CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The Eagles faced a huge challenge on the road against the undefeated Carolina Panthers.
And they made things even harder on themselves.
Unforced errors, specifically eight drops throughout Sunday night's game, played a huge role in the Eagles' 27-16 loss at Bank of America Stadium (see Instant Replay).
The Eagles are now 3-4, a game behind the first-place Giants in the NFC East (see division recap).
“It’s embarrassing,” second-year wideout Jordan Matthews said of the drops. “And I feel like I’m No. 1 on the list of guys to take that responsibility on my shoulders to get it fixed. It’s not who we are as a team. It’s not who I want to be as a player. It’s gotta get fixed. It’s just embarrassing. I don’t know what to say about it.”
Matthews came into the game with four drops on the season and added a couple more big ones Sunday night.
“The hardest part, individually, when you’re going through those struggles, it hurts the whole team,” Matthews said. “That’s the sorry part about it. That’s what sucks about it because I look at my teammates and know, dang, I didn’t get my job done.”
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But it wasn’t just Matthews (see 10 observations).
Darren Sproles dropped passes. Josh Huff dropped one in the back of the end zone. Zach Ertz and Miles Austin had drops on the same drive late in the fourth quarter, when the Eagles were down eight and had a chance to score and tie the game.
With 3:12 left in the game, the Eagles got the ball on their own 11 with a chance to drive down the field for the tying scores, but the series ended when Ertz and Austin dropped passes on consecutive downs.
“I have to catch the ball,” Ertz said. “It’s 3rd-and-9, whatever it was, on a shallow route. I have to catch the ball and put us in a manageable position on fourth down.”
Against one of the best teams in the league — Carolina is one of five unbeaten teams — the Eagles cut a 15-point deficit to five, but the self-inflicted wounds were too much to overcome.
“I don’t have an answer for why (we had drops) but we did have too many to be successful,” Eagles head coach Chip Kelly said. “I thought Sam threw the ball well, threw with authority tonight. The drops, obviously, hurt big time. We have to get an answer for that.”
Bradford completed 26 of 46 attempts for 205 yards and an interception, which came after Matthews couldn’t haul in a pass and tipped it to a defender.
The game might have been much different had Bradford’s receivers helped him out.
“We talked about it before. [Drops] happen,” Bradford said. “Obviously, we don’t like to see them happen. It’s obviously not good for us, but they happen. We just have to move on and keep going. Just because someone drops the ball, I don’t lose confidence in any one out there. I have confidence in every one.”
The Eagles’ defense wasn’t great, giving up 204 yards on the ground, but it did force three turnovers (hear from Malcolm Jenkins here) and probably did enough to win the game.
So did Bradford.
But the receivers didn’t.
“Our defense plays lights out every week. You can’t tell me we don’t have a championship defense,” Matthews said. “You can’t tell me we don’t have a championship quarterback. I believe whole-heartedly in Sam. We just have to make the plays around him on offense.”