San Diego Chargers vs. Philadelphia Eagles: Takeaways from Philly's 33-30 Loss

This wasn't what Philadelphia Eagles fans had in mind after Chip Kelly's hugely successful debut on Monday Night Football. Unlike its start to the Redskins game, the Birds' up-tempo offense was slow to get out of the blocks against the San Diego Chargers, allowing the Chargers to build a lead that forced the home team to play catch-up all day.

That said, Michael Vick and company did manage to put a 30-spot on the scoreboard, which means a lot more went wrong than just on the offensive side of the football. One could easily make the case that Philly should have won the game, but there were far too many mistakes for that to happen.

Here are our initial observations from Sunday's game, with the general theme being "had only this happened."

Whatever "this" is, it didn't happen, and Philadelphia drops to 1-1 on the season.

Big Problems at Safety

Nate Allen and Earl Wolff alternated at safety for the Eagles opposite Patrick Chung. It did not seem to matter who was in the game, though, the Chargers were able to advance the ball by picking on that area of the defense.

Allen and Wolff were always one second late on passes over the middle or in the flat. Missed tackles by both players will not endear them to Eagle fans either.

San Diego head coach Mike McCoy and quarterback Philip Rivers exploited these matchups all day long, which was a big reason why the Chargers were able to convert 10-of-15 third downs and own time of possession by a margin of 20 minutes.

Where Was the Pass Rush?

Washington’s offense couldn’t get into sync on Monday, and a big reason for that was defensive coordinator Billy Davis’ defense, which had the QB under constant pressure early. Philip Rivers faced few such problems in Week 2.

The Chargers’ offensive line kept Rivers surprisingly clean, as he was sacked just once—which turned out to be the only hit registered on the San Diego QB all day.

Rivers not surprisingly got awfully comfortable in the pocket, connecting on 36 of 47 pass attempts for 419 yards and three touchdowns.

But for Rivers, it all started up front.

DeSean Jackson Is Uncoverable

Everybody is about to realize DeSean Jackson is back. The two-time Pro Bowler’s 193 receiving yards and a score on nine receptions is one of the best performances of his entire career, believe it or not.

It could’ve been a lot more, though.

Jackson had one 40-plus-yard touchdown called back on a penalty. One of Vick’s deep balls to Jackson carried the receiver just out of bounds for an incomplete pass. And on another, Djack just couldn’t quite haul in a throw off his fingertips.

Jackson is back to being a dangerous force in Philly’s offense. Perhaps that is the biggest takeaway of all from Sunday.

Lane Johnson Must Pay Attention to Detail

As we mentioned, DeSean Jackson had a huge scoring play called back on a penalty. The penalty was called on tackle Lane Johnson, the rookie's second illegal-formation flag of the game.

The fourth overall pick in this year’s draft has done an admirable job in both run-blocking and pass protection, but his penalties cost the Eagles on Sunday. Of the two, obviously none was bigger than the one that erased a touchdown.

Johnson looks like he’s going to be a fine NFL player, but he apparently needs a refresher in the fundamentals.

Eagles Lack Discipline

Unfortunately, penalties were an epidemic for Philly in their Week 2 loss. In all, they were flagged nine times for a total of 82 yards.

The 82 yards that were lost to infractions were technically not the only yards sacrificed. As mentioned before, one penalty erased a huge touchdown pass to DeSean Jackson. Several other calls—a few on third down—resulted in first downs for the Chargers offense. Two such calls went against cornerback Cary Williams.

It’s hard to win when a team is its own worst enemy, as the Eagles were at times on Sunday. No doubt Chip Kelly will not tolerate such discipline breakdowns for very long.

Vick Better Than Ever

The Eagles handed the ball off an Andy Reid-esque 14 times against the 'Bolts, which means Michael Vick was responsible for a huge portion of Philly’s 511 total yards of offense.

Oh, and the 11-year veteran was about as good as he’s ever been in the process.

Vick achieved a new career high with 428 yards passing, connecting on 24 of 37 passes for two touchdowns and a passer rating of 122.4. Chip Kelly really leaned on his signal-caller, and Vick didn’t disappoint.

Vick wasn’t perfect obviously, but even with all those touches, he didn’t turn the ball over once. That’s been his kryptonite since...forever.

So while the Birds lost this one, the QB’s effort should be taken as a positive sign moving forward.

Henery's Missed Field Goal Looms Large

In what will perhaps go down as the most underrated play of the game, third-year kicker Alex Henery missed a 46-yard field goal as the first half was coming to an end.

Henery entered the year having hit on nearly 88 percent of his kicks, but whether by chance or design, Andy Reid rarely relied on him for kicks much further than 40 yards out. That kick would’ve tied the game going into the locker room, and might have changed the ultimate outcome.

Instead it’s a miss, and a costly one at that.

Defense Not Where It Needs to Be

Anybody who thought the Eagles defense was ahead of schedule after dominating the Redskins last week appears to have been mistaken. Defensive coordinator Billy Davis warned us the unit is a work in progress, and it proved him right on Sunday.

How about these numbers.

Rivers was 36-of-47 for 419 yards and three touchdowns. Ryan Mathews carried 16 times for 73 yards. Antonio Gates and Malcom Floyd each eclipsed 100 yards receiving, and Eddie Royal hauled in all three of Rivers’ scoring passes.

All told, the Chargers finished with 539 yards of offense and possessed the ball for over 40 minutes. 

For an NFL defense, that’s not cutting it. That’s not cutting it in any league.