DETROIT --After the Lions took a 7-0 lead in the first quarter of Thursday's game against the Eagles, quarterback Mark Sanchez led a seven-play, 80-yard drive that was capped off with a touchdown pass to Brent Celek. But after answering right back to tie the score, the Eagles' offense failed to sustain any meaningful drives for the majority of the game, as the team fell to Detroit in another lopsided affair, 45-14.

"I think we just got behind the sticks and didn't execute the way that we wanted to," Sanchez said after the game. "Those guys were playing hard and I thought we matched their effort, but we just didn't quite execute the way we wanted to. We'll look at the tape and continue to improve and just move on."

Moving on will indeed be the challenge for the Eagles, as there are just 10 days before a road trip to New England to play the Patriots. Sanchez, who finished the game with 199 passing yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions, said after the game that he believes the Eagles have what it takes to get things turned around heading into the final five games.

"We've got people with great attitudes and guys who know how to fight through adversity," Sanchez said. "We're in a really good test right now, and it's going to test you down to the core, and we'll see what this team is really about and if guys are really about the team or not. But I really think we have good people, and good people make good football players, and I think we have enough talent to win games. We just have to keep fighting through it."

At 4-7, the Eagles are three games under .500 for the first time since Chip Kelly took over as the team's head coach in 2013. Obviously, it's a tough spot to be in, but Sanchez has seen teams fight through tough times before.

"These games are tough," Sanchez said. "You lose big two weeks in a row. That will really test your mettle. It came at a good time I think because we have a few days off, and we're just trying to bounce back next week and keep our heads up and just stay positive.

"This game is not easy. When things get tough, that's when you've got to do your very best to stay positive and continue to work and trust the process, but this is not the time to fracture or point fingers at anybody. I think the effort is there but it's just about the execution, and we need to continue to try to do our very best and work through it. If this game was easy, everybody would do it, but we have a lot of good guys in this locker room."

After playing in the early-afternoon Thanksgiving game, the players in the Eagles' locker room will have the weekend to let this one sink in, learn from it and come back ready to fire.

"It hurts and it should hurt," said the Eagles' quarterback. "This is hard, man. It's hard and it sucks and all of that, but listen, you have to be able to take the good and the bad and just keep trying to stay positive and keep fighting.

"I trust the process. I trust the players in the room. I trust the head coach. I trust our coaches. I think we have a great system and a great scheme. Everybody gets tested. Everybody goes through tough times but we just have to keep fighting and stay as positive as you can. Making excuse and saying 'Shoulda, woulda, coulda' and all of that kind of stuff, that's not good for us right now. That's not going to help us or take back three loses in a row, so there's no point. Don't even waste your time. Just get away from it, get it out of your mind, go home, see your family and then come back with the right attitude."