The Eagles' special teams just haven't been as good as they were last year — Chip Kelly finally admitted that this week (see story) — and it was evident in the 20-19 loss to the Dolphins last Sunday.
Jon Dorenbos had two bad snaps (see story).
Donnie Jones had a punt blocked.
Caleb Sturgis missed a short field goal.
And Darren Sproles wasn't able to do much in the punt return game despite having seven attempts, the most he's ever had in his career.
Let's take a look at some of the errors from the game last Sunday:
First, we'll look at the missed 32-yard field goal attempt in the second quarter. This field goal would have put the team up 19-3. Dorenbos' snap wasn't a very good one. The red line is where it went, the blue line is where it should have been.
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Still, Jones, the punter/holder, was able to get the snap down and give a decent hold for Sturgis, who just pushed the ball right.
The next play up is the blocked punt. Again, Dorenbos made a bad snap. Jones handled it but the high snap forced him to hold onto the ball too long, which helped lead to the block.
You can start to see Dolphins linebacker Zach Vigil come through the line. He's highlighted, as is Chris Maragos, whose job it was to slide over and block Vigil.
Maragos slid over but is overpowered by Vigil, who pushed him back and gets in to block the punt.
Here's a look just after Vigil got his hand on the punt. The block set the Dolphins up at the Eagles' 12-yard line and the Dolphins scored two plays later.
Sproles had seven punt returns for 57 yards, an average of 8.1 yards per attempt. We're not going to show you all seven but we'll show you a few.
His first punt return wasn't half bad.
It came with 3:06 left in the second quarter. Sproles' blockers did a nice job of creating a lane for him and he was able to follow his blocks.
Sproles ended up getting 12 yards on the return.
On the next return, later in the second quarter, E.J. Biggers did a good job of picking up his man to Sproles' right. Eric Rowe's man is able to get past the rookie and had a clear shot at the returner.
Even if Sproles got past the first man, though, there was a wall of Dolphins coming his way. Not much room but Sproles still got a positive gain of seven yards.
His next return, which came early in the third quarter, was the biggest of the day. Sproles fielded the punt deep in his own end but was able to use his speed to get around the corner to find the open space.
The problem on this return was that Seyi Ajirotutu was called for an "illegal block above the waste." Ajirotutu was visibly upset with the call. His man overran Sproles and stopped to come back but Ajirotutu's momentum took him through his man. Instead of having the ball at the 35, the Eagles started the drive from their 21.
On this next return, in the fourth quarter, Sproles had a chance to get positive yards but tried to make too much happen. He broke left and had a chance to use his speed to get wide.
Instead, Sproles decided to stop and try to cut back and got swallowed by the defender, Walt Aikens.
Here's a look at what Sproles decided to give up on the play.
If it feels like we're picking on Sproles, we're not. His blockers didn't do a great job Sunday either.
Altogether, the Eagles have been very good on special teams since Kelly arrived. He's put a big emphasis on that part of the game.
This year, it just hasn't gone according to plan and Sunday was the latest example.