Eagles' Maclin can't win it by himself

GLENDALE, Ariz. - Jeremy Maclin had the kind of day that should have been good enough. It was a day that was part flash, part courage, all professional. Maclin should have been able to revel in the moment as he described his two touchdown catches. He should have enjoyed a laugh about the sideline collision with a table full of Gatorade jugs that left him showered in electrolytes.

Instead, like the rest of the Eagles, he was left with the hushed tones of a losing locker room and a string of might-have-beens.

"Penalties and turnovers on the road against a good football team are really hard to overcome," Maclin said. "Today was living proof of it. But at the end of the day, we still had a chance to win the game. It's just kind of frustrating."

Because quarterback Nick Foles still cannot throw the ball consistently to his own team, and because rookie Josh Huff fumbled near the goal line like a kid, and because of 11 penalties for 103 yards and - with 81 seconds remaining - because of a 75-yard touchdown bomb from Arizona's Carson Palmer to John Brown, the Eagles lost to the Cardinals, 24-20.

It shouldn't have gone that way. Maclin should have given them enough.

"I thought Mac played a great game," Eagles coach Chip Kelly said. "You see he's starting to seem to round back into shape in terms of just total confidence and what's he doing, running around up there, coming off the [2013 knee] injury he had. It's what I thought we knew we had.

"I love his work ethic. I saw him every day in the offseason in terms of his approach to it. He's a legitimate deep threat and he played a hell of a game for us today."

His stats for the day were outstanding: 12 catches, 187 yards and two touchdowns - a 54-yard bomb in the fourth quarter and a 21-yard screen pass in the first quarter, behind a block by tackle Lane Johnson. It was a career high in yards.

"The win is so much more important," Maclin said. "This is a big one. It's not enjoyable if you don't win the game. I've never been a stat guy. Today was just one of those days where my number was called. But the win would be so much sweeter."

As great as they were, the numbers tell only part of the story - because in the process of getting those numbers, Maclin endured all manner of physical punishment. He was hit both helmet-to-helmet and body-to-Gatorade-table. And he kept getting up. The guy is a total pro.

The scariest hit came with 5:39 remaining in the first half, a play when Maclin and the Cardinals' Patrick Peterson and Deone Bucannon all banged heads in one potentially lethal sandwich. Bucannon delivered the scary blow and lost his helmet, but he was the only one of the three not hurt.

"I caught the ball," Maclin said. "I don't know who exactly hit me. I know Peterson was on me - but the dude [Bucannon] was just on a beeline."

Peterson was down the longest and left the game with a suspected concussion. Maclin walked off with two issues. He was bleeding from an ear and he also needed to be evaluated for a concussion. As he went inside for the evaluation, no one could know if his day was over.

"I never was out of it," he said. "It hurt, simple as that."

And the bleeding ear?

"It probably just scraped in my helmet," he said. "Not a big deal."

Maclin sprinted out of the tunnel minutes later and rejoined the team.

"I was good enough to go," he said. "That's part of football. You're going to get hit. You may be down for a little bit but you've got to get up. I've done a good job getting my body right and preparing myself to be able to withstand some of these types of things that happen throughout the course of a football game. I just want to get back out there and help my team."

Which he did - catching passes and returning punts in the absence of the injured Darren Sproles. It was on a punt return in the third quarter when he guaranteed himself a place on the day's television highlights. As he neared the Arizona sideline, he was shoved out of bounds and, out of control, ended up barreling into a table filled with orange Gatorade barrels.

"I'll be on [ESPN's] 'Come on, man' and 'Not top 10,' " Maclin said. "But, no, that didn't really hurt."

Minutes later came the play that put the Eagles in the lead, 17-14, when Foles finally stepped into a throw and hit Maclin with a beautiful pass over the Cardinals' Jerraud Powers. It was one of the big plays that the Eagles' offense has been missing this season without DeSean Jackson, the kind of play that the Eagles desperately needed on a day when it looked like Andy Reid was calling the plays.

Going into this season, Maclin placed a bet on himself. Coming off the knee injury that cost him the 2013 season, he decided against the long-term deal the Eagles were offering and instead signed for only one season. It was, to repeat, a bet on himself - on his ability to recover physically and on his ability to be a dynamic player without Jackson stretching the field.

That is what he was against the Cardinals. It was the good news on a bad day.