Talk about a kick in the teeth. To go from having the ball, in the Red Zone, with the lead, and under 2 minutes to go, to losing, is about as painful as a regular season loss gets. The Eagles should have won this game. They should be 1 of 10 2-0 teams. Instead, they gave the Falcons the ball back, Kirk Cousins drove them down the field, and Drake London caught the game-winning TD.

Related: Eagles Let Easy Win Slip Through Their Fingers, Literally

The following day has led to a lot of debate about who and what is to blame. There was a questionable decision by the Eagles to throw the ball on 3rd and 3 stopping the clock. There was a drop by Saquon that would have gone for a 1st don and clinched the win. There was the coaches playing it safe, kicking the FG, and giving it back to the Falcons with the chance to take the lead. And there was of course the defense imploding on that final drive.

And that is just the final two minutes. It is not even mentioning the run defense getting gashed, the pass rush being ineffective, and the offense getting blanked in the 1st quarter yet again. The final 2 minutes are dominating the conversation, understandably, but their issues did not start after the 2-minute warning.

There is lots of blame to go around. But what are the real takeaways? What things do we need to actually worry about? Are there any positives from the loss? Let’s take a deeper dive into the game. the good, the bad, the really bad, and the things that should have us panicking two games into the season.

Here Are 5 Numbers That tell The Story of The Eagles Loss To The Falcons

• 0

  It is not just the number on the back of Bryce Huff’s jersey, it is also his impact on the game. In fact, you can say the same thing for all of the edge rushers. Josh Sweat, Nolan Smith, and Huff are all no-shows. They have 0 sacks from the Edge so far this season.

  Howie took a big risk trading away Haason Reddick, and trusting in a former UDFA who had 1 good season where he was a part-time payer. Right now it is blowing up in his face. Huff does not look like a starting DE. It is on the Edge Rushers, but it is also on Howie. He picked these Edge Rushers. He thought they were good enough. We knew it was an issue, but he didn’t address it, and now they are paying the price.

  By the way, I pointed it out in the offseason, and it remains true. Reddick has more sacks than all 4 of the Eagles pass rushers combined over the last 4 seasons. They should have paid him.

  Dylan MacKinnon on X (formerly Twitter): "Josh Sweat, Bryce Huff, and Nolan Smith have 47.5 combined sacks over the last 4 seasons.Haason Reddick alone has 50.5 in that same time. 9 combined seasons, vs 4. Sweat and Huff each only have 1 double digit sack season. Reddick has 4. Nolan Smith has 1 career sack. / X"

  Josh Sweat, Bryce Huff, and Nolan Smith have 47.5 combined sacks over the last 4 seasons.Haason Reddick alone has 50.5 in that same time. 9 combined seasons, vs 4. Sweat and Huff each only have 1 double digit sack season. Reddick has 4. Nolan Smith has 1 career sack.

• 6.4

  The Eagles get no pass rush, but that is only the start of the Eagles’ struggles along the line. They also can’t stop the run to save their lives. This now marks 2 straight weeks where the opposing team had their way on the ground. Green Bay averaged 7.8 yards per carry, and the Falcons averaged 5.4. But Bijan Robinson himself averaged 6.9 yards per carry. It all brings the Eagles’ grand total for yards allowed per carry this season to 6.4, the worst mark in the NFL.

  Where is Jordan Davis? This is supposed to be his specialty. The Edge Rushers get the blame for the lack of the pass rush, but we can’t let the Georgia boys in the middle off the hook either. The Falcons O Line bullied them. Every rush they were visibly pushed back. If they are this easy to run on, this defense will be no better than it was last year.

  NFL on X (formerly Twitter): "Bijan snatches some ankles of his own 😳📺: #ATLvsPHI on ESPN📱: Stream on #NFLPlus and ESPN+ pic.twitter.com/mZEgGAKzUG / X"

  Bijan snatches some ankles of his own 😳📺: #ATLvsPHI on ESPN📱: Stream on #NFLPlus and ESPN+ pic.twitter.com/mZEgGAKzUG

• 1:05

  Could the Eagles have run more off the clock? Sure. They gave the ball back with 1:39 to go, but it could have been 1 minute. But for the people blaming that decision for the loss, the Falcons took just 1:05 to score that TD. And that was with them wasting some time. They got into the Red Zone so fast they started wasting time to give the Eagles less if they got the ball back.

  It simply was not a factor. Even if they run the ball, and let the clock wind, there is zero reason to think that changes the result of the game. It was too easy for the Falcons to think having a bit less time would change the result, especially considering they had 34 seconds to spare.

  If Saquon catches it, they win. That isn’t an opinion, it is a fact. If they run it, maybe he converts the 1st and they win. Maybe he gets stuffed, they kick the FG and still lose. The only difference would be Hurts never gets the chance to throw that interception.

  ESPN on X (formerly Twitter): "KIRK FINDS DRAKE LONDON IN THE END ZONE WITH LESS THAN A MINUTE LEFT 😱 FALCONS TAKE A ONE-POINT LEAD 🔥 pic.twitter.com/47hDFw2RO1 / X"

  KIRK FINDS DRAKE LONDON IN THE END ZONE WITH LESS THAN A MINUTE LEFT 😱 FALCONS TAKE A ONE-POINT LEAD 🔥 pic.twitter.com/47hDFw2RO1

• 16

  Saquon is a great player. Through 2 games, he has been one of their best players. But we saw a flaw in his game. Drops.

  Saquon was billed as the Eagles version of Cristian McCaffrey. Someone who can impact the game in both the run and pass game. But the problem is, as we saw at the end of the game, Saquon has a drop problem. Per Jordan Raanan, that was his 16th drop since the start of the 2021 season. McCaffrey doesn’t drop easy catches like that.

  If he catches it the Eagles win and we would be talking about a 2-0 team. They get the 1st down and can take a knee. The clock doesn’t even matter, because the Falcons would have no recourse to stop the clock. That sequence is not on the coaches, it is on Saquon for dropping an easy catch. Maybe next time they should throw it to Gainwell instead.

  Jordan Raanan on X (formerly Twitter): "That is one of the warts in Saquon Barkley's game. Tremendous player but that was his 16th drop since the start of the 2021 season, the most among running backs. / X"

  That is one of the warts in Saquon Barkley's game. Tremendous player but that was his 16th drop since the start of the 2021 season, the most among running backs.

• 7.4

  If we want a positive takeaway, Hurts looked like himself again running the ball. The first drive he ran it twice for 5 yards, and it looked like he still would struggle on the ground. But at some point, a switch flipped, and he was gashing the Falcons on the ground. He finished with 13 carries for 85 yards.

  2 of those were Tush Pushes that went for a combined 4 yards. Obviously how many yards you can get on those plays is limited, they are designed to get 1 yard. On real runs, he had 11 carries for 81 yards, an average of 7.4 yards per rush. 

  His legs were such a big part of their offense in 2022. You don’t want to overdo it, but if NFL defenses have to account for AJ Brown, Devonta Smith, Saquon Barkley, Dallas Goedert, Jahan Dotson, and also the legs of Jalen hurts, it becomes hard for the defense to account for everything. If he regains that 2022 form, it will go a long way to getting this offense to the next level.

  Bleacher Report on X (formerly Twitter): "JALEN HURTS TAKES FLIGHT ON 4TH DOWN 🦅 He was called for a flag after spiking the ball 👀 (via @NFL) pic.twitter.com/vUL07aQkXc / X"

  JALEN HURTS TAKES FLIGHT ON 4TH DOWN 🦅 He was called for a flag after spiking the ball 👀 (via @NFL) pic.twitter.com/vUL07aQkXc

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