Eagles Late Rally Falls Short in 5th Straight Loss

By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor 

Three plays into the Eagles Week 15 game in Baltimore, Carson Wentz threw his 13th interception of the season. The Ravens ran five plays and had a touchdown on the board.

Wentz did lead the Eagles on a potential game-tying drive that had them down one facing a two-point conversion. But the conversion failed, sending the Eagles to their fifth straight loss to the Ravens, 27-26, at M&T Bank Stadium on Sunday.

Scoring Summary

  1 2 3 4 T
Eagles 3 11 0 12 26
Ravens 10 10 0 7 27

The Eagles started with the ball, but three plays into the game threw an interception to Zachary Orr. That set up the Ravens for a five-play, 36-yard drive that ended with a five-yard touchdown pass from Joe Flacco to Kamar Aiken.

The Eagles got on the board with 4:47 left in the first on a 45-yard field goal by Caleb Sturgis. The Ravens answered that two minutes later with a 53-yard field goal by Justin Tucker.

On the Ravens next offensive possession, Flacco was sacked by Nigel Bradham and lost the football. Fletcher Cox recovered to put the Eagles at the Baltimore eight-yard line. The Eagles scored a touchdown on the next play with an eight-yard touchdown run by Ryan Mathews.

The Ravens answered with an eight-play, 65-yard drive that lasted the next 1:30, leaving just nine seconds left on the clock when Flacco connected with Steve Smith Sr. for a 34-yard touchdown pass. The Ravens took the 20-14 lead into the half.

Points came at a premium in the second half as both teams struggled to move the ball downfield. The Ravens opened the half by punting and the Eagles gained 41 yards on their first drive before two incompletions on third and fourth down to turn the ball over on downs.

Another Ravens punt set the Eagles up for a 13-play, 79-yard drive that was capped with a 27-yard field goal by Sturgis to cut the lead to three.

Baltimore's only scoring drive of the half came on their next possession. They moved the ball 69 yards on eight plays, capped with a 16-yard touchdown run by Kenneth Dixon, to extend the lead to 10 with 11:06 to play.

The Eagles had started to move into Baltimore territory when a drive stalled again on another turnover on downs. The Ravens appeared to have the game iced when Flacco connected for a 54-yard catch and run to Mike Wallace, moving the ball to the Eagles 11. But on the next play, Flacco was intercepted by Jordan Hicks and the ball was returned 34 yards, giving the Eagles some life.

The Eagles ran 11 plays to gain 49 yards, eventually stalling in the red zone and settling for a 29-yard field goal by Sturgis to cut the lead to seven with 2:26 to play.

The Eagles got the ball back with 1:39 to play and Wentz went to work. The Eagles moved 59 yards in 1:35, aided by two penalties for Baltimore and a 24-yard completion to Zach Ertz, with the final play being a four-yard touchdown run by Wentz to put the Eagles within one. They would try the two-point conversion, but it failed as Wentz's pass for Jordan Matthews was tipped at the line and fell incomplete.

With the loss, the Eagles were officially eliminated from playoff contention, fall to 5-9 for a losing season and complete their road schedule with a 1-7 record.

Team Leaders

Passing

Philadelphia Eagles (5-9) Baltimore Ravens (8-6)
Carson Wentz 22/42, 170 YD, 0 TD, 1 INT, 52.7 RTG Joe Flacco 16/30, 206 YD, 2 TD, 1 INT, 83.5 RTG

Rushing

Philadelphia Eagles (5-9) Baltimore Ravens (8-6)
Ryan Mathews 20 Att, 128 YD, TD Terrance West 13 Att, 77 YD
Byron Marshall 9 Att, 22 YD Michael Campanaro 1 Att, 39 YD
 Carson Wentz 4 Att, 8 YD, TD Kenneth Dixon 9 Att, 36 YD, TD

Receiving

Philadelphia Eagles (5-9) Baltimore Ravens (8-6)
Zach Ertz 6 Rec, 80 YD Mike Wallace 2 Rec, 60 YD
Jordan Matthews 6 Rec, 27 YD Terrance West 4 Rec, 45 YD
Kenjon Barner 2 Rec, 25 YD Steve Smith Sr. 2 Rec, 40 YD, TD

Team Stats

  Eagles Ravens
1st Downs 27 18
Total Plays 81 57
Total Yards 328 340
Passing Yards 159 189
Rushing Yards 169 151
Red Zone (Made-Att) 2-5 2-3
Penalties 3-30 7-62
Turnovers 1 2
Time of Possession 36:38 23:22

What's Next

The Eagles return home for a meeting with the New York Giants on Thursday Night Football. Kickoff is set for 8:25 p.m.

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