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Eagles blew decent chance to force overtime

Seahawks safety Julian Love made an incredible play to intercept the pass that cemented Seattle’s Monday night win over the Eagles. Love never should have gotten the chance.

Before the play that sealed the deal, the Eagles had a first and 10 on their own 45. Thirteen seconds remained. They were 15 yards away from a potential game-tying field goal of 58 yards. With two timeouts, the entire field was available. They could have run two plays before kicking the field goal.

So why did they throw deep? Who called the play? Did the play as designed call for quarterback Jalen Hurts to heave it deep? Did Hurts make the decision on his own?

Whoever made the decision, it was not a good one. Even if Love hadn’t made his way over from centerfield to make the catch and receiver A.J. Brown had snagged it, the Eagles would have had the ball at or around the Seattle 20, with six seconds left. They might have had time for one shot at the end zone, but it would have been risky.

The better approach would have been to throw a couple of short passes and let kicker Jake Elliott try to force overtime.

It wasn’t foolproof, but it would have been a better decision than the frankly foolish move to throw a deep ball 20 yards short of the end zone. Thus, at a time when much attention is being paid to the Eagles’ defense, it might make sense to ask some tough questions about the decisions made late in the game on offense.