5 Plays That Cost Philadelphia Eagles a Win Against Arizona Cardinals
Few Eagles games in recent memory have provided as much instantaneous heartbreak as the team's Week 8 loss to the Arizona Cardinals, 24-20. Had just one play gone differently, Philadelphia could easily be 6-1 and in strong contention for home-field advantage throughout the NFC playoffs.
Instead, the Eagles are 5-2 and in second place in an NFC East; fortunately the Washington Redskins handed the Eagles a huge gift by knocking off the Dallas Cowboys. The Eagles' problems go beyond just the quarterback position: Amid questionable coaching decisions and a meltdown in the secondary, this is a loss that will haunt Philadelphia players, coaches and fans.
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Here's a dissection of five pivotal plays that cost the Eagles a win, and how if just one of these plays had gone differently, there's a good chance Philadelphia would have edged out Arizona. Plays are listed in chronological order as they occurred during the game.
Punt Right before Halftime
This was a curious decision by Chip Kelly. Facing a 4th-and-10 from the Arizona 44 with six seconds left before halftime, Kelly had punter Donnie Jones kick the ball away rather than the Eagles attempt either a long field goal or a Hail Mary pass.
It didn't seem to make sense, and it still doesn't.
Kicker Cody Parkey may be a rookie, but he doesn't kick like one. He has a cannon of a leg, and he's converted on all but one field goal this season. In this very game, he hit on a 54-yarder later on. He's been deep on his kickoffs, and he's already hit three 50-plus-yard field goals in just seven NFL games (at the time, he hadn't yet made his third, but it came later in the game).
The other conceivable option would be to have Nick Foles throw up a Hail Mary, a la Rodney Peete to Rob Carpenter against the Detroit Lions in the 1995 playoff game. It probably wouldn't have worked, but teams don't usually take interceptions of a Hail Mary pass 100-plus yards for touchdowns.
Perhaps Kelly was afraid Foles would backpedal too much and fumble the football. Maybe he was worried that a sack could happen (although interestingly enough, Foles wasn't dropped in 62 pass plays). And maybe he thought the risk of a blocked field goal was too great.
But in retrospect—and even at the time—it seemed like a questionable decision. The punt by Jones sent the two teams to halftime with the score knotted at seven points apiece. Had the Eagles attempted a field goal, there's a pretty good chance Parkey would have missed it, simply because that's a long kick.
But why not try something?
Josh Huff's Fumble
The Philadelphia Eagles haven't gotten much production from third-round rookie receiver, Josh Huff, and mistakes like this won't win him any more playing time.
It was early in the second quarter of a 7-7 game. Following a 28-yard completion from Nick Foles to Jeremy Maclin, Philly had the ball at the Arizona 19, looking to take a lead.
Foles lined up under center with Huff out wide to the left. Foles rolled to his left and hit a wide-open Huff on a 12-yard completion. Huff turned upfield and broke a tackle on his way.
At the 7-yard line, Huff coughed up the football when he was hit from behind; Arizona fell on the ball at the 2 and secured possession.
While the Eagles stopped the Cardinals soon thereafter, the lost fumble was a golden opportunity for Philadelphia to score. Th game remained tied.
Larry Fitzgerald's 80-Yard Touchdown
Larry Fitzgerald was born to play football against the Philadelphia Eagles, and even in his 11th season, he's still terrorizing this team. For the majority of the game, Fitzgerald was matched up one-on-one against Eagles slot corner Brandon Boykin. On this particular play, though, Eagles' corner Bradley Fletcher drew the coverage.
The situation as a 3rd-and-10 for Arizona early in the third quarter. Fitzgerald ran a slant, caught the ball at the 23 and turned upfield.
He never should have gone 80 yards. But Fitzgerald showed surprising speed in outracing Fletcher and Brandon Boykin, and just like that, Arizona took a 14-7 lead.
Here's additional proof of how dominant Fitzgerald has been against the Eagles over his career.
"Larry Fitzgerald named NFC off player of week. 3rd time in his career. All came vs the Eagles.
— Kent Somers (@kentsomers) October 29, 2014"
John Brown's 75-Yard Touchdown
This play will haunt Philadelphia Eagles fans for a long time. It isn't the first time the Arizona Cardinals edged out the Eagles on a backbreaking play.
There was Jake Plummer to MarTay Jenkins in 2001. There was the Larry Fitzgerald touchdown over Jaiquawn Jarrett in 2011. And there was the screen pass to Tim Hightower in the 2008 NFC Championship Game.
But this one—giving up a 75-yard touchdown pass to a rookie receiver with two minutes to play—may be the worst.
The Cardinals faced a 3rd-and-5 at their own 25. Here's a comprehensive breakdown of the Cardinals' play via former NFL player and current Bleacher Report writer Matt Bowen (link). It took a perfect pass from Palmer to Brown, a Willie Mays-esque, over-the-shoulder catch from Brown and an utter defensive collapse from cornerback Cary Williams and safety Nate Allen to allow this to happen.
Take a look at how close Brown was to dropping this ball.
"Cary Williams and Nate Allen are not compatible. Communication issues every week. #Eagles
— Eliot Shorr-Parks (@EliotShorrParks) October 26, 2014"
The risk was monumental here. If Arizona missed this play, they would need to convert on fourth down to keep their slim chances alive. But the Cardinals pulled it off, giving them two long touchdown passes in one half against the Eagles.
"The Eagles gave up no TD passes of 75 yards or more during the 7 years from 2000 through 2006. They gave up 2 in the second half yesterday.
— Reuben Frank (@RoobCSN) October 28, 2014"
Nick Foles' Pass to Jordan Matthews
Talk about pressure here.
A jump ball to Zach Ertz in the end zone was batted away by Arizona rookie safety Deonne Bucannon, leaving one second on the clock and Philadelphia facing a play that could eventually determine the winner of the NFC East title.
The situation was a 3rd-and-10 at the Cardinals' 16-yard line, with the Eagles down, 24-20. Obviously a field goal would do no good.
Foles had trips left, a receiver to the right and LeSean McCoy in the backfield. Note Jordan Matthews in the slot at the bottom of your screen.
Foles dropped back and looked for the second-round Matthews in the corner of the end zone.
Foles was pressured so much that he literally backpedaled 15 yards to the Arizona 31 before he heaved the ball up. That means when all was said and done, he had to throw the ball at least 35 yards in the air.
The shame of this all is that Matthews was open. He really was. Here’s a shot of the ball in the air, heading towards Matthews, clock at zero seconds.
Here’s Matthews with the ball securely in his hands. Look at the image below.
It really looks like Matthews was going to land in bounds. But his momentum carried him straight out of bounds, and he didn’t even get a foot down.
"#AZCardinals Rashad Johnson breaks up a pass for #Eagles Jordan Matthews on the final play of the game #AZvsPHI pic.twitter.com/uR9CuPlq3W
— David Kadlubowski (@Davidkadlu) October 27, 2014"
Is it Matthews’ fault or should Foles take the blame for throwing it so Matthews couldn’t catch it inbounds?
Afterwards, Matthews took the mature road and accepted all blame, but realistically, that would have been a tremendous catch if he had managed to land in the end zone.
Dallas' Monday night loss to Washington really helped Philadelphia out. The Eagles are still just a half-game back of the Cowboys in the division, and Tony Romo may miss some time with his latest back injury.
But if the Eagles miss the playoffs or fail to win the division, this series of plays will loom large.
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