Eagles assess trouble spots on defense and special teams that played roles in the loss to the Commanders

Michael Clay didn’t sugarcoat his evaluation of the team’s kickoff coverage unit a few days after the Eagles’ 36-33 loss to the Washington Commanders.

At the start of his weekly news conference Tuesday, the special teams coordinator acknowledged the role shaky kickoffs and the favorable field position the group conceded as a result played in the loss.

“We put our defense in terrible situations,” Clay said. “One, starting off the game with a penalty is not what our standard is. Then, coming back and letting them have a big return. For us, from a special teams standpoint, there have been some good instances we did have in that game, but, overall, it was not up to our standard. We put our defense in a bad spot.”

With punter Braden Mann handling kickoffs, the Commanders averaged 29.4 yards per return. Mann’s first kick fell short of the designated landing zone, resulting in the Commanders offense getting the ball at the 40-yard line, and Mann’s second kickoff floated enough to give Luke McCaffrey a crease for a 47-yard return.

Clay said Mann struck the opening kickoff “fat,” meaning he hit the ground just before the ball, and noted that the location of his kicks along with an overall lack of execution from the rest of the unit led to the poor results.

“I think it was a mixture of both,” Clay said. “Obviously, we’d like a little bit more distance on our kickoffs. We can’t have the ball land at the 16- or the 15-yard line, but it’s never always on one person. There’s 11 guys out there. And first of all, it starts with me from the top. I have to get these guys far more prepared in terms of getting off blocks, violently shedding. Kickoff coverage is very similar to defense. You can make up for a mistake by hustling to the ball and playing with fundamentals of block destruction. I don’t think we did a good enough job getting off blocks.”

» READ MORE: Something or nothing? Analyzing the Eagles’ sloppy loss vs. Commanders, from not-so special teams to a shaky run game

It’s worth noting that the cold, blustery conditions at Northwest Stadium played into Mann’s struggles. He averaged 55.4 yards traveled on his eight kickoffs, but was inconsistent with a 43-yard opening kickoff and two others that made it 50 and 53 yards, respectively. By comparison, Washington kicker Zane Gonzalez averaged 59.8 yards per kickoff and didn’t have any travel shorter than Mann’s average.

Even with the elements making it harder to rely on specialists to kick the ball through the back of the end zone for a touchback, Clay pointed to Mann’s third kickoff that led to a tackle at the 22-yard line as an example of what a well-placed kick can do for the coverage unit.

“Playing in the Northeast, you’ve got to understand that ball isn’t going to travel,” Clay said. “It was what, 20 degrees on Sunday? And we knew that going in. But what can help out, I think on our third kickoff, was the placement and make the returner go left and right because it just adds an extra second or two for our coverage to get down there. When we did that, we strung it out and they were down at the 22-yard line. So just better precision on our location on kickoffs to help out the coverage team.”

Clay also didn’t rule out the possibility that Jake Elliott could replace Mann on kickoffs for the season’s final stretch, alluding to the prioritization of preserving the kicker that played into the decision to use Mann in the first place.

“A lot of it has to do with can we preserve Jake going forward?” Clay said. “And Braden does have a very strong leg. He’s always had that going from college. But it’s always a topic of discussion going week by week. We may switch it up, we may not, but what Braden’s done kickoff coverage-wise has helped a lot.”

After an uncharacteristically poor performance, Vic Fangio is urging his young defense to focus on bouncing back.

Even though the group forced five turnovers against Washington, costly penalties, explosive plays, and three touchdown drives in the fourth quarter overshadowed all else. And while the defense entered the game ranked first in points and yards allowed, Fangio said he won’t let his players’ dominance for most of this season influence how he addresses the errors made against the Commanders.

“No, you don’t say it’s just a blip,” Fangio said. “You’ve got to learn from all your experiences, both good and bad, and improve. We’ve got to get back to playing, not have three unsportsmanlike or whatever they’re called, two times 12 on the field. We’ve got to get back to playing better football.”

For the Commanders final touchdown drive, which covered 57 yards in the final two minutes, Fangio said Washington caught the defense in some unfavorable looks.

“My calls could have been better,” Fangio said. “I think if my calls were better, we would have had a better result. But give them credit. They executed and they played well.”

» READ MORE: Eagles film: What happened to the Birds’ secondary in the fourth quarter vs. Jayden Daniels’ Commanders?

The final play of the series, with 11 seconds remaining, particularly put the Eagles defenders in a bind. Commanders offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury called a route concept specifically for the match zone coverages the Eagles often call and forced linebacker Zack Baun to choose between two in-breaking routes at different depths.

Fangio said Baun could have stuck with Commanders receiver Jamison Crowder on the deeper of the two routes “a little longer” to prevent the 9-yard touchdown catch, but acknowledged the coverage they were in put the linebacker in a tough position.

“We could have played it a little better,” Fangio said. “But it was a good play that they ran against the coverage that we were in. Again, I could have been in a better call.”

» READ MORE: Darius Slay has message for Eagles fans after Commanders loss

Washington’s offense found ways to hurt the Eagles defense in areas few teams have this season. The Commanders generated a handful of explosive plays, including a 51-yard completion to Dyami Brown against Darius Slay and a 32-yard touchdown catch from Terry McLaurin against Quinyon Mitchell a few plays later.

“We just got beat,” Fangio said. “We could have played with better technique, but they ran go balls on our guys, and we got beat.”

Specifically on Mitchell’s conceded catch, the first completion for 30-plus yards the rookie has allowed since Week 4, Fangio said Mitchell “was kind of guessing and probably shouldn’t have,” which explains why the cornerback was so slow to react to McLaurin’s burst upfield and toward the end zone.

The Eagles host the Dallas Cowboys in Week 17. Join Eagles beat reporters Olivia Reiner and EJ Smith as they dissect the hottest storylines surrounding the team on Gameday Central, live from Lincoln Financial Field.