By: Kylan Watson

The Philadelphia Eagles were confident that if they limited turnovers and cleaned up their offensive line, they would have a chance against the Los Angeles Rams this week. Well, the Eagles O-line played better and limited the effectiveness of the Rams defensive line. However, turnovers were still a problem for the Eagles, and that along with poor defensive play. Helped the Rams to a 37-19 victory.

The Eagles entered this game with a returning Miles Sanders at running back and Lane Johnson at right tackle. A promising drive was ended by Sanders when he fumbled the ball, and the Rams turned that early turnover into a touchdown. Sanders would rebound though as he was able to score a touchdown and rushed for 95 yards.  The return of Sanders allowed the Eagles to stay balanced and mix in some more run plays, to keep the Rams honest.

Sanders was not the only one who struggled with turnovers once again Carson Wentz was inaccurate with the ball and struggled with turnovers. He completed 26/43 passes for 242 yards, and he threw two interceptions. After two games Wentz has thrown four interceptions, and for the first time in his career he had back to back games with an interception. Wentz usually takes care of the ball, but he has been playing hero ball instead of taking what the defense is given him like he did last year.

“I gotta protect the ball plain and simple,” Wentz said.

His poor decision making has led to the Eagles continuing to struggle with turnovers. They gave away three to the Rams today. They were able to score 10-points from the turnovers. The Rams also took advantage of poor defensive play and poor play-calling.

The defense struggled mightily against the Rams and their motion offense.  There were plenty of times they were able to gas the Eagles for big offensive plays. Jared Goff completed his first thirteen passes against the Eagles and completed two touchdown passes in the first half against them. They did not have an answer for what the Rams were doing offensively.

Goff completed 20/27 passes for 267 yards and had three touchdown passes. All those touchdown throws were to tight end Tyler Higbee. Usually it is the Eagles who are destroying opposing defenses with their tight ends. This time it was the Rams. They did a good job of taking advantage of the Eagles linebacking core. Which is a huge weakness of the team.

“I feel like we started to chase plays rather than be in the moment and trust each other consistently,” Eagles safety Rodney McLeod said.  

Now the Eagles are 0-2 for the first time since 2015 and will face a game and hungry Cincinnati Bengals team next week. If they want to pull off a win Doug Pederson will have to tailor his game-plan to match the strengths of his quarterback, and find away to get his defense to play a complete game.