Redskins Shock Eagles With 27-24 Victory
WASHINGTON, D.C. (CBS) — Chip Kelly continued to stress his team was only concerned with what it could control heading into Saturday's critical game against the Washington Redskins. Then the Eagles proceeded to lose control. The lapses in concentration and discipline were bound to catch up. And in the last 1:31 against the Redskns they did. The Eagles blew a chance to remain relevant in the playoff picture with a disturbing 27-24 loss to the three-win Redskins at FedEx Field.
The defeat was the Eagles' third-straight setback, after the Redskins' Kai Forbath hit a 26-yard field goal with :05 left.
The Eagles stung themselves. This didn't help: Two turnovers, four dropped passes, two missed field goals, 13 penalties for 102 yards, including a crucial personal foul on Washington's game-winning drive, a blown red zone opportunity and allowing Robert Griffin III to complete 16 of 23 for 220 yards—including four to DeSean Jackson for 126 yards—and a Bashaud Breeland interception with 1:31 left to play.
"You're not going to win a football game that way, we left them on the field too many times on third down," a flushed Kelly said afterwards. "We got penalties on drives we felt we had them stopped. Thirteen penalties and two turnovers isn't going to win a football game in this league. We didn't do enough good things to win. Obviously, 13 penalties, missed two field goals, two turnovers is not enough to win the football game."
Cody Parkey had a rough day. So reliable this season making 29 of 31 field goal attempts entering the game equaled his number of misses for the season, Parkey missed a 34-yarder, which would have put the Eagles up, 17-10, with 13:34 left in the third quarter. With 2:22 left in the third quarter, Parkey booted a 46-yard attempt wide right that would have tied the game at 17-17.
Parkey did redeem himself by nailing a 22-yarder that did tie the game at 24-24 with 6:17 left to play.
But Mark Sanchez showed his helter-skelter tendencies by leading the Eagles back, then throwing behind Jeremy Maclin and having the ball intercepted by Breeland with 1:31 left to play. Sanchez completed 37 of 50 for 361 yards and two touchdowns—but he also lost a fumble and tossed possibly a season-killing interception that led to Washington's winning score.
Tight end Zach Ertz caught a franchise-record 15 passes for 115 yards, which all went for nothing.