PHILADELPHIA — An unnecessary roughness penalty on Eagles linebacker Zack Baun with 2:21 left in the fourth quarter was the final blow in the team’s 21-17 loss to the Denver Broncos on Sunday at Lincoln Financial Field.
On third-and-2 from Philadelphia’s 29-yard line, Eagles rookie safety Drew Mukuba wrapped up Broncos running back RJ Harvey in the flat. As Harvey fell to the ground, Baun dove on top of him to finish the tackle, drawing a 15-yard flag for a late hit.
Not everyone agreed with the call, especially since it was during a critical point of the game.
The Broncos ran four more plays, made the Eagles burn their final timeout and hit a field goal with 1:14 left to take a four-point lead (21-17). The Eagles ran out of time on the final drive, dropping to a 4-1 record.
Baun did not agree with the referee’s decision, but he still blamed himself.
“A lot of the penalties were honestly just dumb mistakes by us,” Baun said. “You can’t be making those silly mistakes. Unfortunate that I made one of them and the offense made a few, too. So we just got to not make those mistakes.”
In a pool report, referee Adrian Hill explained the reason for Baun’s penalty.
“So the officials saw we had a prone player on the ground, and he came in and hit the player that was prone on the ground when the play was over,” Hill said.
Baun didn’t agree with the official’s explanation when he asked him about it on the field.
“Short-yardage situation, he was fighting for extra yards, we’re taught to cap off in those situations, I didn’t think he was done,” Baun said. “One ref threw the flag. It was a (subjective) penalty. ... I thought it could have gone either way.”
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