The ugliness of the Philadelphia Eagles' 24-21 loss to the Dallas Cowboys in Week 12 is still ingrained in the minds of all Eagles fans.
It all started perfectly, like many games this season, with a 21-0 lead, and then it was a collapse unlike anything Eagles fans have seen in two decades. Everyone is trying to find answers about what happened with the offense, and offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo knows penalties have rocked its momentum.
"I think when you look at the first half, it was kind of one of those deals where - and we talked about it today as an offense - we were able to do what we wanted to do, keep on track, keep the pace going, keep ahead of the sticks, and keep it moving. In the second half, we came out, we went empty, we got a completion, and then we had an illegal formation on an explosive."
"When you have a penalty on an explosive, which flipped the field around on us, it was a 20-yard gain, now all of the sudden you're behind the sticks."
"That's kind of what stopped us in the second half...We had some penalties, we had some things go on that if they go the other way we're talking a whoe other deal right now. It's a whole other game, and we know that, and that's what disappointing and that's what's frustrating."
Penalties have rocked the Eagles' offense this season
It's no secret the Eagles have struggled with penalties. In the last three games alone, they committed 14 penalties against the Cowboys, nine against the Detroit Lions, and seven against the Green Bay Packers.
The Eagles had some nice plays in the Cowboys game, including that 20-yard reception by Dallas Goedert that Patullo mentioned was called back by a penalty. Those types of penalties are killers for the Eagles.
From the play-calling to the run-game inconsistency, Patullo deserves a ton of blame for the offensive issues. Something like penalties, though, as Eagles left tackle Jordan Mailata alluded to in his recent comments, is not something Patullo controls; that is more on the players to get right in the future.
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These are small things the Eagles must get fixed before they play a well-coached 8-3 Chicago Bears team in Lincoln Financial Field on Black Friday.