BALTIMORE – The Eagles lost on Sunday. In a season of losing, this was just the latest, but it officially eliminated them from the playoffs and clinched a season record below .500.
This loss in particular came to the Ravens by a final score of 27-26, but it could have gone either way. In this loss, the Eagles actually put themselves in a position to win but fell one two-point conversion shy (see story).
“There’s no moral victories,” Jordan Matthews said. “Nobody cares about that kind of stuff. We gotta come out and win. We gotta get that feeling back in our mouths.”
For a team that’s over moral victories, this sure kinda felt like one.
See, while the Eagles weren’t able to convert on a two-point conversion that would have given them the lead with just four seconds on the clock on Sunday, Carson Wentz led them down the field to put them in that position.
In a situation where the Eagles have continually failed this season, they succeeded on Sunday. Wentz and the Eagles got the ball back in the fourth quarter with 1:39 on the clock, down seven points.
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A week after a similar drive against Washington ended at the 14-yard line, the Eagles drove 59 yards on nine plays and Wentz scrambled into the end zone on a four-yard run to pull the Eagles within one.
“We were all pretty excited we scored the touchdown,” Wentz said. “I think this was the best offensive balance we’ve had this game. In the running game, I felt we were really rolling. In the passing game, I think I could’ve been better, especially in the first half. We were just really balanced today.”
This was the fifth time this season the Eagles got the ball back late in the fourth quarter with a chance to either tie or win a game. They failed in all of those situations until Sunday.
While they didn’t tie or win the game on Sunday, the drive itself was at least successful.
“I think guys just finally made plays,” tight end Zach Ertz said. “We started executing at a high level. The whole game, we were executing at a pretty high level. ... In the two-minute drive, guys just made plays.”
In Sunday’s two-minute drive, Wentz completed 3 of 8 passes, but one of them was a huge 24-yarder to Ertz on the sideline, where Ertz did a great job of keeping his feet in bounds.
On 2nd-and-goal from the Baltimore 4-yard line, Wentz scrambled to his left and couldn’t find anyone open, so he lowered his shoulder and made it into the end zone.
“They were doing a good job covering our guys in the end zone,” he said. “I just took it myself. I just wanted to find a way to get the ball in there. I knew contact was coming. It was me against [S Eric] Weddle, and I was able to get around him.”
The Eagles then took a timeout and picked a play for the two-point conversion. That attempt failed and the Eagles lost, leaving them dejected.
There might not have been a moral victory on Sunday, but that late drive gave Wentz and his team some experience in a late-game situation.
“It is tremendous, not only for him as a quarterback, but for our team as well. He continues to learn from these situations,” Pederson said. “We put ourselves in these positions, and we pride ourselves in being able to finish games. These are valuable lessons going forward. We continue to learn from this as a team and as individuals, and it will definitely be better for us down the road.”
