MINNEAPOLIS — Fletcher Cox was frustrated.
Not just because the Eagles lost 38-20 to the Vikings, but because he thought they did a lot of that damage to themselves.
We gotta be smart,” Cox said. “It’s 3rd-and-long, we can’t get penalties. We talk about it all the time. You can’t shoot yourself in the foot.
“Right now, it just seems like we can’t get the f--- out of our own way. That’s the honest-to-God truth. We’re in our own way. Until we can let it go, we’ll keep getting blown out. Until we get out of our own way, we’ll keep getting blown out. We have to fix it and we have to fix it right now.
Five of the Eagles’ seven penalties on Sunday afternoon came on the defensive side of the football. They had a neutral zone infraction, two defensive holds and two defensive pass interferences.
The Eagles gave up first downs on third downs twice on Sunday.
• In the first quarter, Rasul Douglas was called for a defensive hold that gave the Vikings a fresh set of downs on a 3rd-and-6.
• And in the third, Sidney Jones was called for a DPI on 3rd-and-9. Even though it looked like Jones had good coverage on the play, the flag still came out.
The Vikings got just three points total on those two drives, so it wasn’t like those plays are the only reason the Eagles lost. But they certainly didn’t help. And Cox’s overall point was about miscues and missed chances.
The Eagles played sloppy football on Sunday and lost. They committed penalties, blew coverages and weren’t disciplined enough.
“We have to come here next week and fix it,” Cox said. “We play another good football team. We’re on the road again (in Dallas). It’s gonna show what type of team we are. We’ve got our backs against the wall right now. We’ve been in this hole before. As long as this locker room sticks together and don’t start pointing fingers, we know what we can do.”
A week after the Eagles had 10 sacks against the Jets, they had just one against the Vikings. And they had just four quarterback hits. As much as the secondary struggled, a little more pass rush might have helped.
Cox said he actually thought the pass rush was fine against the Vikings, but it was hard to get to Kirk Cousins because he was rolling and the Eagles had to respect the run. Maybe that’s partially true, but they still didn’t do enough.
No one did enough on Sunday. At least the Cowboys lost too, which sets up a battle for first place in the NFC East next weekend in North Texas.
“We don’t have to do nothing special,” Cox said. “We just gotta focus on doing our job, everybody just has to focus on doing our job. If we do that, we’ll be fine.”
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