Juan Castillo had no answer for New England, which erased a 10-0 deficit with ridiculous ease. First, the Patriots established BenJarvus Green-Ellis and the running game to drive 80 yards in 12 plays to score a touchdown and begin a streak of five consecutive possessions – not including a one-play kneel-down at the end of the first half – on which New England scored points.
By the time that onslaught was over, the Patriots were ahead 31-13 in a decidedly restless Lincoln Financial Field. Brady's performance was a thing of beauty. New England spread the field with its formations and picked apart the defense – which played for the most part without cornerback Nnamdi Amomugha, who was slowed by a hyperextended knee injury.
Brady had time to throw the football and he had his choice of targets. Veteran Deion Branch, who killed the Eagles in Super Bowl 39, set up the go-ahead touchdown and converted a third-and-13 situation with a 63-yard catch and run. The twin tight end combination of Rob Gronkowski (4 catches, 59 yards, 1 TD) and Aaron Hernandez (6 catches, 62 yards) had a total of 10 receptions, 121 yards, 1 touchdown).
And Wes Welker, the league leader in receptions, destroyed the Eagles inside, scoring twice and catching 8 passes for 115 yards.
It was a clinic, one Brady has run many times on many teams in his magnificent career. The Eagles had no chance. They missed a bunch of tackles. They generated very little pressure against Brady. The coverage was poor – Welker got behind Joselio Hanson and Nate Allen by 5 yards to haul in a Brady pass for 41 yards and a score.
To lay the loss at the doorstep of the defense is not fair, of course. The Eagles came out gunning to go up 10-0, setting up a LeSean McCoy touchdown run with a 58-yard pass from Vince Young to Riley Cooper and then driving 55 yards to give Alex Henery an opportunity to boot a 43-yard field goal, which he converted.
Then it was way too hit and miss for the offense. Young was wild for much of the game, McCoy wasn't involved very much – he had just 6 carries for 29 yards in the first half – and the production in the red zone was, as it has been all season, spotty. After scoring the touchdown to cap the first drive, the Eagles fell behind 21-10 with time winding down in the first half.
They had a first and goal at the New England 5-yard line with a chance to get back in the game. But Young was sacked on first down, a coverage sack on which the Eagles could not shake anyone free. On second down, Young rolled right, saw nobody open and ran for 1 yard. On third down from the 4, Young threw to an open DeSean Jackson, who failed to bring in a catchable ball.
New England led 24-13 at the half, scored on its first possession of the second half and rolled.
And now the Eagles, after this thorough drubbing, are 4-7. They play one good game and raise everyone's hopes and then take a pounding to a Patriots team that made very few mistakes, that played at an entirely different tempo and that coached and executed far, far better than the Eagles.
It is no mistake that this team is 4-7. There are too many apparent holes to make a sustained run, at least to this point. The defense doesn't get enough stops. The offense struggles every week in the red zone. Turnovers remain a sore point. The Eagles commit too many penalties, miss too many tackles and drop too many passes. They played a team missing a starting middle linebacker, a starting cornerback and a starting safety and put up 13 measly points.
Those 466 total yards of offense are as hollow as they come, and Young's 400 passing yards were not impressive. The Eagles, a tease of a team this season, followed up Sunday's encouraging win over the Giants with a subpar performance in every phase of the game -- coaching, urgency, execution, precision.
So here the Eagles sit, 4-7. They have a bunch of issues to address in the big picture, but there is no time for the team to look at the macro. The micro focus is on the quick turnaround this week. The team has a light practice on Monday and then another on on Tuesday before Wednesday's walk-through and Thursday's game.
We can all step back and ask the questions: What has happened here? How did it get to this level? Why didn't the Eagles step up and challenge New England? What in the world is going on with DeSean Jackson? How bad is the defense? Why can't the Eagles score more touchdowns in the red zone?
The team, though, has a game in a few days. This season, one that began with such high hopes and great expectations, has crumbled to 4-7. The playoffs are a distant thought, if that.
New England came to Lincoln Financial Field on Sunday and showed how it is done. The Patriots played like professionals and performed at a higher tempo. The offense ran like I expected the Eagles offense to run this season: Spread 'em out, go run fast breaks and devastate teams with speed. That's Tom Brady and his offense.
The Eagles, on the other hand, committed 10 penalties, dropped a dozen passes, missed more tackles, seemingly, then they made. They had no intensity, and their focus was clearly wandering for a team that faced a win-or-go-home game.
So .... the frustration level mounts. Nobody has answers, not now. The time will come for that. We are left loving the Eagles and wondering, once again, how this season could go so poorly so quickly.
