Everything was going great until it wasn't for the Philadelphia Eagles during Monday evening's home opener vs the Atlanta Falcons. Despite leading by three, with under two minutes left and the ball in Atlanta's red zone, and with the Falcons out of timeouts, the Eagles were still somehow able to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, dropping their record to 1-1 in the process.
The Eagles' defense was decent throughout much of the night but utterly collapsed during their last possession, as Kirk Cousins led a two minute drill right down the field and eventually found Drake London in the end zone for the game winning touchdown.
One person who was alarmed by what he saw on the field was former NFL tight end Shannon Sharpe, who recently took to ESPN's First Take to relay his concerns.
“The Falcons did what they wanted to do,” said Sharpe. “They ran the ball at will. Kirk Cousins had all day to throw the football. You let go of Hassan Reddick. Fletcher Cox retired. Vic Fangio really wants to play two shell, but he couldn't really play it last night because they were getting gassed in the run, so they had to drop the eighth guy down to safety. Now, you're playing one on one.”
Sharpe also spoke on how this has been a growing trend in recent years for the Eagles.
“I've never been sold on the back end. Now they can't stop the run. Now they can't consistently generate pressure,” said Sharpe. “Look how long Kirk Cousins had the ball back there. There was nobody even close. Kirk was probably like, ‘I wonder if my wife put the kids to bed already.'”
A brutal loss
Eagles fans would be forgiven for having flashbacks to the 2023 campaign after what they saw on Monday night, which was eerily reminiscent of the multiple late game collapses that the team endured a season ago.
While the Falcons are not expected to be slouches this year and were projected by many to win the NFC South, it was quite alarming to see just how quickly Atlanta was able to get down the field on the last possession, especially considering how difficult offense had been to come by up to that point.
In any case, the Eagles will next take the field on Sunday on the road vs the New Orleans Saints. That game is slated to kick off at 1:00 PM ET.
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