Grading the Eagles: Birds could have beaten Falcons, but they came up short

The Eagles showed fight late, but ultimately lost to the Atlanta Falcons, 24-20, on the road to fall to 1-1.

How did the offense, defense and special teams perform on Sunday? Paul Domowitch offers his grades, and then you can award your own.

The Eagles averaged just 2.3 yards per carry against a Falcons defense that gave up 172 rushing yards to the Vikings last week. Their longest run of the night was five yards (by Miles Sanders and Jordan Howard).

GRADE: D

The Eagles played the entire game without No. 2 tight end Dallas Goedert and most of the game without their two top wideouts – Alshon Jeffery and DeSean Jackson. Carson Wentz had a 6.3 passer rating in the first half, but completed 19 of 27 passes for 184 yards in the second half and handed the defense the lead with 3:13 left in the game.

GRADE: B-minus

For the second straight week, the Eagles did a solid job against the run, holding the Falcons to 57 yards on 17 carries. They gave up a 28-yard run to Ito Smith. But Atlanta averaged just 1.8 yards per carry on their other 16 rushing attempts and had just three rushing first downs.

GRADE: A-minus

The Eagles intercepted Matt Ryan three times. It was the first time since 2017 and just the sixth time in his career that Ryan has thrown three or more picks in a game. Jim Schwartz used some well-executed blitzes to put pressure on Ryan. But one of those blitzes backfired at the end on the screen pass to Julio Jones that the wide receiver turned into a game-winning 54-yard touchdown.

GRADE: B

Jake Elliott had 34- and 41-yard field goal. Punter Cam Johnston had another big game (52.3-yard gross, 49.3 net). But KR Corey Clement had a costly fumble on the opening kickoff of the second half that the Falcons turned into a Ryan-to-Jones touchdown.

GRADE: C-plus

Despite losing three of their top pass-catching weapons, the Eagles had the lead with three minutes to go. The defense picked off Matt Ryan three times, but they also gave up three touchdown passes, including that killer 54-yard screen pass to Jones at the end. The only time the Eagles really got pressure was when they blitzed, which isn’t the way Jim Schwartz likes to operate.

GRADE: C