Former Eagles react to their team’s epic collapse against the Atlanta Falcons

Former Eagles Seth Joyner, Emmanuel Acho, and Chris Long all weighed in on the Eagles' inability to put away Kirk Cousins and the Falcons.

Eagles linebacker Zack Baun gets shoved by Atlanta Falcons tight end Kyle Pitts on Monday, September 16, 2024 in Philadelphia.Read moreYong Kim / Staff Photographer

by Gabriela Carroll

Published Sept. 17, 2024, 1:34 p.m. ET

The Eagles’ fourth-quarter collapse against the Atlanta Falcons has everyone searching for answers — including former Birds players.

What looked like a sure win at the two-minute warning turned into a devastating loss after Kirk Cousins drove the Falcons down the field and threw Drake London the game-winning touchdown.

The Eagles’ defense got no pressure on Cousins, who was still struggling with mobility after his torn Achilles in 2023, on the final drive, and he was easily able to complete passes to Darnell Mooney and London on the minute-long touchdown drive.

Former Eagle Seth Joyner on 94 WIP called out Howie Roseman for taking nose tackle Jordan Davis in the first round of the 2022 NFL draft, part of the unit that failed to contain Cousins on Monday.

“Jordan Davis, in my opinion, was a wasted draft pick and I said that on draft night,” Joyner said. “Now for two years and two games he’s proven that he cannot rush the passer. When you draft a player that high, you have to know for certain.”

Emmanuel Acho took a similar approach on FS1′s The Facility, suggesting that Roseman didn’t fully equip the defense and shouldn’t have signed Bryce Huff.

“You acquire Bryce Huff for $50 million from the [New York] Jets,” Acho said. “Bryce Huff had one 10-sack season. It was in his contract year. Do not trust a player who only balls in his contract year.”

Monday’s game was the home opener, the return of Nick Foles, who was in town to retire as an Eagle, and the return of Jason Kelce and Fletcher Cox, who retired in the offseason and posted up at Xfinity Live! pregame to star on ESPN and hang out with the fans.

The fans showed up and brought the energy, but the Birds took the wind out of the building with the disappointing loss, Chris Long said on his podcast postgame.

“I’m disappointed in the way the Eagles came out,” Long said. “You’ve got Kelce in the South Philly Tuxedo, it’s Monday Night Football, he’s back in town, Nick Foles is back in town, all of that pageantry, and you blow it. This would’ve been a game that would’ve been great to get on the Cowboys. The way the Cowboys looked yesterday, you’re supposed to show up and stomp out Kirk Cousins in prime time. It’s what you do. It might not be what this team does.”

Long had a lot of thoughts about the play-calling deep in the red zone, especially on the Eagles’ first and final red zone drives — and the penalty issues, especially illegal man downfield penalties, which limited their RPO opportunities.

“We found out what happens when they’re one-dimensional at the end of the game,” Long said. “I guess it’s better we didn’t find that out earlier. Masterful by the Eagles leaving Atlanta back in the game so that Kirk didn’t get to the two-minute sooner, because it was Swiss cheese, man. We got shredded. It was crazy. I don’t know where to go with this, there’s so many ways you could’ve won that game.”