The Philadelphia Eagles already lost the No. 1 seed in the NFC and after falling to the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday and are now in danger of losing the NFC East on top of it.
Going from 10-1 to a Wild Card team would be one of the more disastrous collapses in recent NFL memory, and the Eagles are on a path to do just that after losing their fifth game of the year and fourth in the last five.
There may be a little more sting in this weekend's loss, however, after it came at the hands of former Philadelphia defensive coordinator - and current coach of the Cardinals - Jonathan Gannon.
"That’s a really good team over there, obviously battling for the one seed," Gannon said after the game. "We’re down 21-6 at half, but we felt like we left some plays out there. Our offense kind of moved it up and down. Defense had...I think, one three-and-out...down 21-6 at half the energy was good. The focus was good. Came out...got back in the game...so we can play normal football on all three phases...We ran it up and down the field. Just really hats off to the players. The resilience. The week of practice that we had. We were on it today.”
Arizona running back James Conner racked up 128 rushing yards on 26 carries and scored two second-half touchdowns, the last one coming with 32 seconds left giving his team a four-point lead.
Feeding into the good vibes the Cardinals had against the Eagles despite the halftime deficit was the fact that 72 of Conner's yards came in the first half and three of their four drives before halftime ended inside the Eagles' 30-yard line.
"I just thought we kind of self-destructed a little bit in the first half," Gannon said. "But we moved it up and down the field and we kept moving it in the second half. So really trusted the offense. Wanted to make sure that our offense had a chance to tie or win the game there and that’s the reason for the decision.”
This Philadelphia loss can be saddled right onto the shoulders of the defense that allowed 449 yards of offense to Arizona, 35 points, and even though it contributed a pick-six score as well just allowed too much offense to reasonably expect to win.
It was a less-than-stellar day for Gannon's old defensive unit, but one his new franchise and team will hang their hats on as they enter the offseason possessing a top-five NFL Draft pick.
Next Sunday, the Eagles will take the field against the New York Giants needing a win and a Dallas Cowboys loss to the Washington Commanders or else they'll travel to face the NFC South Division winner in the first round of the postseason.
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