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Your In-Depth Eagles at Lions Week 5 Recap

Adrian Fedkiw|

Ryan Mathews was visibly shaken on the Philadelphia Eagles bench following his costly fumble late in the fourth quarter.

His mood didn’t change in the locker room after the game either.

“I just f—– up,” he said with his head drooped down. “I can’t let my teammates down. I’ve got to get better. I just messed up.”

All he had to do was hang onto the ball. Instead, the Eagles headed back to Philadelphia with an extremely difficult loss to swallow.

Matt Prater kicked a go-ahead, 29-yard field goal with 1:28 left and the Detroit Lions edged the Philadelphia 24-23 on Sunday afternoon to hand the Eagles their first loss of the season.

The Eagles (3-1) trailed 21-7 at one point in the first half before scoring 16 straight points to go in front in the final frame, but Mathews didn’t tuck the ball away in his proper arm on a pitch play to the right and fumbled it with 2:34 remaining when Darius Slay stripped him.

Eagles head coach Doug Pederson defended the decision to pitch the ball to Mathews along the right boundary.

“I felt like getting the ball out on the edge with guys out in front was our best possible play at that time,” Pederson said.

After Prater split the uprights, Carson Wentz threw his first interception of the season on this deep shot to Nelson Agholor. Slay was in perfect position for the pick, which wrapped up the win for Detroit (2-3).

So there it is, a pair of turnovers on Philadelphia’s final two plays of the game after not committing one through the first three.

Unbelievable.

“I was surprised he even threw that,” Slay said of the interception. “I was in a great position, so I’m like ‘O.K.’ But then I looked in the air and I said ‘Oh the ball is coming for real, he’s really throwing this.'”

While many might point to Mathews’ fumble as the reason why the Eagles lost, you can’t overlook the 14 penalties for 111 yards and the defense’s effort in the first half when the Lions scored touchdowns on all three of their possessions. Detroit gained 199 yards in the opening half and picked up 17 first downs.

The Lions gashed the Eagles along the edges and Theo Riddick was unstoppable in the passing game, hauling in two touchdowns. It was like watching a replay of last year’s Thanksgiving Day game, except I didn’t have a turkey leg in my mouth.

Defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz, who was the head coach of the Lions from 2009-2013, made adjustments in the second half and played the run along the boundary a lot better. Detroit gained just 19 yards on its first four touches of the second half prior to the go-ahead kick from Prater.

Wentz finished 25-of-33 for 238 yards with two touchdowns and that interception. I was waiting for this type of scenario where the Eagles fell behind early on so I could see how the rookie would handle the adversity. He fared very well. He put the team into a position to win the game.

Jordan Matthews hauled in four passes for 65 yards and the returning Zach Ertz posted just three receptions for 37 yards in defeat.

“We’re 3-1. Still in great position. We learn from it, we move on,” Pederson said.

Matthew Stafford completed 19-of-25 passes for 180 yards and three touchdowns, while Riddick gained 49 yards rushing on 11 carries to go with 33 yards receiving on six catches for the Lions, who had dropped three straight coming in.

After Marvin Jones’ 1-yard touchdown reception staked the Lions to their 21-7 advantage with 3:08 to go until the break, Wentz calmly led the Birds down the field despite some crucial penalties. He hit Ertz for a key 21-yard completion on a 3rd-and-36 to put the Eagles into field goal range and Caleb Sturgis split the uprights from 50 yards out on the final play of the first 30 minutes.

Wentz then came out of the locker room in the second half and again drove the Eagles down the field. Agholor somehow hung onto this 18-yard catch.

Facing a 3rd-and-8 later in the march, Dorial Green-Beckham’s vicious stiff arm on Tahir Whitehead after hauling in a crossing route helped him gain 26 yards. It set the Eagles up with a 1st-and-goal at the 3-yard line.

Josh Huff’s one-yard TD catch two plays later capped the nine-play, 75-yard sequence.

Vinny Curry’s pressure up the middle on the third play of Detroit’s ensuing series forced Stafford to scramble and fumble the ball. It led to a Sturgis 33-yard field goal to claw the Eagles within 21-20 just past the midway point of the third.

Green-Beckham had a chance to reel in a difficult catch in the front left corner of the end zone during a jump-ball situation against Nevin Lawson, but was unable to come down with it.

Moving onto the fourth quarter, Wentz fired a 20-yard laser to Matthews on a 3rd-and-4 and guards Allen Barbre and Brandon Brooks opened up a huge alley for Sproles to run through on an ensuing 3rd-and-2.

And here’s Sproles’ 10-yard scamper.

Sturgis’ 49-yarder with 6:40 on the clock gave the Eagles their first lead of the game, 23-21.

Nigel Bradham, who was arrested in Miami last week when a loaded gun was found in his backpack as he attempted to get through airport security, sniffed out a screen for a key tackle for loss on second down, which helped forced a three-and-out.

Philadelphia regained possession with 4:59 to go and Wentz picked up a key 3rd-and-6 with this perfectly placed pass to Matthews. What a big-time throw!

Mathews’ miscue came three plays later and set Detroit up in Eagles territory at the 45-yard line. Golden Tate’s 27-yard reception on a 3rd-and-4 put the Lions into field-goal range.

Earlier, Detroit carved the Eagles defense up on its first two touches of the game. Riddick finished off both drives with touchdown receptions, first with this one-yarder in the left flat against Mychal Kendricks.

Riddick followed the first score up with a 17-yarder on Detroit’s second possession.

The Eagles answered with Wentz’s 1-yard touchdown pass to Mathews on their next touch, but Detroit went back up by two scores on Jones’ 1-yard TD reception. Philadelphia hadn’t allowed a passing touchdown coming into Sunday, but surrendered a trio of them in the first half.

The Eagles had a chance to get off the field on a 3rd-and-11, but Kendricks missed a key tackle on Riddick, which set up a 4th-and-1. Stafford then ran the quarterback sneak to move the chains.

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