Eagles had control of Titans game and lost it, long before overtime

Put aside for a moment the Eagles' late red-zone failures and the three Tennessee fourth-down conversions on the Titans' game-winning drive in overtime. Sunday's game turned – the gut-level feel of it turned – on back-to-back series at the end of the third quarter and the start of the fourth.

The Eagles had just taken a 17-3 lead and Nissan Stadium was really quiet, except for Eagles fans singing "Fly, Eagles, Fly." On the Titans' ensuing possession, first-and-10 from the Eagles' 46, running back Derrick Henry dropped Marcus Mariota's pitch. As the ball bounced free, Brandon Graham was being pushed down from behind by Tennessee wide receiver Nick Williams. The ball careened off Graham before he could get his arms around it, and was recovered by Williams at the Tennessee 42.

If Graham had recovered, around midfield, the Eagles would have been in great shape to add to their lead. The Titans hadn't scored since their opening drive of the game. They were teetering on the edge of being blown out.

Even with Tennessee keeping the ball, it was second-and-22, the sort of situation, with a two-touchdown lead, that Jim Schwartz's defense is supposed to be made for. Pin ears back, go get 'em.

Except, when Mariota dumped off to Dion Lewis for what should have been a 6-yard gain to the Tennessee 48, Lewis spun out of Corey Graham's tackle, watched Sidney Jones overrun him, and picked up another 11 yards. So, third-and-5. Tajae Sharpe was left wide-open in the middle of the field by an ineffective Eagles blitz, and his 16-yard catch gave the Titans a first down at the Eagles' 25.

Then the big one: Mariota went deep to the right sideline. He threw the ball out of bounds, it would have been an impossible catch for Corey Davis. Ah, but the official felt differently. Jalen Mills had stumbled out of his break, and Mills hand-checked Davis. Pass interference, first down at the Eagles' 5. Two plays later, Mariota was in the end zone with the Titans' first touchdown of the day, a mere 42 minutes and 9 seconds into the game.

"We kind of felt like we had them in a spot. They went down and scored," Malcolm Jenkins said.

Well, OK, 17-10, the Eagles were still winning, the Titans still hadn't done much offensively all day, get another drive going, all is well.

Except, after the Eagles picked up a couple of first downs, Carson Wentz's offensive line failed spectacularly. Backup linebacker Jayon Brown zipped right past a confused-looking Lane Johnson to sack Wentz, who had slipped at the top of his drop. Second-and-20 from the Eagles' 40.

Jordan Matthews dropped a pass over the middle that would have gained about 8 yards and it was third-and-20.

Disaster. Rookie pass rusher Harold Landry left Johnson grasping at wind. Landry arm-chopped Wentz hard, right in the face, which used to be against the rules, but that's a loser's lament: the ball came out, and it bounced straight to Tennessee's Derrick Morgan, at the Eagles' 35.

The Eagles' defense regained its poise well enough to force a field goal, but in the space of about 10 minutes elapsed time, the tone and feel of the game had changed 180 degrees. Everything that happened later flowed from that sequence.

Jordan Matthews' 56-yard touchdown catch was his only catch Sunday, and his longest since 2015, as Matthews continued his Eagles comeback tour.

"It's been a crazy journey," said Matthews, who was proud to have shown he can be more than a short-yardage, possession receiver. "Everybody starts to act like I'm slow or something. That's not the case."

Matthews played at Vanderbilt and lives in Nashville in the offseason. His agent, Bus Cook, has two tickets on the 50-yard line for every Titans game, through Cook's connection with the late Titans QB Steve McNair. Matthews was able to use those tickets for his parents, which made the touchdown catch special.

*It's popular to say that the 2017 Eagles never blew a 17-3 third-quarter lead. Well, Week 3 last season, at home against the Giants, they blew a 14-0 fourth-quarter lead and fell into a 21-14 deficit, before coming back and winning on a last-play 61-yard Jake Elliott field goal. Later, when the Eagles won the Super Bowl, a lot of players looked back on that game as the start of something special, though a lot of luck went into winning on an afternoon when Eli Manning threw for 366 yards and wasn't sacked. (BTW, no Rodney McLeod that day, either, he had a hamstring problem.) Sometimes the difference between a gutsy, magical win and a terrible, inexcusable loss is a little good fortune.

*I have no idea what's up with the Eagles not being able to account for extra pass rushers this season, but Doug Pederson better start keeping more people in to block before something bad happens to Carson Wentz. Tennessee had free rushers galore.

*The Eagles' defense is giving up a lot of big plays, true, but I'm sure defensive coordinator Bill Davis is doing the best he can. What's that? Oh yeah. Sorry. Honest mistake.

*One of the game's most puzzling plays to me – and there were many contenders – was the third-and-3 Wentz throwaway from the Titans' 12, which led to Jake Elliott's 30-yard field goal that sent the game into overtime. Whatever Wentz was trying to do with Jordan Matthews just didn't develop.

I didn't see anyone else open, but there seemed to be no imminent danger of a sack. The play started with 26 seconds remaining in regulation. The Eagles had two timeouts. Wentz said he didn't want to take a sack there, but really, if it's a 40-yard field goal instead of 30, is that so crucial to Elliott? It sure seemed that there was open space to Wentz's left, that Harold Landry, charged with setting that edge, was drifting right with the flow of the play after being blocked by Jason Peters. If nothing else, rolling left would have given Wentz's receivers more time to get open. Maybe if that play happens again in a month or two, when Wentz is more comfortable with his repaired knee, he finds a way to make a play.

The biggest play of DeAndre Carter's young NFL career should have boosted the Eagles to victory, but, well, it wasn't that kind of day.

In the postgame locker room at Nissan Stadium, it seemed that Carter's 42-yard punt return, which set the Eagles up at the Titans' 39 with 1 minute, 41 seconds remaining in regulation, was pretty much forgotten in the fog of recrimination.

At least Carter set up the tying field goal, which allowed us the treat of watching Jim Schwartz's defense fail three times on fourth down in overtime while giving away the game.

Anyhow, Carter, called up from the practice squad for his second NFL game because Corey Clement had a quadriceps strain, made the Titans' gunner miss, jetted to the sideline, outran a desperate dive by linebacker Daren Bates, and couldn't escape getting entangled with punter Brett Kern. There was a tackler closing from behind when Carter slowed to try to avoid Kern, but it's possible that if Carter could have eluded the punter he would have scored.

"The punter gave me a good ball, I had some space when I caught it," Carter said. "Punt-return team did a great job blocking … got to the sideline. Got to make the [punter] miss, man. Make the [punter] miss, go to the end zone, we win the game. Got to be a little bit better next time."

It will be interesting to see if the Eagles try to get Carter back on the practice squad this week, leaving Darren Sproles (hamstring) or Clement to return punts, if they are healthy, or if they stick with Carter. He took the roster spot of safety Rodney McLeod when McLeod went on IR.

The Eagles are 0-3 all-time against the Titans in Nashville. The only other place where the Eagles have played at least three games without winning? University of Phoenix Stadium in Arizona, of course, where they are 0-3 in the regular season and 0-1 in the playoffs.

That giving up 344 passing yards to a run-based offense that ranked 29th in NFL passing through three games would be a problem?

Our mission is to provide top-notch coverage for the best fans in sports. We can’t do it without your support. Join us: philly.com/birds