Philadelphia Eagles

Three takeaways from Eagles' loss in Washington

Published Oct. 4, 2015 5:29 p.m. ET

foxsports

By Anthony Fabrikant

Cousins was clutch, throwing the game-winning touchdown pass against the Eagles

Earlier today, the Philadelphia Eagles gave up a late touchdown pass to Washington Redskins’ receiver Pierre Garcon, propelling the Redskins to their second victory of the season. Kai Forbath’s extra point left an exclamation point on the Redskins 23-20 victory.

Offensive line needs to vastly improve

Lane Johnson and Matt Tobin were the best defense the Washington Redskins could have hoped for. The first half of Sunday’s Philadelphia Eagles and Washington Redskins match-up was headlined with the Redskins dominance defensively. Andrew Gardner was placed on injured reserve earlier this week and his absence was felt. Tobin and Johnson struggled in blitz recognition/pickups and in their assignments. There were plays where Johnson was simply blown off the ball and others where he seemed out of his own. Tobin, albeit struggled through the first half of the game, played much better when a Jason Peters injury forced him to move to left tackle. Because of these implications Bradford was sacked five times and with 26 seconds remaining in the game the offense didn’t have a chance at moving the ball up the field to tie or win the game. These schematic sins directly prevented the Eagles from being able to run the ball. Once again, fans saw DeMarco Murray, Darren Sproles, andRyan Mathews combine for less than 100 rushing yards. Murray finished with 36 yards, 30 of which came on his first carry of the game.

Pass rush was nonexistent

Although the Eagles defense was what kept them in the game, Kirk Cousins could have ordered a pizza and waited on the delivery before throwing any passes from the pocket. The Michigan State alumni was sacked only once and went on to complete 31 passes for 290 yards and the game-winning touchdown pass. The defensive front seven wasn’t terrible against the run and limited Alfred Morris and Matt Jones to a combined 73 yards; although Chris Thompson accrued 53 yards on only six carries.

Special teams had miscues

The Eagles had the Redskins pinned on the one-yard line punting to Darren Sproles. Sproles allowed the ball to bounce beyond the 45-yard line to end up totaling a whomping 66-yard punt. This was huge in the game because it was a prime opportunity for the Eagles to take advantage of field position, Sproles needs to fair catch that punt. Caleb Sturgis’ mistake was more devastating. In Sturgis’ first game as an Eagle he missed a 33-yard field goal and his first extra-point attempt as well. Basic math tells us that four points, although the complexion of the game would have been different, would have put the Eagles in a better situation to win being the team lost by only three points.

More from isportsweb.com: