagles had to claw their way back into the game after another slow start. They nearly pushed things to even in the third quarter, but in the potential game-tying drive they had two plays that ultimately led to a field goal. On one of those plays, Alshon Jeffery did his best Madden impression by having the gravitational pull of the sideline take him out of bounds.

Shortly after that missed opportunity, the Eagles would go back to their quick screen game to Jeffery, but for very good reasons the Vikings were all over it as they stuffed the 3rd & 2 play-call.

Another blunder came early in the fourth quarter with the Eagles trying to comeback from an 11-point deficit. On 3rd & 9 from the Vikings 48-yard line, the normally heady Jordan Howard had an uncharacteristic breakdown in pass protection. That led to the only sack of Wentz on the day and robbed him an opportunity to chuck one to a wide open Zach Ertz in the middle of the field. Mike Zimmer gambled with a blitz and the Eagles buckled.

These are the little (and big) things that add up to losses. The Eagles had plenty of chances to make a game out of this, but consistently fell short in key situations. In fact, there’s too many to list from this game. I haven’t even brought up the failed fake field goal, but we know how that went.

We discuss these plays and a whole lot more on The Kist & Solak Show #132! Listen on the media player below or click here if the player doesn’t load. New to podcasts?! Check out our guide on how to listen to BGN! FLY EAGLES FLY!