Panthers 30 Eagles 22: Eagles Show Life and Death On Monday Night

There was a lot to get excited about if your an Eagles fan desperate for something to cheer about. The Eagles defense over pursued, the coverages left receivers wide open and the Eagles lost three fumbles on their way to a 30-22 loss at home. The Eagles now have 8 losses, the number that team owner Jeffrey Lurie said would not be good enough for Andy Reid to keep his job. Bryce Brown is a seventh round draft pick who was making his first career NFL start. He quit on his Kansas State team last year and only played one season at Tennessee before transferring. He was coming into the NFL as a unproven and raw prospect. Tonight he showed why he was a former number one running back prospect coming out of high school, while also being a very unpolished player. Brown ran for 178 yards on 19 carriers and scored two touchdowns. He also added 11 yards on four receptions. He would have gotten even more yards had he not lost two fumbles. We saw the good and bad from Brown. He looked like an elite back that could challenge LeSean McCoy for the most carries in the offense each week. He was that good. He also turned the ball over twice. That’s bad. If he can fix his fumbling problems, he can become a top 10 back in this league. You don’t see many big backs with that kind of striaght line speed. The Eagles defense was what really lost this game. The front four over pursued consistently and the coverage had several gaffes. You can’t win games when you let receivers go uncoveraged for an entire play. Nnamdi Asomugha and Kurt Coleman looked especially bad at times. It’s hard to envision a scenario where either player is starting in Philly next season. The Eagles defense let Cam Newton, a player that has been awful for much of the 2012 season, go 306 yards in the air, 52 yards on the ground and score 4 total touchdowns. The defense has really struggled since Andy Reid fired Juan Castillo after Week 6. The defense has been giving up over 30 points a game under interim defensive coordinator Todd Bowles. The Eagles now sit at 3-8 and are riding a seven game losing streak. Can you believe this team was once 3-1 and was a missed field goal by Pittsburg away from going 4-1. Now this team seems destined for a top 5 pick. This was the easiest game left on the Eagles schedule and Brown had a monster day. At least the offense showed some promise. This team clearly needs a culture change, but the talent is there.