Eagles overtaken at finish Lion

THE EAGLES' lofty notion of who they are collided head-on with reality late Sunday afternoon at Lincoln Financial Field in a 26-23, overtime loss to the Detroit Lions. Survivors huddled in the locker room, stunned, mumbling about needing to watch film to figure out what had happened.

Here is a rough draft of an explanation, delivered without the benefit of film study: You took a 10-point lead, at home, with 5 minutes and 18 seconds remaining in regulation. This came despite three egregious turnovers, even though you'd spent the whole week talking about turnovers. (Week, hell. You've spent the whole season talking about turnovers.) You surrendered that lead, and the game, to a team that entered the fourth quarter 0-for-8 on third-down conversions, and a quarterback who spent the first three quarters compiling a 28.1 passer rating, while throwing for 91 yards.

Your offense never managed a first down after Michael Vick burned a blitz with a 70-yard touchdown pass to Jeremy Maclin, giving you that 23-13 edge. Your three offensive snaps in overtime were so incredibly inept, they set the Lions up for the winning field goal.

"Maybe we let off the gas a little bit," defensive tackle Cullen Jenkins said. "Maybe we got a little too comfortable, having that lead, but that was terrible."

Running back LeSean McCoy (14 carries, 22 yards), declared himself "sick and disappointed," over a disaster he will have to sit on for 2 weeks, given that this is the Birds' bye week.

For once, a loss was more on the defense than the offense, though there were huge offensive problems, to be sure.

"You can't ask for more than that, a two-score lead in the fourth. We blew it," Jenkins said, after the 3-3 Eagles failed to sack Detroit quarterback Matthew Stafford, who threw for 220 yards in the fourth quarter and overtime. It was the third week in a row with no sacks. Calvin "Megatron" Johnson, held in check brilliantly with one catch on six targets through the first three quarters, caught five passes for 107 yards in the fourth quarter and OT.

Oh, and the Lions, who had forced just three turnovers this season, equaled that number in one afternoon. An Eagles fumble and two Vick picks kept the Lions within striking distance; Detroit, among other problems, committed 14 penalties while scoring its first 13 points.

"They wanted it more," said Eagles cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie. "They came out, made all the plays. I can't say anything about it other than they wanted it more . . . You have to go out and fight. We had to win, and once again, we blew it. Point-blank, period."

The Lions, coming off their bye, entered the day 1-3 and were playing for their season, though there were times when it was hard to tell that, before the final 5 minutes of regulation and the OT.

"Pretty much don't know what to say. We put ourselves in a position to win games and we don't finish," Vick said after completing 28 of 46 passes for 311 yards, two touchdowns and those two interceptions, compiling a 77.4 passer rating. "It's hard to decipher what mistakes are being made and what's going on . . . these sorts of games can't happen. We all have to do our jobs and be accountable."

Did Vick think the Birds were in control after the Maclin TD?

"I mean honestly, yeah," he said. "I know our football team and I know how good we are."

Vick said the Eagles were in a great position to win the game, "and before I knew it, we were in a fight."

In fact, on the Lions' fourth snap after the Maclin TD, Stafford scrambled and found tight end Tony Scheffler behind dime corner Brandon Hughes, for 57 yards and a first down at the Eagles' 12. Stafford then managed his third third-down conversion of the game, a scant 56 minutes and 22 seconds into it, finding Nate Burleson in the end zone on third-and-15 from the Eagles' 17. After that, the outcome was officially up for grabs, and instead of grabbing it, the Birds stood around looking befuddled.

"There are times and places where everyone needs to look themselves in the mirror and get better - me included," Eagles coach Andy Reid said. "We have to learn to win football games as coaches and players. That's my responsibility, and obviously, we didn't get it done. You have a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter, particularly after the slow start that we had offensively, then you have to take care of it. We didn't do that."

The Eagles thought they were going to regain control on their next possession, a third-and-4 pass to Maclin, who had been left uncovered. But Lions defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh reached up, as so many have done before him, and swatted Vick's pass down.

The Lions then drove for the tying Jason Hanson field goal and nearly won the game in regulation, when a pass-interference penalty against sub safety Colt Anderson gave them first-and-goal from the Eagles' 1 with 13 seconds left. (Nate Allen had left with a hamstring injury during the Lions' first touchdown drive.) But Detroit had no remaining timeouts, so after two incomplete passes, Hanson came on for the 19-yarder that forced overtime.

The Eagles won the toss, then their first overtime snap from their 25 was a disaster. Lions defensive end Cliff Avril went right around Todd Herremans and sacked Vick at the 18. On second-and-17, Vick was chased by several Lions and sacked at the 4 by Nick Fairley and Kyle Vanden Bosch, setting up - seriously - third-and-31 from the 4.

One thought there would have been to try to gain 10 or 15 yards, to give Mat McBriar some room to work with and maybe give the defense a fighting chance. Instead, Vick was chased around the end zone until he threw the ball away, over the Lions' bench.

"We thought we obviously had something that we could work out there," said Reid, whose postgame news conference lasted all of 3:30, leaving little room for follow-up questions.

McBriar boomed the punt 57 yards, the Lions returned it to midfield. A 17-yard Johnson catch set up the winning field goal.

Defensive end Trent Cole said the Eagles need to "dig real deep . . . use this break to clear our minds." A couple of veterans said they wouldn't be surprised to see a workout or two after Monday's film review, though Reid has never done that during the bye week.

"We've still got it," Cole declared. "It's early in the season. Like Vick said, everybody knows what kind of team we have. We still have a lot of potential to be a great team. Great teams execute . . . We can be that team."

Asked why the pass-rush pressure wasn't great - Stafford credited his o-line with "keeping me clean" - Cole said: "I don't know what you're talking about, man, 'cause you saw the game. You know it was there. It was there . . . We did what we could, we fought hard, and so be it."

The stat crew credited Cole with no tackles and one of the Eagles' four hits on Stafford. Officially, Vick was hit 11 times and sacked three times.

Vick was asked if he is getting enough time in the pocket. Sunday, he definitely didn't have enough time for most of the first half, then had pretty good protection for a long stretch, which ended abruptly right after the Maclin TD.

"You know, I do the best I can," Vick said. "I give everything I got, and I'm pretty sure my teammates do as well. [Otherwise] they wouldn't be out there on the field . . . I know I always walk off the field [having left] it all out on the field."

Herremans said: "It seems like we have our breakdowns at the worst, most inopportune times."