By: Kylan Watson
The Philadelphia Eagles were telling everybody who would listen that they would get right against the Cincinnati Bengals today. However, for the seventh time in franchise history and the second time since 2008 they tied with the Bengals 23-23.
For the Eagles they were again the victims of the injury bug once again. Today they lost tight end Dallas Goedert to an ankle injury, wide receiver Desean Jackson to a hamstring injury, defensive back Avonte Maddox to an ankle injury, and left guard Jason Peters to a knee injury. Now the Eagles are beat up not only on the offensive line. Now they are injured at the wide receiver and corner back positions. Two positions they invested heavily in during the offseason.
The losses of Jackson and Goedert loomed large in this game as the Eagles lost both of their deep targets. The Bengals were able to double Zach Ertz and prevent him from having a big impact on the game.
Even with all those injuries they were still in position to win the game. Despite the fact they turned the ball over two times and quarterback Carson Wentz had to engineer a late-game tying touchdown run to send the game into overtime.
Wentz again was inaccurate and had two interceptions. But when it counted, he put his team in positions to win and his work was undone in the overtime period by late game false start and holding penalties by his O-line.
I’ve got to be better; I know that and I will be,” Wentz said.
A late game field goal attempt was undone by a false start penalty by guard Matt Pryor. Penalties and inconsistent play on both sides of the ball really undid the Eagles today.
“We’re just not a smart football team right now. Not very disciplined,” Head Coach Doug Pederson said.
The Bengals were able to take advantage of the Eagles especially in the secondary.
Quarterback Joe Burrow carved the Eagles up especially in the second half. Burrow completed 31 of 44 passes for 312 yards and had two touchdown passes. On both of those passes the Eagles secondary left a receiver wide open and Burrow took advantage.
His favorite target was Tyler Boyd who caught 10 passes for 125 yards.
The Eagles allowed a young team to hang around and they got more confident as the game went on. Now the Eagles are 0-2-1 and are heading into the tougher portion of their schedule as they face the murderer’s row of the San Francisco 49ers, Pittsburgh Steelers, and Baltimore Ravens in the next three weeks.
The Eagles will need to rebound and find a way to get their offense and defense to have a complete four quarter performance for the first time this season.
