Offensive Mistakes

The Philadelphia Eagles were plagued by turnovers and fundamental defensive mistakes in another devastating defeat.

On the Week 14 edition of “Inside The Birds Postgame Live,” Geoff Mosher was joined by former Eagles tight end Clay Harbor to break down what went wrong in the 33-13 loss.

The Eagles offense fumbled the ball three times in the 33-13 loss against the Dallas Cowboys

Turnovers

Geoff Mosher: “When you fumble on the opening possession of the game and then fumble on the opening possession of the second half, that is the game right there. It looked ugly for a while, but the Eagles didn’t have a problem moving a ball, they averaged 6.2 yards per play and the Cowboys only averaged 5.3 yards per play. But when you turn the ball over and your defense isn’t stopping anybody, you take yourself out of the game immediately.”

Clay Harbor: “Turnovers are the most telling stat in who wins or loses. The first drive of the game, the turnover gives momentum to your opponent. And then your two star receivers have two fumbles…You can fix a lot of things, but as far as holding onto the football goes, sometimes you keep it and sometimes you don’t. It’s really fickle but you just have to focus.”

A.J. Brown

Mosher: “There are times where I think that he is the most electrifying player on the field. When he is not great, it really sticks out like a sore thumb.”

Harbor: “That sideline catch was a really tough catch, but your name is A.J. Brown. You have to make that play. Stephon Gilmore got after him, forcing that turnover and was a little chippy. A.J. is an ultimate competitor, but you have to be able to hold on to the ball.”

Run Defense

Mosher: “You saw Dallas, they clearly felt that they could run the ball up the middle and set up makeable third downs and for a lot of the game that is what they did.”

Harbor: “The Eagles had been really good stopping the run, so I was a little surprised to see that, but Dallas had success there and it opened up a lot of other things.”

Front Four

Harbor: “This is what you have. When you blitz, the opposing quarterbacks are averaging an over 100 rating. You can’t blitz, the defensive backs can’t cover when you take a person out of coverage, you have to get it done with your front four. The front four has to start taking over football games.”

Mosher: “You shouldn’t need to have 70 sacks to have a dominant front, you can have a dominant front with 50-55. This Eagles team has very good personnel, but you are seeing more chipping on the edges from tight ends and running backs. Every once in a while, a team is willing to keep a blocker in because they feel against the Eagles’ back seven you don’t need five outlets, you can win with four and a late release.”

– Benjamin Paul is a staff writer for InsideTheBirds.com.