PHILADELPHIA -- Remember the Titans. Actually, come to think of it, forget them and that 43-24 victory over them as quickly as possible.
That is the task for the Philadelphia Eagles, who were answering questions about Thursday’s game against the Dallas Cowboys within minutes of the final gun Sunday. The only things worth discussing in their win over the Tennessee Titans were the lessons that might apply to their NFC East showdown in Dallas.
Unfortunately for the Eagles and their fans, the lessons appeared to be mostly repeats from the rest of the season to date. The Eagles were able to beat a losing team, something they’ve done consistently this year. The Cowboys are not a losing team. Their profile is much closer to that of Green Bay, Arizona and San Francisco -- the three NFC teams that have beaten the Eagles this season.
“We understood after the performance that we had in Green Bay, we had to make a statement,” Eagles cornerback Cary Williams said. “We understood that we had to right the ship, this was a must-win situation this week.”
The Eagles got the must-win. But it’s hard to say they made any kind of definitive statement against Tennessee.
Quarterback Mark Sanchez threw two more interceptions, which seems to be his custom. The Eagles bogged down in the red zone four out of seven times they got there. Rookie kicker Cody Parkey, who made five of six field goal attempts, was the only Eagle who enjoyed that aspect of the game.
On defense, the Eagles gave up more of the X plays (plays of 20 yards or more) that have plagued them all season. They gave up 17 points to rookie quarterback Zach Mettenberger and the Titans’ offense in the second quarter. It was one thing to be carved up by Aaron Rodgers in Green Bay. It was another to be taken apart by Mettenberger.
“They did have some X plays,” Eagles linebacker Trent Cole said. “Those are plays that you can’t have. We’ve got to work on that. We’ve got this time coming up going into the Dallas game, and we’ve got to work on it. If we can remove those X plays, we’d have a great team.”
Those big plays have been coming down like rain since Week 1 against Jacksonville. Now the Eagles need to acquire an umbrella in the three days before they play the Cowboys. The Eagles lead the league in turnovers. Now they have three days to break their quarterback of the habit of throwing two passes to the guys in the other uniforms.
“To be a good team -- and our record shows we’re a good team, but to be better -- I think the turnovers, from everybody, [have to stop],” running back LeSean McCoy said. “We can’t drive the ball, make plays and then have the turnovers. I think Coach has been stressing that since day one. He’s really been focusing in on that lately.”
That is the kind of thing a coach would notice. But the truth is, Sanchez threw two interceptions in his first appearance after Nick Foles was injured. Sanchez went a whole game against Carolina without an interception, but he threw two in Green Bay and two more against the Titans. Before he took over, Foles threw 10 picks in eight games.
“You can’t have those late in the year,” Sanchez said. “It’s just a frustrating thing.”
Altogether, the Eagles have turned the ball over a league-leading 27 times. They did not fumble against the Titans, so perhaps Kelly made some progress against turnovers.
To beat Dallas, it is going to take a better performance all around. To be sure, there were some elements of this game that the Eagles can build on.
“This was a huge win at home,” Sanchez said. “An awesome job by special teams and an awesome job by our defense. The running game got going and that was big for us. We got LeSean running a little bit and the offensive line played great. There are a lot of good things to take away from this thing and we have to turn around fast.”
It’s harsh to dwell on the negatives after a win, but this season was never about that big matchup against the Tennessee Titans. It was going to come down to the two games against Dallas in 17 days. The first of those games is coming up Thursday, and it’s hard to gauge just where the Eagles stand.
They have scored 30 points or more in seven of 11 games. They have topped 40 points in two of their past three games. In between, though, they gave up 53 (while scoring just 20) to the Packers.
The Cowboys, with Tony Romo and Dez Bryant and DeMarco Murray, much more closely resemble what the Eagles ran into in Green Bay than what they ran over Sunday. Remember the Titans? There isn’t much point in that.
“We’re in the third quarter and people are screaming about the Dallas game while this game is still going on,” Sanchez said. “I know it’s a big-time rivalry. We’ll take the win and be happy with it, but we have to get better.”
Exactly.