Philadelphia Eagles Season Recap
On Sunday, January 13th, the Philadelphia Eagles’ tough season finally came to an end with a 14 - 20 loss to the New Orleans Saints in the Divisional Round of the NFL Playoffs. This season was littered with perhaps the most injuries the Eagles have sustained in a season in recent memory—that’s saying something, especially when you consider that they lost critical players like Sproles, Peters, Hicks, Maragos, and (of course) Wentz during their Superbowl run in 2017-18.
The season started with a laborious win over the Atlanta Falcons followed by a surprising and perplexing loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Heading into Week 3, fans were ecstatic to see Wentz return to the field to face the Andrew Luck-led Colts. In the eleven weeks to follow, Wentz would put up solid numbers despite the fact that he had missed the entire off-season due to his ACL tear in 2017. Still, somehow, the Eagles were sitting at 6 - 7 following a crushing loss to Dallas in Week 13. That’s when it was revealed that Wentz had been playing with a back issue since Week 6 against the Giants, and he was going to miss the Week 14 game against the Rams. Wentz would go on to sit out the rest of the season with injury, ending his 2018 campaign with 3,074 passing yards, 21 touchdowns, and 7 interceptions, all coming together for a season passer rating of 102.2.
Thus began FolesTime™ for the second season in a row. Foles led the Eagles to unexpected wins over the Rams and the Texans, providing life to an almost despairing locker room. In Week 17, the Eagles needed a win against the Redskins plus a Vikings loss to the Bears to sneak their way into the playoffs. The Eagles won handily against the ‘Skins, but it remained to be seen whether or not the Bears would rest their starters in their final game of the year (as they had already basically clinched the number 3 seed). At the end of the 4 o’clock games on the final Sunday of the regular season, the Bears completed a dominating win versus Minnesota, paying the Eagles’ ticket to Chicago in the Wildcard round.
On Wildcard Sunday, the Eagles and Bears shared a hard-fought game with both defenses putting up impressive performances, limiting the score to 10 - 15 (Bears on top) with 4:48 left to go in the game. Nick Foles led the Eagles on a pivotal late game drive capped off by a touchdown to Golden Tate; after failing the two point conversion play (which was an homage to the Philly Special from Superbowl LII), the Eagles were up 16 - 15 with 56 seconds left to go. A long punt return by Tarik Cohen followed by a couple of catches by Allen Robinson to put the Bears in field goal range destroyed the Eagles’ confidence after the TD. With 10 seconds left, Cody Parkey lined up to kick the game-winning field goal. Only, he didn’t. Treyvon Hester tipped the ball at the line of scrimmage, adjusting the kick’s trajectory just enough to make it hit the left upright and the crossbeam, sounding a satisfying Double Doink. The Eagles were on to New Orleans to face the #1 seed on their home turf.
Early in the Divisional Round game, the Eagles looked dominant against one of the supposed “best teams in football”. The first quarter ended 14 - 0 with the Eagles playing well in all three phases. Then someone flipped the switch in the second quarter. The Eagles would give up 20 unanswered points over the course of the next three quarters, falling behind 14 - 20. Thanks to injuries, the Eagles were starting guys like Josh Hawkins (literally the 10th cornerback the team has started this year) on Michael Thomas, and you could tell. But the Eagles weren’t out of it yet. With 3:03 left in the game, it was time for Nick Foles to turn on the magic. The Eagles were rolling on their final drive, quickly moving up to New Orleans’ 27 yard line. Then they decided to run a play quickly before the 2 minute warning. On that play, the Eagles season slipped through the normally sure hands of Alshon Jeffery and into those of Marshon Lattimore, the 2017 Defensive Rookie of the Year. With that, the Eagles season was over. But it did not end how most people expected. In our time of need, Nick Foles produced, once again. Although Foles is likely to leave the Eagles in free agency after this season, he has managed to add even more to his already grand legacy in Philadelphia and will be remembered as the real-life Rocky.
