The Eagles had a 20-10 lead over the Rams deep into the fourth quarter of last Sunday’s game against the Rams, but they wound up losing when the Rams scored back-to-back touchdowns in the final four minutes of the game.
The first Rams scoring drive started at their own 2-yard-line and the second covered 79 yards. Los Angeles only faced two third downs on the 21 snaps that made up those possessions, which led to a question for Eagles defensive coordinator Vic Fangio about whether the cumulative effect of being on the field for 82 snaps — including penalties, but excluding one kneeldown at the end of the game — wore the unit down.
“Well, I’m not going to insult your or anybody’s intelligence that yeah, it has an effect, but we got to find a way to finish,” Fangio said, via a transcript from the team.
The Eagles couldn’t finish on either side of the ball against the Rams. If the offense continues to fail to do so in the future, the job Fangio and the defense will have to do for the team to win games will only get more difficult.