PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — What a difference 35 days makes. On Nov. 26, the Eagles were 10-1. On Jan. 1, they're 11-5. The Eagles began December with the best record in football and ended it by falling out of the lead in the NFC East.
"Defensive ineptitude," Merrill Reese called it — an unthinkable 35-31 loss to Arizona at the Linc, giving up a 21-6 halftime lead to the previously three-win Cardinals. The defense allowed over 200 rushing yards, and they did not force a single punt.
Former Eagles defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon returned to Philly and got his biggest win yet in his first season as Arizona’s coach.
"This was disastrous," Reese said. "The Eagles could never stop the Cardinals. Even on the first drive of the game, the Cardinals went down and scored on a field goal.
"Eagles offense was terrific in the first half. They ended up with the first half leading 21-6 — but we knew from last week's 20-3 lead against the Giants, which quickly dissipated, that nothing is safe."
There was plenty of blame to go around: a discombobulated offense that included indecisive play-calling late in the game, a running game that never got going and a defense that couldn’t get off the field.
"They could not win the battle up the line of scrimmage," Reese said, "whether it was [running back James] Connor, 233 lbs., plowing through them, or the smaller but more elusive Michael Karger running away from them."
Gannon certainly had reason to gloat — his successor, Sean Desai, already had his play-calling duties stripped during this morbid stretch and turned over to Matt Patricia. No matter who is calling the shots this month, the Eagles' defense has been steamrolled.
“We've got to get things fixed,” coach Nick Sirianni said. “And we've got to get them fixed fast.”
Where to start is the hard part.
"I still believe in the guys in that locker room, the players, I still believe in the coaches," Sirianni said. "We think we got the guys in this place to get turned in the right direction. We don't have much time, obviously. We've got one more game before playoffs starts and we've got to do everything we can do to get back on track this upcoming week."
That one more game would be Sunday against the 5-11 New York Giants. The Eagles could have won the NFC East with wins against Arizona and the Giants. Now, just to keep a No. 2 seed in the NFC, the Eagles need Dallas to lose to Washington. If that doesn't happen, Dallas could win the division, and the Eagles would fall to No. 5 — and, unenviably, start the postseason on the road.
"That's cool. Whatever we got to do," said defensive end Brandon Graham. "This is the position we put ourselves in, but I like what we do as a team, you know, just stay together."
Maybe he should be more concerned. The Eagles have played more like a team bound for a quick playoff exit than one that could make a second consecutive trip to the Super Bowl.
With the Eagles loss Sunday, the 49ers are officially the No. 1 seed.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.