By: Kylan Watson
It was all set up for the Eagles, their rival the Dallas Cowboys loss to the Buffalo Bills during a Thanksgiving Day match-up. All the Eagles had to do was beat the Miami Dolphins. The Eagles could not do it even with a 14-point lead. The Dolphins stormed back and scored 23 unanswered points to beat the Eagles 37-31 and hand them another disappointing loss.
Early in the game the Eagles got off to a hot start they got an early interception from Ryan Fitzpatrick and Carson Wentz connected on a swing pass with Miles Sanders for an early touchdown score. The Eagles were up by seven-points heading in to half-time.
Wentz had himself a day because of the mostly full deck he had to work with. He connected on 28 out of 48 passes for 310 yards and three touchdowns. His main target was Alshon Jeffrey. Jeffrey had 9 catches for 137 yards and scored 1 touchdown.
This was the first time in awhile that the Eagles had most of their talented offensive players available for a game.
Despite the best efforts of the offense in the second half the Eagles suffered a power outage. They only scored 10 points after halftime. The Dolphins found themselves because they scored 23 unanswered points to take this game from the Eagles.
They had no answers for what the Dolphins were doing.
They were not able to get pressure on Ryan Fitzpatrick. The Dolphins offensive line largely held up during the game and the Eagles were only able to get two sacks during the game. Fitzpatrick was able to find his receivers and give the Eagles secondary fits.
In one drive late in the game the Eagles pressured Fitzpatrick and he connected with receiver DeVante Parker over the outstretch arms of cornerback Jalen Mills. This allowed the Dolphins to retake the lead late in the 4th quarter.
The Eagles just could not recover, a combination of poor defensive play, penalties, and drops on the offensive side of the ball doomed the Eagles. They just could not recover, and the Dolphins used creative play calling to take advantage of the aggressiveness of the Eagles.
Now this team has four more chances to show the league, their fans, and the city of Philadelphia what they are made of. Their only path to making it to the playoffs is to win their division. It seems it may all come down to a December 22nd, 2019 match-up with the Cowboys will determine who makes the playoffs, but the Eagles must beat the Giants, and Redskins before they can even think about the post season.
Earlier today the division lead of the NFC East was right there for the Eagles, but they laid an egg in Miami and now the road will be a lot harder for them.
