NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Shortly after the somber Eagles locker room dispersed, there were about 50 youngsters in uniform playing games on the field of Nissan Stadium.
Even they would know what to do on 4th-and-15.
In fairness, the Eagles knew how to play against that situation too. They just didn't do it. Corey Graham made what he termed an "elementary" mistake as the Eagles blew a game in overtime that they once had easily in hand. They lost 26-23 to the Titans (see Roob's observations).
"It's just a dumb play by me," Graham said. "I feel like I gotta be a lot smarter than that and play the situation."
The Eagles' offense drove down the field to kick a field goal to open overtime. And the defense had forced the Titans into an incredibly hard 4th-and-15 from the Titans' own 31-yard line. The odds of converting that are miniscule.
The Eagles knew what they had to do, but Graham, the 33-year-old veteran safety, played short of the sticks and let Taywan Taylor get behind him. The old vet made a rookie mistake.
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4th-and-15 OT conversion, Mariota to @SilentGrind2 Taywan Taylor for 19 yards pic.twitter.com/LG4KywwvXW— Titans Film Room (@titansfilmroom) September 30, 2018
That just can't happen.
"You sit at the sticks, you don't let them get behind you, you make them throw in front of you and you run and tackle," Malcolm Jenkins said.
The Titans' conversion was the longest 4th-down conversion in overtime dating back to at least 1994, according to ProFootballReference. This is the first time the Eagles have given up a 4th-and-15 or more since 2010 against the Colts, when Trent Cole sacked Peyton Manning and was flagged for roughing the passer.
This doesn't happen often. And there's a reason for it.
And Graham knows:
Just gotta play smart football. Gotta know that we have to line up deeper and be smarter than that. It was one of those things. We were playing it normal when it's not a normal situation. You gotta line up a lot deeper and play the situation. To me, it was just a dumb play by me.
But even after that 4th-and-15 was converted, the Eagles got the Titans into two more fourth-down situations.
- 4th-and-4 from the Eagles' 44-yard line. Sidney Jones gets called for a defensive pass interference.
- 4th-and-2 from the Eagles' 32-yard line. Marcus Mariota tossed a pass to Dion Lewis for a 17-yard gain. Maybe there was a block in the back on Jordan Hicks, but it wasn't called.
So how rare is it to give up conversions on three fourth downs?
Only one team in the last 25 years had even converted two 4th downs in a single overtime - the Giants against the Jets in 2015.
The Titans converted three.— Reuben Frank (@RoobNBCS) September 30, 2018
Yikes.
If they make just one of these plays, the result on Sunday wouldn't have been a loss. At worse, the Eagles would have walked away with a tie.
The Titans drove down 75 yards down the field after the Eagles' field goal. The drive took 16 plays and lasted 6:14; it was a monster. It was capped with a walkoff touchdown to Corey Davis in the end zone. It capped a comeback from down 17-3 in the third quarter.
In the two home wins, the Eagles' defense has been incredible in clutch situations. That wasn't the case on Sunday.
"At the end of the day," Jenkins said, "if that's the situation we're in at the end of the game, we'll take that every time."
They just can't afford to make these simple mistakes. Not when the stakes are so high.
