Eagles Up-Down Drill: Not many positives to take away from loss to Lions | Jeff McLane

The Eagles are 1-2 through three weeks of football after a 27-24 loss to the Detroit Lions at Lincoln Financial Field.

Here’s who’s trending up and down after the Week 1 victory.

DOWN – Mistakes – the Eagles had a few. Blame for turnovers, drops and penalties can be sprinkled around --- to individual players, and it will be -- but Pederson must bear ultimate responsibility for not having his team prepared to play a lesser opponent.

DOWN – For the second straight week, the Eagles receiver committed a brutal error when he fumbled in the second quarter. Agholor also had earlier dropped pass. He rebounded with two touchdown grabs, but with DeSean Jackson and Alshon Jeffery sidelined, the Eagles needed more from him.

DOWN – He’s only three games into his NFL career, but there have already been too many blunders. Sanders’ two fumbles in one drive -- the second he lost -- were egregious. The running back finished with 126 yards from scrimmage and has obvious talent, but the turnovers have to stop.

DOWN – Hollins had some nice grabs, but he committed two offensive pass-interference penalties and dropped a late pass over the middle.

DOWN – The Eagles have only two sacks as a defense through three games. Their defensive linemen have only one. Sacks can be overrated if you’re getting enough pressure, but Jim Schwartz’s unit isn’t, and the coverage hasn’t been good enough to sustain the lack of a rush.

UP – The Eagles needed a big play and Jenkins delivered with a blocked field goal. But the offense couldn’t capitalize, and the safety’s block will vanish from memory like other positives in losing causes.

SIDEWAYS – He wasn’t great, but he wasn’t anywhere near bad either. Wentz was without his top two outside receivers for the second straight week and it showed.

DOWN – The tight end, who was nursing a calf injury, didn’t play in the first half. But Goedert saw some action after the break and broke free into the end zone on a corner route. Wentz’s pass was perfect but clanged off Goedert’s hands.

DOWN – The Lions offensive coordinator, with his play calling, almost single-handedly allowed the Eagles back into the game. Despite a nonexistent run game, Bevell kept inexplicably dialing up rushes.

UP – Douglas has his liabilities, but he plays the ball as well as any Eagles cornerback and makes tackles when called upon. He recorded two pass breakups, two tackles for losses, and scooped up Jenkins’ block.

DOWN – He has played starter’s snaps the last two games and has only two catches for 14 yards. He’s a rookie, so that must be taken into account, but second-rounders need to contribute when called upon. Arcega-Whiteside agreed that he should have caught Wentz’s last pass on fourth down.

DOWN – Fletcher Cox is clearly still working himself back into elite shape and hasn’t been his normal dominant self, but he’s getting double-teamed to death. Injuries to Malik Jackson and Tim Jernigan have squashed the idea that their presence would free up the All-Pro defensive tackle.

DOWN – It’s never a good time to allow a kick return for a touchdown, but it figured that after the Eagles finally scored on their opening drive, they would hand seven points to the Lions on Jamal Agnew’s 100-yard score.