Forget Sunday's game not going as planned. There are bigger worries than losing one football game.
The Eagles loss to the Seahawks was more than just a loss on Sunday. It was a statement of a different kind.
The Eagles had played two games in two weeks that showed two different sides. A 53-20 shellacking to the Packers may have been the inability to compete or just an unfortunate part of the schedule – playing in Green Bay after an easy Monday night win over the Panthers. A Thanksgiving win over the Cowboys in dominant fashion said the Eagles were certainly no pretender.
Then Sunday happened. And the Eagles turned in their worst game under Chip Kelly. Their play on the field wasn't the only telling part of the loss. Some of the quotes from after the game are cause for concern.
"I just didn’t feel focused," LeSean McCoy said. "Small stuff that I do well. I missed the last protection, the sack against Mark, that was my guy. A small little DB. I just missed him."
This is your all-pro running back. And he couldn't focus in one of the biggest games of the season.
Granted, it was learned after the game that McCoy had missed the Eagles Friday practice due to the death of his first cousin. Some athletes channel personal loss into memorable performances that are sometimes beyond words. McCoy is the type of athlete who can take a somber situation and make something positive come from it. He wasn't all there on Sunday and it hurt.
"[Sanchez] knew the the route. I knew the route," Riley Cooper said. "I ran the route. He threw the ball."
This is Riley Cooper talking about the crucial interception that essentially erased the chance at a comeback. Cooper was one of the keys to the Eagles success last season. He turned in a solid year as Nick Foles emerged.
This season, he's been invisible. Mark Sanchez did make a horrible pass, but he fessed up to it after the game. And after the game, there was Cooper, ready to deflect the blame. At least man up and say it was a team loss. This is not a team player talking.
"I think they miss [DeSean Jackson] tremendously," Seattle cornerback Richard Sherman said. "He was an incredible player and he’s still a threat. We never felt threatened [by the Eagles wide receivers]."
It's no surprise that Sherman was outspoken in victory. He usually is. But to hear the leading member of the Seattle secondary say that the Eagles offense was no threat is a huge red flag. Nothing scared Seattle. They did show that. And the Eagles lost the balance on offense with McCoy's inability to focus.
With Jeremy Maclin and Jordan Matthews constantly eliminated from the play, Sanchez just didn't have time to get the ball to anyone else, even if some were open. But I also wondered, how would this game be different if Jackson was still an Eagle.
In a game where the offense struggled, Kelly and Sanchez admitted exactly what needed to be said. Seattle was better.
In a sense, I feel we all knew that anyway. This was a game that many thought would be a loss and – as it was in Green Bay – the Eagles didn't pull it out.
But this game was much closer than thought, given the score, and yet so vastly out of reach because the Eagles didn't look like a competitive football team. They looked unprepared and lacking a game plan. For Kelly to be that green coming into this game, it's unacceptable and amateur.
The Eagles were plagued by the same flaws as they have been all season – turnovers, lack of production, poor playcalling, no secondary and so on. But this time, the Eagles got the one thing they had no answer for.
In previous losses, the Eagles were one play from winning or at least had some productive numbers to show progress or a competitive nature. What does 139 total yards of offense tell you?
It tells me the Eagles mighty and potent offense was completely shut down.
The Eagles have always had defensive concerns. But the defense wasn't to blame for the loss.
There are definitely concerns on offense and it goes a lot farther than the lack of a fear factor that Seattle preached. The Eagles lacked a plan and they lacked communication. And that could put a huge dent in any plans of playoff success this season.
Kevin Durso is managing editor for Eagledelphia. Follow him on Twitter @KDursoPhilsNet.
