Redskins deal Eagles serious blow to playoff hopes

    150 150 Robert Moody

    Gary Mihoces, USA TODAY Sports9:52 p.m. EST December 20, 2014

    LANDOVER, Md. – The Philadelphia Eagles’ once promising playoff hopes took a big hit Saturday. Coach Chip Kelly counted the ways it happened.

    “Obviously 13 penalties, we missed two field goals, two turnovers, not enough to win a football game,” Kelly said after the Eagles lost 27-24 to reinstalled quarterback Robert Griffin III and a Washington Redskins team (4-11) that had lost six in a row.

    But the numbers that matter now for the Eagles, 9-6 after their third loss in a row, are the playoff tie-breakers that are stacked against them.

    “We’ve got one game left. We’ve got to go get ready and get focused for the New York Giants,” said Kelly. “We’ve got to win the game, and there’s lots of other things that have to happen besides that, that we have no control over.”

    The Eagles were flying high at 9-3 after a big Thanksgiving win at the Dallas Cowboys.

    Now, they’re 9-6. They already weren’t in control of their playoff destiny going into Saturday. It’s worse now in their pursuit of the Seattle Seahawks and Green Bay Packers, both 10-4 with at least the inside track on the two wild card berths in the NFC.

    The Cowboys (10-4) can clinch the NFC East with a win Sunday over the Indianapolis Colts.

    “We’ve got to win,” said Eagles linebacker Brandon Graham, who had one of three roughing the passer penalties against Eagles. “There’s some crazy stuff that happens when it gets close. And hopefully everybody will lose twice. And we’ve just to do our part and win.”

    The game slipped away after Eagles quarterback Mark Sanchez was intercepted in the final moment by Redskins cornerback Bashaud Breeland at the Redskins’ 42-yard line. Griffin then hit Pierre Garcon with a 23-yard pass. A roughing the passer penalty added 15 yards, and Washington was on its way to the 26-yard winning field goal by Kai Forbath with five seconds left.

    “We just have to get another win and try and get to ten wins,” said Sanchez, who was 37-of-50 passing for 374 yards and two touchdowns in his seventh start since replacing the injured Nick Foles. “Other than that, we can’t control anything on the outside so we just focus on what we can control and move one.”http://nfl.cpl.delvenetworks.com/player/carousel/usatoday.html?channelId=de89a8aeb3e422bac4eb48567f10ebd0&channelListId&mediaId=502e4d17859048438d771958beafbd5a

     

    On a third-quarter touchdown drive by Washington, the Eagles had two roughing the passer calls.

    “At the end of the day, if you know you can beat a team like this if you don’t make all the penalties, I mean that’s why it hurts so bad,” said Graham.

    And missed kicks.

    In the third quarter, Philadelphia’s Cody Parkey missed field goal tries of 34 and 46 yards on consecutive drives. The first miss came after the Redskins lost a fumble at their own 16-yard line on the return of the kickoff to open the second half.

    Parkey was asked why he missed.

    “If I knew that I wish I could tell you. I just missed a couple kicks,” said Parkey. “You know you missed the first one. I would have loved to make the second one. … I would have loved to make both of them. But things didn’t go my way and you’ve got to move on to the next game.”

    Ex-Eagle DeSean Jackson, abruptly cut by Philadelphia last March after leading the team in receiving in 2013, had four catches for 126 yards from Griffin, including deep balls of 55 and 51 yards to set up touchdowns.

    “At the end of day, it’s tough just seeing him (Jackson), our former teammate go off,” said Graham. ” … It is what it is. …We knew going in that they were going to make it a priority to go deep on us.”

    Kelly on whether he was thinking about Jackson coming back to help beat the Eagles: “Naw, I’m thinking about the football game.”

    The Redskins played deep coverage. Washington was hurting at linebacker. Sanchez completed 15 passes for 115 yards to tight end Zach Ertz.

    “It’s tough to swallow,” said Sanchez, who also lost a fumble on a strip sack on the Eagles opening series that led to a Washington field goal. “You know, you want to get a win, especially with … some of the performances we’ve had. It’s really too bad when that happens.”

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    Robert Moody

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