Eagles knocked around in Cincinnati, lose 32-14

So a 3rd-and-9 situation seemed like the ideal time to commit to it for Eagles head coach Doug Pederson.

Doug Pederson says Wentz’s overthrows are the fault of his mechanics. No, we don’t. I know where we are as a football team as far as – we are playing with some young guys on offense. “Now, do we expect to go out and play like we’ve played the last couple of weeks?”

Thanks to two Cincinnati fumbles by Rex Burkhead and Jake Fisher, the Eagles attempted to make the game interesting in the fourth quarter.

Three of those four are at home. “But at the same time it comes down to a mentality by every individual player”.

There are no easy answers for sure. Philadelphia rookie Carson Wentz has endured significant growing pains since capturing the heart of the eastern side of the Keystone State, throwing his seventh interception in six games on Monday in a 27-13 setback to Green Bay.

Think you’re frustrated with this season? That’s what I’ve been saying. “Now everybody in the locker room is enjoying themselves, happy and smiling”. “Just keep moving forward and all things come around”.

The critical first series Pederson hoped to set the tone with began with Wendell Smallwood losing two yards on a run. “You can’t just go to one guy”.

Two snaps for receiver Bryce Treggs compared to 41 for Paul Turner?

Tyler Boyd: 21-yard catch in the second quarter, 29-yarder in the third. The receiver was ruled out with an ankle injury. In fact, Burfict etched his name into the Bengals’ record books with another talented but troubled linebacker from the early days of Marvin Lewis’ tenure.

For more Philadelphia Eagles coverage go to the philly.com website. If that is the case, then maybe football isn’t for him.

Pederson admitted he had spoken to defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz about getting more pressure from the defensive line.

The Eagles haven’t had any quarterback sacks the past two games and only one in their last three.

“Obviously we don’t make plays, we have a lot of mistakes, we’ve got to clean up some of our discipline”, Wentz said. Pederson continues to see something in this team that the rest of us don’t. It’s a copycat league.

The Bengals will get the ball first to start the second half.

“If he can pick up a block obviously [we want him to]”, Pederson said.

From a fundamental standpoint, Cincinnati is the better team from the line of scrimmage, grading out as 0.2 yards per play better than average (0.2 yards per play better than average offensively).

To be clear, this Eagles team shouldn’t have had great expectations in the first place.

Add another eight of them from Sunday. They were outplayed in every facet of the game by the 3-7-1 Bengals, a team that didn’t even need their best players to thrash the Eagles. I reminded them Saturday night just how good they can be.

Stooping to catch the rebound, Wentz grabbed the ball and took off down the middle of the pitch, before sliding to the ground to avoid the tackle and making a seven yard gain. Entering the game, only the Redskins had more false starts. Faced with first-and-15, and robbed of any momentum from that run, the Birds eventually had to punt. False start penalties cost the Eagles in 5-yard increments turning third and manageables into third and long.

Pederson attempted an explanation postgame. Fletcher Cox complained that it’s hard to get much of a pass rush when a defense is always dropping seven.