PHILADELPHIA — The Los Angeles Rams rallied to beat the Philadelphia Eagles 24-20 at Lincoln Financial Field on Sunday, erasing a 20-10 deficit and dropping Philadelphia to 2-2 in a game defined by attrition and an ongoing search for offensive identity.
Philadelphia was without or lost 10 players, including nine starters and one vital backup: DeVonta Smith, Saquon Barkley, Lane Johnson, Landon Dickerson, Dallas Goedert, Tank Bigsby, Quinyon Mitchell, Jonathan Greenard, Zach Baun and Marcus Epps. Barkley went down on the first series, and with Smith, Johnson and Dickerson already out, Tank Bigsby, Will Shipley and Darius Cooper helped cobble together a 20-10 lead. The resilience masked a ghastly 0-for-12 on third down for Jalen Hurts and first-time play caller Sean Mannion, who was coaching just his fourth NFL contest. In seven of those 12 failures Philadelphia needed fewer than five yards, and on a critical 4th-and-goal from the 2 in the fourth quarter the offense had no dependable layup play to turn to.
The second-half collapse continued a troubling trend. One week after being outscored 17-0 after halftime, Philadelphia was shut out 14-0 in the second half against Los Angeles for a combined 31-0 deficit over the last two weeks. A bobbled snap by Hurts on 3rd-and-2 at the goal line late in the fourth quarter proved costly, as a handoff to Bigsby might have put the game away. Mannion was hired to put defenses in conflict with run-pass balance, but the offense has become predictable — handing off when Hurts is under center and passing almost exclusively from shotgun. The makeshift offensive line has compounded the problem. With Dickerson out, Cam Jurgens moved to left guard and Drew Kendall stepped in at center; Kendall has been fine, but Jurgens has struggled, and with Johnson out and Tyler Steen also having difficulty, Philadelphia has no play-action foundation for the run-first identity Mannion wants.
Defensively, Vic Fangio's unit had played admirably but could not protect a 10-point lead with six minutes left and Los Angeles backed up to its own 2-yard line. Even without Mitchell, Greenard, Baun and Epps, the expectation was to force Matt Stafford to burn clock on a 98-yard drive and prevent two scores. Mitchell's absence in the secondary and Baun's playmaking and coverage ability were felt as Los Angeles scored twice to win. Nick Sirianni's decision to go for it at the goal line instead of kicking a field goal was the right call, as a field goal would still have left Philadelphia vulnerable to two touchdowns, which is exactly what happened.
The search for identity that eluded Philadelphia all last season under Kevin Patullo has continued through four games under Mannion. Sirianni is correct that progress is not always linear, but the offense has shown little improvement over the last two weeks and still lacks the 2-4 reliable plays needed to gain five yards or punch it in at the goal line, even without Smith available.