Even though the NFL season officially ended Sunday, the Philadelphia Eagles season has been over since a heartbreaking defeat at the hands of the New Orleans Saints in the NFC Divisional Round of the playoffs weeks ago.
The Eagles 2018 season was a roller coaster ride for the team and its diehard fans. The team lost some key players and coaches that were instrumental to their Super Bowl title the year before. One thing that didn’t change from last year was the injury bug that continued to plague Philadelphia. The Eagles ended the 2018 season with eight important players finishing on the IR, and the team also had another seven miss three or more weeks throughout the season due to injury. Let’s take a look back at the Philadelphia Eagles 2018 season the only way football fans know, over the course of four quarters.
The first quarter of the Eagles season saw the team play the Atlanta Falcons and Indianapolis Colts at Lincoln Financial Field and it saw them go on the road to battle the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Tennessee Titans.
Week 1 against the Falcons saw the Eagles reveal their Super Bowl banner and the start of the game was delayed to severe weather in the area. After all of the pregame fireworks were done, the Eagles were able to hold off Matt Ryan and the Falcons and prevail with an 18-12 victory.
They went down to Tampa for Week 2, but it didn’t go quite according to plan. On the first play of the game, the Eagles let up a 75-yard touchdown pass to DeSean Jackson, and that was the first of two 75-yard touchdowns the defense let up in the game. The most significant loss of the game was when wide receiver Mike Wallace broke his leg and was lost for the rest of the season.
The following week saw the team return home and the triumphant return of franchise quarterback Carson Wentz. In Wentz’s return, the team beat the Colts 20-16, but they lost Rodney McLeod for the season to a knee injury.
To end the opening “quarter,” the team traveled down to Nashville to take on the Titans. This game saw the return of Alshon Jeffery from offseason shoulder surgery, but this was another game where the defense failed to show up and cost the team a victory in overtime. The defense was unable to stop the Titans on a 4th and 15 in OT, and the conversion eventually led to the Titans scoring the game-winning TD. The Eagles record at the quarter mark was 2-2.
The second quarter of the Eagles roller-coaster season saw them play home games against the Vikings and Panthers. It also had the Eagles go to New York to play the Giants and cross the pond to play the Jaguars in London.
The Vikings game saw the Eagles score six total points through three quarters. The Eagles eventually lost the game 23-21.
They took a short ride up the New Jersey Turnpike and laid the smack down on the hapless New York Giants 34-13.
Week 7 saw the Eagles take on the Panthers and through three quarters, it looked like the Eagles would close out an easy win. But the Philly offense completely stalled and their defense allowed 21 unanswered points in the fourth quarter, resulting in a devastating 21-17 loss.
The Eagles had no time to rest; it was time to head across the pond to take on the Jags. The Eagles ended their first trip to London with a hard-fought 24-18 victory. The Eagles went into ‘halftime’ with a 4-4 record.
Coming out to start the third quarter the Eagles battled the Cowboys, Saints, Giants, and the Redskins.
The first game of the season against the Cowboys was not a particularly good game for the Eagles. The story of the season was the Eagles offensive struggles in the first, and this game was no different, they put three points. The bad offense in the first half and missed opportunities throughout the game pretty much put a dagger in them as they ended up losing 27-20.
Next up was a battle against the Saints down in the Big Easy. This game was one-sided the whole time. The Eagles had no offense, four interceptions by Wentz, and their defense got lit up by Drew Bress. The Saints beat down the Eagles 48-7.
The next two were home games against division rivals New York and Washington. They beat the Giants 25-22 thanks to a game-winning 43-yard field goal by Jake Elliott.
The Eagles then went on to face a Redskins team that had Colt McCoy and Mark Sanchez playing quarterback. The offense struggled once again, only scoring 14 points in three quarters. But in the fourth quarter, the Eagles offense exploded and scored 14 unanswered points and defeated the Redskins 28-13. The Eagles record at the end of three quarters was a measly 6-6.
The fourth quarter started in quite the controversy. The Eagles started the fourth with a game down in the Dallas, and from the very first play of the game, the ball didn’t bounce their way. On the initial kickoff, the Cowboys fumbled the ball, and everyone thought the Eagles recovered the ball. The officials reviewed the play and ruled it Cowboys ball because there was no clear recovery by the Eagles, there were only Eagles players around the ball. As usual, the Eagles offense didn’t score in the first half of this game, but their defense held the Cowboys to only six points. The second half saw both offenses go up and down the field at will and score points at ease. The game went into overtime, and untimely resulted in an Eagles loss after a well-defended pass by Rasul Douglas bounced into Amari Cooper’s hands as he walked into the end zone.
The following week, the Eagles had a new starting QB Nick Foles and traveled out to LA to play the Rams where they were 13 and a half underdogs. Well, Foles did what he does best and went out to LA and beat the Rams 30-23.
Next up was the Texans at home, and they needed to win the game to keep their playoff hopes alive. The game was pretty much back and forth. The Eagles were leading late in the game when Deshaun Watson and the Texans drove the field to take a 30-29 lead. The Eagles got the ball back, and Nick Foles leads them down the field to a game-winning 35-yard field goal by Jake Elliott. The Eagles victory kept them alive for another week.
The Eagles close out the fourth quarter in convincing fashion by having their fans take over Fed Ex Field and defeating the Redskins 24-0. With the Eagles finishing the season 9-7, the Vikings’ loss to the Bears clinched the final playoff spot in the NFC for Philly.
It’s time for some overtime football baby. The sixth-seeded Eagles traveled to play one of the top defenses in the three-seeded Chicago Bears in the NFC Wild Card. The game was a hard-fought battle in frigid Chicago. Late in the game, Nick Foles drove the Eagles down the field to score a touchdown and give them a 16-15 lead. The Bears got the ball back and drove down the field to set up an attempt for Cody Parkey to win the game. The Eagles ended winning the game thanks to a block and a double-doink on the game-winning field game attempt.
With the win, the Eagles got a chance to go back down to the Big Easy and get some revenge against the Saints. The Eagles offense put up a quick 14 points in the first quarter and then went silent. Thanks the Eagles defense only allowing 20 points and late missed field goal by Wil Lutz, Foles got the ball back with a chance to win. Foles and the Eagles were driving downfield when a routine pass went through Alshon Jeffery’s hands and resulted in a game-sealing interception for the Saints and an end to the Eagles season.
The Eagles ended up finishing the regular season 9-7 and were the sixth seed in the NFC Playoffs. They went into the wild card round as underdogs and beat the Bears and their top defense. They battled tough in the divisional round against the Saints but ended up losing. Overall it wasn’t all that bad of a season considering all of the injuries, losing players in the offseason, coaching changes; the team finished above .500 and made it to the Divisional Round of the playoffs.
