USA Today
Eagles Defense Shredded in 38-20 loss to Vikings
Defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz’s defense was a mess from start to finish, and the result was an ugly 38-20 loss by the Eagles against the Minnesota Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium on Sunday.
Kirk Cousins who was 2-8 in his career against teams with winning records looked like Joe Montana or Johnny Unitas or any other quarterback in the Hall of Fame. Of course, Cousins always seems to rise to the challenge of playing the Eagles.
He is no 6-3 against them and in five of those games he has thrown for more than 300 yards.
He did that in Sunday’s drubbing of the Eagles, throwing for 333 yards a tying a career high with four touchdown passes. Cousins completed 22 of 29 passes and threw an interception.
He has now thrown for 21 touchdowns in nine games against the Eagles.
As for the other quarterback, Carson Wentz, he completed 26 of 40 passes for 306 yards, with touchdown passes to Miles Sanders and Alshon Jeffery. He now has 12 TD passes this season.
His passer rating was 94.4, but he threw his first pick since Week 2. It came late in the fourth quarter when the Eagles already trailed by 18.
Jeffery was Wentz’s top target with 10 catches for 76 yards.
The Eagles didn’t offer much resistance in the secondary, and their pass rush was, for the most part, tepid at best, allowing Cousins plenty of time to unleash deep touchdown throws of 62 and 51 yards, both to Stefon Diggs.
Diggs had a career high three TD catches and ended with seven catches for 167 yards.
Sidney Jones returned at cornerback after missing last week with a hamstring injury, but he was continually beaten. Rasul Douglas had Diggs run by him a few times, though it appeared he was expecting some safety help from Rodney McLeod on some of those, but McLeod was nowhere in the vicinity.
The Eagles had only one sack, that from Brandon Graham, which was his fourth in the last two games. But that was it, and this was against a Vikings offensive line that was starting a backup at guard and lost tackle Riley Reiff early on.
It was 24-3 Minnesota after the Vikings’ scored points on their first four possessions of the game. The Eagles rallied valiantly, closing to 24-20 after Carson Wentz hit Alshon Jeffery for a 3-yard touchdown on the Eagles first possession of the second half and a 40-yard field goal by Jake Elliott
The Eagles could have been within 24-23 had Doug Pederson not elected to try a fake field goal in the final seconds of the first half. The direct snap went to kicker Jake Elliott, who threw an interception to Everson Griffen.
The loss ended the Eagles’ two-game winning streak and leaves them at 3-3 heading into Dallas next Sunday night for an important NFC East game.
Here are some takeaways:
THIS WEEK’S BURNING QUESTION NO. 1
Are the Eagles’ defensive struggles a result of Schwartz’s scheme or lack of top-level personnel?
The Eagles will likely get Jalen Mills back this week and Cre’Von LeBlanc could return in two weeks, so we will see.
THIS WEEK’S BURNING QUESTION NO. 2
What do the Eagles need to try to acquire before the trade deadline, a cornerback, a receiver, a defensive end, what?
There are so many ways the Eagles could go here, and going in only one direction may not be enough to push them into the playoffs.
RUSH TO LOSS
The Eagles run defense was the best in the league, allowing just 63 yards per game, but surrendered 122. It was well below the Vikings’ 192 they had been averaging and Dalvin Cook didn’t do much, but what difference does it make if you can’t stop the pass or rush the passer?
Cook was the NFL’s second-leading rusher and had a league-best 5.9 yards per carry. He finished with 41 yards on 16 carries and a 2.6 yards per carry average.
Again, though, what does it matter when you give up 447 yards of total offense?
UNSUNG PERFORMANCES
Here are three:
Miles Sanders. The rookie running back scored his first career touchdown on a 32-yard reception that cut the score to 24-10. Sanders finished with three catches for 86 yards. It was his fourth straight game with a reception of 30-plus yards.
Andre Dillard. Playing his first extensive minutes of the season after Jason Peters left early with a knee issue, the rookie left tackle held up well until later in the game when it was clear the Eagles needed to pass and the Vikings were able to just let loose their rush.
Hassan Ridgeway. The defensive tackle was stout in the run game, finishing with three tackles and two tackles for loss.
SLOOOOW STARTS
They continue to haunt the Eagles. In five of six games this year they have trailed by double digits. Here are those deficits:
17-0 vs. Redskins
17-6 vs. Falcons
20-10 vs. Lions
10-0 vs. Packers
24-3 vs. Vikings
The Eagles came back to win two of those, but there’s no way you can win consistently by digging out of such holes week in and week out.
