Philadelphia Eagles Get Clipped By Detroit Lions 24-23

I am sitting here, writing this, not happy about this game. Not just because the Philadelphia Eagles played extremely poorly against what should have been an inferior opponent, but also because of the truly inept officiating. I wish I could come out here and congratulate the fan base of the Detroit Lions, but alas I cannot one hundred percent do that. With that said, I will attempt to do this review without mentioning the poor officiating despite it being the worst officiated game I have watched since January of 2014 in an NFC Championship Game between the 49ers and the Seahawks.

The game originally started out with the Lions getting the ball first and with it, they used running back Theo Riddick to get the ball down the field (with two possible holding calls not called, I told you I couldn't let that go) and eventually gave the Lions a go-ahead passing touchdown to go up 7-0. On the opposite side of the spectrum, the Eagles got the ball on the kickoff, the returner muffed the kick off the bat and were only able to get the ball to inside the 15 yard line. While Carson Wentz played well in this game, the Eagles were unable to get a drive together and they punted the ball back to Detroit and Detroit went on to have another long drive for another Theo Riddick receiving touchdown from Matthew Stafford to go up 14-0.

This must have made Carson Wentz and the Philadelphia Eagles mad as they took the ball, went all the way down the field to set up a short yardage catch by Ryan Matthews for a touchdown to rally at 14-7. While I thought this might have lit a spark into the defense, it didn't stop the Lions from going off on the Eagles. The Lions at one point had a 3rd down and long deep into Eagles territory, but after Bennie Logan basically de-helmeted Matthew Stafford on what should have been a sack, the Eagles were called on a personal foul and the Lions got another chance. After what should have been an illegal touching in the back of the end zone by Marvin Jones, he stepped out of bounds and caught the touchdown. You cannot be the first to touch the football if you step out of bounds. There is no guarantee they don't score a touchdown on the drive, but they would have been heavily backed up.

You can clearly see the receiver in the back of the end zone stepping out of bounds before the ball was thrown to him, he shouldn't have been allowed to catch the ball first. Look at the ref, he is right there, it should have been called but it wasn't.

So the Eagles are down 21-7 with only a few minutes left to go in the half. They receive the ball and then get to the 50 yard line. Once they get to the 50 yard line, they are called on a chop block by Darren Sproles. Now in the picture you are about to see, you can see Sproles at close to the bottom of the screen blocking the defender with another lineman near him, he is double teaming him with another lineman. Obviously this officiating crew doesn't know what a chop block is because it is when two offenders are going one high and one low on the defender. That isn't happening here as Sproles is merely engaging in a block. 

Then even more bull sh*t took place as the Eagles were called for an ineligible receiver down field, but it was called on #98, who was a defender, so the officials called ineligible receiver downfield on a member of the other team so they basically forgot who was on offense. They later picked the flag up after announcing it and never explained what they were doing. I wasn't watching the game with sound so I didn't know what was going on. Then they called Zach Ertz on offensive pass interference, but because they never showed the replay I cannot tell you whether or not it was a good call or a bad. The drive ended when Carson Wentz re-connected with Zach Ertz and Caleb Sturgis kicked a long field goal to make the game 21-10 at halftime. 

In the second half, outside linebacker, Nigel Bradham was allowed to come back into the game. You see, because he went to the airport with a loaded gun in his carry-on bag, he was suspended for the first half. After Carson Wentz scored on a 75 play drive, Nigel was able to force a fumble against Matthew Stafford. The ensuing drive lead to a field goal to make the score 21-20, Detroit. There is a controversy over whether Eagles receiver Dorial Green-Beckham was being interfered with in the end zone, but it was left completely uncalled, you decide whether it should have been called or not... 

After this drive, the Eagles were able to get the ball back at their own 20 after a touchback and they went down the field with a good mix of run and pass and were able to get to around the 35 yard line. Ryan Matthews had a really good rush up the middle, but it was called back after a Brandon Brooks' "phantom" holding call. Again, the following pictures show that this is NOT holding, but again, this is what I and all other Eagles fans had to deal with this officiating crew...

Notice the guy flailing the arms? Yeah, he might be acting like he is being held, but he isn't, that is a perfect block. 

Instead of getting a chance to score a touchdown, the officiating crew screwed up again because instead of calling a spot of the ball penalty, they pushed the Eagles back an extra ten yards and the Eagles kicked another field goal. After the Lions had another stalling drive, the Eagles had a chance to ice the game. However, after calling a toss play to Ryan Matthews, he fumbled and it was recovered by the Lions. It took a while for the officials to review the call because apparently if an offensive player is touching the ball and is touching out of bounds linr, then the ball is dead. However, the replay officials said that there was no evidence that Jason Kelce, center on the Eagles, was touching the ball. However, I don't understand how anyone could say that he wasn't because look at this...

The arrow is where the ball is, clearly it is between Jason's legs and he was touching the out of bounds line. If he isn't touching the ball, then he had to have had a force field between him and the ball because he has fat legs. The Lions then went down the field and kicked a field goal after a VERY suspect personal foul on Malcolm Jenkins where he hit the receiver while he was running. I am pretty sure you are allowed to do that, if you aren't, then how is he supposed to tackle? 

On the ensuing drive, the Eagles lined up and Carson Wentz threw a deep pass and it was intercepted by the Lions and the game ended. Wentz played well despite the interception, at some point it was bound to happen, but he still sits up there as one of the better Quarterbacks in the league. This loss stung and honestly I won't forget it for years. When all was said and done, the Eagles almost won despite the inept officials. However, a loss is a loss despite all of the evidence of the one sided officiating because the Eagles have a loss on the record sheet. I am honestly kind of worried about the Eagles chances next week at FedEx Field against a Redskins team that the Eagles haven't defeated in two calendar years. I hope the offense and defense can get it together because I don't think that I can take another game of 14 penalties and two called on the other team. The Lions weren't called ONCE for holding despite the fact that I saw their offensive line hold twice on the first drive and once on the first play! Believe me, I am very salty, the sodium levels are at 500 mg on this one.