The Eagles are 1-3, but coach Chip Kelly would like to point out that they could easily be 3-1.
“We’ve lost three games by 15 points, so you hit two kicks, and we’re sitting here 3-1 and everyone’s happy,” Kelly said Monday. “It’s razor-thin, so you don’t throw the baby out with the bath water and say, ‘OK, we’re going to change our offense, change our defense, and change everything we’re doing with our approach.’ We need to settle down, take a deep breath, and when we have an opportunity to make a play, make a play.”
Kelly is right that the Eagles could have won at Washington on Sunday and at Atlanta Week One if they’d made their kicks: They missed a field goal and an extra point in a 23-20 loss on Sunday, and they missed a field goal in a 26-24 loss in Week One. The Eagles are the only team in the league with two losses by a field goal or less.
Of course, the Jets could easily say they would have beaten the Eagles if Brandon Marshall hadn’t committed the bonehead play of the year by lateraling the ball to no one, setting up an Eagles touchdown in a game Philadelphia won 24-17. If Marshall hadn’t lateraled that ball, the Eagles might be 0-4.
Most NFL games are close enough that the losing team can say that if a play or two had gone the other way, they would have won.
“It’s just one play here or there,” Kelly said, “and it’s a different story.”
That’s true, but that’s what every losing team in the NFL thinks.