Season over: Eagles embarrassed by Patriots

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Maybe now they can stop all this nonsense about getting hot and making a late playoff run.

Maybe now they can stop pretending theyre a great team thats just gotten a few bad breaks and lost a few close games that could have gone either way.

Maybe now they can all finally admit that the 2011 Eagles are one of the most disappointing, underachieving and bewilderingly inept teams in recent NFL history.

The Eagles lost for the seventh time in 11 games Sunday, and this was the worst of the bunch.

They led the Patriots by 10 points after just 6 12 minutes, then stood around and watched as Tom Brady put up 31 points on their pathetically overmatched defense in the next 20 minutes and led the Patriots to a 38-20 win at the Linc.

You play so well in some games, and then you have this, Brent Celek said. It makes you think, Whats going on?

We just have not been consistent. Well go out and kill a team. Well go out and play a team extremely bad. I think the most discouraging thing is the fact that there isnt a team out there that weve played that we couldnt beat.

Bill Belichick called off the dogs halfway through the fourth quarter, but by then the Patriots led by 25 points. Only a touchdown pass from Vince Young to Jason Avant with 32 seconds kept this from being a 25-point loss. Even so, it was the Eagles worst home loss since a 26-point loss to the Saints in September 2009.

Lets be honest. The Patriots could have scored 50 points if they wanted.

We werent able to stop them, Jason Babin said.

In a season of ugly losses, this was the ugliest.

DeSean Jackson, two weeks after getting suspended for the Arizona game for not showing up at a team meeting, was benched for the fourth quarter after dropping two touchdown passes (see story).

Assistant coaches Marty Mornhinweg and Jim Washburn exchanged words and had an altercation (see blog post).

The fans who were still around late in the third quarter started chanting Fire Andy, Fire Andy, after one particularly bad fourth-down failure at the goal-line (see story).

Even LeSean McCoy, who began the day as the NFL rushing leader, was a non-factor, with just 31 rushing yards on 10 carries.

Very disappointing, Asante Samuel said. Thats probably one of the worst, most embarrassing losses Ive ever dealt with.

They were sloppy, they were undisciplined, they were unprepared.

Play like that against a Bill Belichick team and you'll be destroyed.

They had the run game working, they had the pass game working, they were working on all cylinders, Samuel said. We couldnt figure nothing out.

The Eagles had revived their faint playoff hopes with an upset of the Giants at the Meadowlands. So how did they respond to another huge challenge?

By dropping passes, missing tackles, blowing coverages, committing penalties and performing anything like the playoff team they keep insisting they are.

This has been amazing, Cullen Jenkins said. We get to the highest highs and then you get to the lowest lows. Just when you think you get something startedeven the way we came out and started today, you would have thought we were carrying this momentum overand then its like here it comes again.

When the season began, the Eagles were ranked from No. 3 to No. 6 in every NFL preseason poll.

Now theyre 4-7 and 1-5 at home, and theyve lost three of four since temporarily reviving their season with consecutive wins over the Redskins and Cowboys.

This is their worst home record through six games since the 1983 team lost its first six at the Vet. Starting with last years disaster against the Vikings, the Eagles have lost eight of their last nine home games (including playoffs).

The Patriots 38 points are the fourth-most the Eagles have allowed at the Linc in 13 years under Reid.

The Eagles have now lost three games that they led by 10 points.

Were just not consistent enough, Jenkins said. Well have times well come out on fire. We came out early this game and maybe we relaxed a little bit. Maybe we thought it was going to be easy, but we came out playing well and then after that, it turned fast on us. And once it turned, we werent able to get it back.

In case youre still keeping track of these things, the Eagles are now three games behind the NFC East-leading Cowboys. The Giants take a 6-4 record into their game in New Orleans against the Saints Monday night.

Playoffs? Time to stop pretending they have a shot.

"Any loss is frustrating, especially one in our particular situation where we're fighting for our lives. We're trying to stay in the hunt, and this game kind of puts a cap on it," Babin said.

Brady was unstoppable.

He finished 24 for 34 for 361 yards, with three touchdowns and no interceptions for a 134.6 passer rating. In four career games against the Eagles, hes completed 67 percent of his passes, thrown for 1,232 yards and has nine touchdowns and no interceptions.

The Eagles have never beaten him.

I thought it was OK, Brady said. There were plenty of yards that we left out there, too.

Both teams netted over 450 yards -- only the fifth time in Eagles history thats happened -- but thats about as deceiving as a stat can be.

Deion Branch, MVP of the Patriots Super Bowl XXXIX win over the Eagles seven years ago, caught six passes for 125 yards, and Wes Welker caught eight passes for 115 yards.

What did the Patriots start doing after they fell behind by 10 points?

I dont think we still know what changes they made, Jenkins said. They just came out and they didnt really give us a chance to huddle. Up-tempo, and Bradys good at that. Hes been doing that a while. Its something we didnt adjust well enough too.

Young made his second straight start in place of injured Michael Vick and once again acquitted himself well.

Despite having at least five passes dropped, Young passed for a career-high 400 yards, 13 more than his previous career-high of 387 set against the Cards when he was with the Titans in 2009.

Avant caught eight passes for 110 yards, his fourth career 100-yard game.

The Patriots, 8-3, have won three straight and six of their last eight. They have a two-game lead in the AFC East, on their way to reaching the playoffs for the ninth time since 2001.

Its heartbreaking, McCoy said. I thought we really had a chance to beat them. Their defense did a good job on us, and their offense made plays. I dont think we showed up all today.
E-mail Reuben Frank at rfrank@comcastsportsnet.com