SMuch of December's NFL story is devoted to teams rushing to qualify for the playoffs, but the end of the regular season is also a great opportunity for the dwindling handful of Super Bowl contenders to to sharpen their tools and separate themselves from the pack.
One of those contenders, the Philadelphia Eagles, had lost their previous two games but could have pulled off a win against the Seahawks on Monday in Seattle. All they had to do was prevent Seattle, which was trailing by four points, from driving 92 yards in less than two minutes.
Eagles fans, who can find flaws in just about anything, probably wouldn't have gotten too carried away if Philadelphia had pulled off a heartbreaking victory. After all, Seattle's quarterback was backup Drew Lock, who started only his second game in two seasons.
Plus, the Eagles' beleaguered defense, led for the first time Monday by assistant Matt Patricia, Bill Belichick's protégé and former Detroit Lions head coach, looked a lot better (well, overall) than it did. lopsided losses against San. Francisco and Dallas.
Well, guess what. Lock drove Seattle those 92 yards in 10 plays with 28 seconds left. He threw a 29-yard touchdown pass in the rain to wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba, who had sprayed past veteran Eagles cornerback James Bradberry, in one-on-one coverage.
The TD put Seattle ahead for good, 20-17. Philadelphia quarterback Jalen Hurts threw an interception after bringing the Eagles, who had two timeouts remaining, within about 20 yards of what could have been a tying field goal attempt. Hurts winced as he took off his helmet.
“I didn't do a good enough job,” Hurts muttered at a post-match press conference. But that was the nice thing to say, and Hurts certainly wasn't the only one doing a bad job.
So the Seahawks (7-7) are still very much in playoff contention. Pete Carroll, their 72-year-old coach, can still tell people that he never lost to the Eagles as coach of the Seahawks. The city of Philadelphia would have been in a bad mood anyway.
Setbacks happen during the playoffs, but December is when the elite emerge and switch gears. Philadelphia lost two of their final three regular-season games last year, and a blowout victory over the 49ers in the NFC championship game, at least as far as San Francisco fans were concerned, carried an asterisk because quarterback Brock Purdy was injured.
However, this was a killer loss for the Eagles, who gave Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs a memorable battle in the last Super Bowl – and had big plans to return. The Eagles (10-4) should still win their last three games, but nothing is certain now.
The Eagles' highly unpopular first-year offensive coordinator, Brian Johnson, will be buried in the sports talk shows for another questionable game plan, which included an option play in which Hurts passed the ball laterally to his tight end, Dallas Goedert, who gained one yard.
But it was the Eagles' defense that buckled when Philadelphia needed the big plays, even though head coach Nick Sirianni had tried to address his defense's problems by replacing Sean Desai, his first-year defensive coordinator, with Patricia on the sideline Monday. .
“Listen, it was a tough decision to be able to do this,” Sirianni said after the game about the change in coaching responsibilities, “but again, like I said, I did what was best for our football team. We are always making adjustments, and I have done that too.”
Much of the pre-game talk in Philadelphia during the week focused on how the Eagles, despite grim losses to the 49ers (11-3) and Cowboys (10-4), could still win the NFC East, and perhaps a first-round bye. , by sweeping their last four games.
after newsletter promotion
Then the Cowboys were overrun on Sunday in Buffalo by the struggling Bills (8-6), who were considered Super Bowl contenders at the start of the season. San Francisco will face Baltimore (11-3), winners of eight of nine and the AFC leaders, in a big Christmas Eve game.
So Monday night was a huge opportunity for the Eagles. They weren't hammered like Dallas was on Sunday, but Seattle's long drive past the backup QB that led to a last-minute loss was excruciating and deflating. Make it known now: the 49ers are high atop the NFC pack.
As the Eagles won 10 of their first 11 games and somehow only lost to the awful Jets, it became a popular sport in Philadelphia – for fans and players alike – to point out that the team had not put in an impressive performance . The 49ers and Cowboys exposed their shortcomings.
The defense was a big problem. Eagles defensive end Josh Sweat whispered to a Philadelphia Inquirer reporter after the 33-13 loss to Dallas: “I'm not used to our group not taking care of each other when it comes to pressure.” Cornerback Darius Slay underwent arthroscopic knee surgery on Saturday, forcing the Eagles to start two rookies in the secondary.
Through 45 minutes, dangerous Seattle receiver DK Metcalf had one reception, for a measly eight yards. The Eagles had trouble tackling Seattle with Kenneth Walker III, but the Seahawks could manage just one touchdown in their first eight drives.
Then came the ninth. Metcalf caught three passes for 58 yards, including an astonishing six-yard reception in which he appeared to catch Lock's pass with only his left arm before it hit the turf. He also split Bradberry and Sydney Brown to haul in a critical 34-yard reception.
The Eagles season continues. Games against the New York Giants (5-9) include a matchup against the Arizona Cardinals (3-11), so Philadelphia can still sweep the NFC East. Even if the Eagles don't win a first-round home game, they could face the NFL division-worst Tampa Bay Buccaneers (7-7).
But a radical defensive solution now looks like a panic move. Hurts, who played Monday despite being physically ill, now has 12 interceptions in 14 games this year, compared to 19 interceptions in the first 45 games of his career.
Ten months after reaching the Super Bowl and wanting more, the Eagles are no longer elite. San Francisco towers over them.