The Philadelphia Eagles began the season eking out wins thanks to some timely big plays, special teams scores, turnovers and a bit of luck.
Speaking on NFL Network's NFL AM Friday morning, Eagles safety Malcolm Jenkins said that once they started playing playoff-bound teams the game-changing plays dried up and self-inflicted wounds came back to haunt them.
"Really the sins that we committed all season long finally caught up to us when we started playing these elite teams," Jenkins said. "... Whether it be turnovers or big plays given up on defense, those are things we were able to overcome, earlier in the season.
"But once we got to that month of December, you play Dallas, Seattle and you know, loss to the Redskins, those things came back to haunt us and that is really when you need to be at your best and it's hard to win against good teams in this league when you put yourself in a bind."
The Eagles' biggest problem was giving up big plays in the secondary. Philadelphia gave up 82 plays of 20-plus yards this season, most in the NFL -- including seven passing plays of 20 or more yards in the finale alone.
"If you look at our coverage, the completion rating against us is really low and so we got guys who are in position, who challenge, who can cover," Jenkins said. "The biggest thing -- and our Achilles heel -- is just the big play over the top. So, whether that be changing the personnel or just getting the personnel that you have to understand that the ball cannot go behind us -- it has to be in front of us -- and make teams consistently try to drive the ball down the field. Because when we did that we were really a suffocating defense."
That "Achilles heel," however, doomed the Eagles to watching the playoffs from their couches, after they had jumped out to a 9-3 record before cratering. Whatever move Chip Kelly and the Eagles plan to make in the secondary, we can't see them rolling into 2015 with the same group that was consistently torched.
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