It appeared that the Detroit Lions made a recurring mistake against the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 11 that ultimately cost them the game.
Five times during the contest, the Lions went for it on fourth down, a combination of being aggressive and avoiding the windy conditions. The Eagles' stout defense was able to stop them all five times on fourth down to preserve their 16-9 win in Philly.
Eagles linebacker Nakobe Dean spoke with the media after the game, sharing his thoughts on the Lions' continuous attempts to go for it on fourth down, which had failed every time. Dean found the act to be disrespectful towards his team.
"For sure, almost disrespectful. Almost disrespectful. Even if it wasn't disrespectful towards us, I think it's disrespectful to our offense because they'll get okay field position. They're just not defensive-minded. I really don't take it as offense. I know the type of team they are over there and we expected it to be a game like this, so we just had to nut up."
Dean and the Eagles' defense made Detroit pay in a big way
It was a stellar night for the Eagles' defense that held the Lions to just 317 yards of offense. Philly got a ton of pressure on Detroit quarterback Jared Goff with seven quarterback hits and two sacks, but disrupted their passing game with 10 pass deflections.
Dean played a critical role in making that happen, as Eagles defensive coordinator Vic Fangio has enjoyed having the linebacker back, as he has become the main blitzer on passing downs to pressure the quarterback. That happened time and time again with Dean rushing Goff as the linebacker finished with three tackles, two quarterback hits, one tackle for loss, and one sack.
Detroit's offensive line had no answer for slowing down guys like Dean and Jaelan Phillips, who also had two quarterback hits and a sack in the game. Even second-year edge rusher Jalyx Hunt had a field day on Goff with a team-high three quarterback hits.
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The Eagles' defense is playing at an elite level, allowing just 16 total points in the last two games. At this rate, no one might be able to get anything past this defense for the rest of the season.