The result was a bad 20-19 loss to the Miami Dolphins in front of a justifiably disgruntled crowd at Lincoln Financial Field. But he also threw a costly red zone interception that effectively ended the game for the Eagles. Missed field goal, blocked punt, no big returns (although Huff had a decent one) and they gave up a huge kickoff return to start the game, which led to a field goal.
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Check, check, check and check those boxes.
You can blame Sanchez for the collapse of the Eagles towards the end of the season previous year, but it’s not like the abysmal secondary lead by Cary Williams, Bradley Fletcher and Nate Allen did the Eagles any favors either.
-Dolphins defensive back Reshad Jones makes a brilliant play to pick off Mark Sanchez and I haven’t heard anyone talk about the complete act of idiocy that followed.
Though the Eagles technically had the lead when Bradford exited, they basically handed Sanchez a 20-16 deficit and with 14:55 to play, asked him to win them a game in the fourth quarter. Just before Sanchez entered, the Dolphins took their first lead of the game on a wild Jarvis Landry touchdown on a deflected pass. Despite their slow start the Dolphins have hung in there, led by a strong game from Ndamukong Suh.
“We were hoping he would just take a peek”, Kelly said of after the game.
“It was an overload scheme and we just didn’t block it up right”, Eagles veteran Chris Maragos said.
Chances are, the Eagles’ coaching staff (including Sanchez) watched the Super Bowl last February, and observed Pete Carroll’s play calling, which essentially cost the Seahawks the Super Bowl. But referee Terry McAulay called illegal shift on the Eagles and 12 men on the field for the Dolphins, the penalties offsetting. “It’s my job to go in and there should be a seamless transition”. I wasn’t in motion. Jelani Jenkins, Brice McCain, Brent Grimes, and Cameron Wake (who has been out for weeks) were all absent in this 20-19 win over the Philadelphia Eagles.
The Dolphins were unable to pull away and Sanchez drove the Eagles into second-and-goal at the nine-yard line.
Though the Eagles needed only a field goal to win, their final series was a disaster.
According to Penn Live, Sanchez elaborated on the miscue in the post game press conference.
“I felt like we had it won, and then just bleeping gave it to them”, offensive tackle Lane Johnson said. “I was trying to anticipate where he was going, and it didn’t pan out very well”. The Eagles would force the Dolphins to punt on the ensuing drive but Miami was able to keep the Eagles from the making enough plays to generate yards. It was a disaster. Well, to paraphrase the late, great singer Luther Ingram: If Miles Austin is doing right, I want to be wrong.
But after hitting running back Darren Sproles for 5- and 10-yard completions, things stalled.
“Sam’s a warrior”, tight end Zach Ertz said.
Fixed that for you?
Bradford left the game in the third quarter to get shoulder X-rays that came back negative.
The Eagles have an unusually up-tempo offense with quick reads and zone blocking to open running lanes. In this game, Bradford went down with a shoulder injury and a concussion.
It’s uncertain at the moment whether he will be the starting quarterback next week when the Eagles host the Bucs. Tannehill hit RB Lamar Miller for a 12-yard touchdown two plays later to cut the Eagles lead to 16-13 at halftime. A pass for Austin was thrown behind him.
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It’s uncertain how long Bradford will be out.
