Upon Further Review: Why the Eagles welcomed a wake-up call

As he sat in his locker after peeling off his jersey and unwound all the trainers tape from his limbs, defensive end Chris Long reflected on the Philadelphia Eagles' latest victory.

The 37-9 score indicated a blowout, but Philadelphia encountered hairy first-half conditions against the hosting Dallas Cowboys. The defense had some shortcomings despite overall solid play, and the offense didn’t click. The Eagles – owners of the league’s best record – trailed the desperate Cowboys 9-7 at halftime.

But then came the second-half eruption by the offense, matched by a dominant stretch from the defense. Order was restored, and the Eagles extended their win streak to eight games.

Long actually saw the off-kilter first half as a good thing. He was glad to encounter adversity that he and his teammates had to overcome themselves to win.

“We needed that,” Long told USA TODAY Sports. “We needed a game where we could get punched in the mouth a little bit, and to be down 9-7 at the half on the road against a good football team, that’s not the end of the world. We knew at halftime that nobody needs to panic. We just had to go back to being us.”

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Numerous teammates echoed Long’s sentiments. In the playoffs – a place the Eagles haven’t found themselves since 2013 (only four starters remain from that team) – the players could face more battle-tested squads. So, Long and his teammates actually welcome a distinct challenge in this second half of the season. They want to experience every scenario possible so they enter January as well prepared as possible.

The Eagles came away from Sunday night’s initial trouble having learned several things about themselves: Despite playing well, there’s always another level of intensity for the defense to reach, just as they did in the second half. Offensively, quarterback Carson Wentz is an enjoying an MVP-caliber season with an NFL-best 25 touchdown strikes. But there will be times an opponent finds ways to slow the passing attack, just as Dallas did in the first two quarters. But now Philadelphia’s players know that when that happens, they can win in a different way: by pounding the football, as the team piled up 235 rushing yards against the Cowboys.

The Saints can relate

Owners of their own eight-game win streak, the Saints hadn’t really faced much adversity as of late. They had beaten teams by an average of 17 points entering Sunday’s matchup against the Washington Redskins.

But Sean Payton’s group struggled to move the ball against a patchwork defense, and New Orleans also found it hard to slow quarterback Kirk Cousins.

With three minutes left in the game, the Saints trailed Washington 31-16 before Drew Brees led the way on an 18-0 scoring run to win 34-31 in overtime. Until yesterday, the Saints had never won a game in franchise history in which they trailed by 14 or more points in the fourth quarter, according to Elias Sports Bureau. Only one other NFL team had ever won a game when trailing by 15 points or more in the final three minutes.

The comeback came together on multiple fronts. Brees delivered his future-Hall of Fame heroics. Running backs Mark Ingram and Alvin Kamara and the line provided much-needed support. And the defense delivered key stops.

After the game, Payton and his players had a similar perspective on their adversity as the Eagles did. Knowing there’s no way to simulate that kind of high-pressure situation, they appreciated the opportunity for growth.

And based on how they’re playing, it’s very possible that the experiences gained by the Eagles and Saints could wind up preparing them for each other.

Blame goes beyond blown call

Payton said the Redskins should have won that game based on how well they played.

No doubt, Washington players and coaches will have multiple plays they wish they could have back when they watch film. One play in particular will sting: the first-and-10 from New Orleans’ 34-yard line with 31 seconds left and the score tied 31-31. Kirk Cousins was called for intentional grounding as he threw the ball out of bounds with a miscommunication and no pass catcher in the area.

The penalty prompted a 10-second runoff and moved the ball back 10 yards. Instead of attempting a 52-yard field goal with 19 seconds left or so, the Redskins dropped back on second-and-20 with nine seconds left. Cousins got hit and fumbled, and on came overtime.

Later Sunday evening, the NFL contacted Redskins team president Bruce Allen, according to two people familiar with the situation, and said that the referees had gotten the call wrong and that the intentional grounding penalty should not have been called. The people spoke on condition of anonymity because the discussion had not been cleared to be made public.

A league spokesman declined to comment, saying that such communications between officials and teams are confidential.

According to the NFL's rule, “It is a foul for intentional grounding if a passer, facing an imminent loss of yardage because of pressure from the defense, throws a forward pass without a realistic chance of completion.”

Cousins wasn’t under pressure. He threw the pass on a quick timing route, where his receiver, still thinking it was a run play (the original call), didn’t run the out route. This should have been ruled a mere incompletion, and Washington should have had the ball with more time on second down to improve its field goal position.

As frustrating as the botched-call revelation was for the now 4-6 Redskins and their fans, the game should have never come down to that.

Washington led by 15 with three minutes left. The defense offered next to no resistance on consecutive scoring drives at the end regulation and in overtime. Before that, the Redskins had the ball up eight with just more than two minutes left and couldn’t pick up a third-and-inches first down, which would’ve then enabled the team to run out the clock. So while the intentional grounding call proved costly, the Redskins also found multiple other ways to throw the game away on their own.

Follow Mike Jones on Twitter @ByMikeJones.

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