FILADELFIA – The Eagles didn’t lose, but in fact they feel like they did after self-destructing in the final seconds and settled for a 23-23 draw against the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday.
The Eagles (0-2-1) have not won after the first three of the season for the first time since 1999, Andy Reid’s first season.
The Eagles, who had to recover in the last quarter just to tie the game against a winless Bengal team, had one last chance of winning, taking 45th place with 1:41 for playing in overtime.
The Eagles reached 41 Bengals when Quarterback Carson Wentz pitched incomplete in the third and seventh.
They came out for a 59-yard field goal attempt with 19 seconds left, but offensive lineman Matt Pryor called for a false start, pushing the ball five yards. Ellliott’s record is 61 yards, which is also a team record.
The Eagles, the cleaning crew.
It’s that kind of day.
Wentz led the Eagles once. He couldn’t do it in overtime.
In regulation, the Eagles lost a landing with 3 minutes to play, Wentz took them to the field, fighting for a first check out in the 3 and 9 to succeed in the 19th Bengals, then dived into the finish area in a 7-yard run with 21 seconds to play to tie the game.
Then he started again because none of the teams scored in his first possession. Nickell Robey-Coleman made a play that stored the game, interrupting a deep pass to Tee Higgins that would have allowed the Bengals to be in midfield.
Instead, they kicked from the depths of their side, giving the Eagles the ball near midfield with 1:45 to spend in overtime, with one last chance to win the game.
The Eagles have to blame themselves.
Wentz attempted seven consecutive assists in the first half, even though the Bengals have the second-worst defense in the NFL, with an average of 185 consistent with the game.
There Wentz lacked a Miles Sanders open at the back of the band line in the early last quarter. I would have had a touchdown. When Wentz returned to the sideline, he struck his helmet in frustration.
The Eagles lost three key players to injuries: open catcher DeSean Jackson, closed final Dallas Goedert and cornerer Avonte Maddox. Darius Slay also injured a game after Maddox left in the third quarter, but Slay returned.
Wentz pitched two more interceptions and had six in three games. He has released only seven in the last 3 seasons.
Wentz finished 29 out of 47 for 225 yards with one landing and two interceptions, beating Bengal rookie Joe Burrow, who completed 31 of 44 for 312 yards and two landings.
And yet the Eagles had a chance.
The Eagles’ offense nevertheless came to life in the final moments of the first half, when Greg Ward won a 29-yard landing with 16 moments to play for a 13-10 lead. They added a basket through Elliott, his 3rd of the game, this one from 54 yards, to start the moment.
But the Bengals discovered their pace in attack. Burrow hit rookie Tee Higgins for a four-yard landing to regain the lead. Wentz intercepted for the time being near midfield and the Bengals changed it into a basket.
Maddox and Slay were injured, leaving the Eagles with Trevor Williams and Cre’Von LeBlanc out, but the Eagles kept the Bengals in a basket.
Wentz then deeply failed Sanders at 3rd base, and the Bengals changed a 3rd and a 15th when Burrow hit Giovani Bernard in a short pass that turned it into a 42-yard gain. That put the Bengals in the rank of purpose, and they took a 23-16 lead with 3:05 for playing.
Wentz, however, led the Eagles back, aided via two calls of defensive pass interference on passes to rookie John Hightower. Wentz rushed for nine yards on the third and sixth to hit the Bengals’ 1-yard line with about a minute to play.
He hit Ward in third and third against 9 of the Bengals.
It’s hard work, the whole game.
Sanders had eight runs for 64 yards in the first half and, as a team, the Eagles had 111 yards on the court in the first half. Sanders finished with 18 runs for 95 yards.
However, the Eagles remain plagued by their own mistakes. In the Eagles’ first possession, Wentz attempted a third pass to Jackson with three Bengal players nearby. The ball bent over the punch line and was intercepted.
The Eagles then embarked on a 16-game practice that reached the Bengals’ 3-yard line, but Wentz fired in the third check-out and the Eagles settled for a short basket.
Then the Eagles, for whatever reason, moved away from the ground game after gaining 62 yards in the first quarter, averaging just 6 run-consistent yards.
They tried seven consecutive passes. Wentz finished two for a total of 3 meters and fired twice. The Eagles left three times in a row and the Bengals tied the game in a basket in the middle of the quarter of an hour.
The Eagles did not count on open receivers Jalen Reagor and Alshon Jeffery, and DeSean Jackson left with a hamr tendon injury in the first half.
Still, J. J. Arcega-Whiteside, the Eagles’ current round pick in 2019, did not receive a pass. He was slightly in the area in the middle of the moment.
Deontay Burnett, called from the practice team, hit a pass. So is veteran Richard Rodgers, who signed last week.
Arcega-Whiteside has no reception this season.
The Eagles gave rookie Jalen Hurts a nod to the quarterback in the early third quarter, who covered himself with the shotgun, was slapped and ran left, picking up 8 yards before being knocked out.
Wentz was widely covered and did not worry about the game.
It Hurts was the first touch of his NFL career. I had some other chance at the beginning of the last quarter. But Hurts escaped the exchange with Sanders, the wounded were given back the loose ball.
Hurts was listed as the Eagles’ backup quarterback for the time being in a straight game. Last week, opposite the Rams, Hurts entered the game for 3 games. He never touched the ball.
Fletcher’s defensive shot played Sunday with an abdominal injury to the Cincinnati Bengals.
The Eagles kept their entire defensive line intact during the week in a row with Cox playing. Javon Hargrave and Derek Barnett returned last week from preseason injuries.
Eagles Nate Herbig on left guard to upgrade Isaac Seumalo, who injured his knee last week, and Matt Pryor on the right guard. That’s where Herbig played the last two weeks.
The inactive Eagles are QB Nate Sudfeld, RB Jason Huntley, S Rudy Ford, DE Casey Toohill and OL Jamon Brown.