Sunday's heartbreaking 20-19 loss to the Dolphins was an emotional roller coaster. The Eagles opened the game with what was by far their best start of the season, jumping out to a 16-3 lead in the first quarter behind a near-perfect performance early from Sam Bradford and hard-nosed play by the defense. But after the first break, things quickly fell apart. The offense became stagnant, the team hurt itself with penalties on both sides of the ball and Bradford suffered a shoulder injury and concussion in the third quarter that knocked him out for the remainder of the game.
The loss dropped Philadelphia to 4-5 on the year, and nine games into the season head coach Chip Kelly is disappointed that miscues have still been such a common theme for the team week to week.
"We moved the ball, but I think we hurt ourselves. That's what I told our guys," Kelly said. "A couple of those penalties were just real big drive-killers for us, and those are on us. ... We didn't do a good job I think in terms of putting ourselves in positions where we can be successful."
With the offense missing All-Pro left tackle Jason Peters for the second straight week, Miami's front seven was able to get a good deal of pressure on Bradford, and later on reserve signal-caller Mark Sanchez. The Dolphins notched four sacks for 39 yards, and the Eagles' offensive line was whistled for three holding calls and a false start on the day.
Even more concerning, though, was Philadelphia's inability to move the ball on the ground. After rushing for 349 combined yards in their last two games, the Eagles were held to just 83 yards on 36 carries against Miami (2.3 yards per attempt). On many plays, DeMarco Murray and Ryan Mathews hardly had enough time to receive the handoff before being met by a Dolphins defender in the backfield.
"It looks like we struggled at times to handle the (interior defenders)," Kelly said, specifically mentioning defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh, who finished with eight tackles, three for loss and a sack. "A lot of (our strategy) was trying to keep the quarterback away from them. That's why we ran a lot of bootlegs to try and get the quarterback out of the pocket and avoid that rush."
The Eagles' special teams unit didn't fair much better. The Eagles missed a 32-yard field goal early in the game because of a botched snap by Jon Dorenbos, and a blocked punt in the third quarter set the Dolphins up inside the Philadelphia red zone and led to a touchdown pass that put them ahead for the first time since the first quarter.
With seven games remaining in the season, the 4-5 Eagles are tied with Washington and trail the New York Giants in the NFC East.
"You better come to play every single week in this league," said Kelly. "You (forget) whether you won or not and get back to work on Monday and get ready to go play whoever your next opponent is. Because they're going to be gunning for you.
"You pick your head up at at the end of the season and see if you won enough games to get into the playoffs. That's always been how we approach it and always will be how we approach it."
The Eagles returned home to face the Dolphins in Week 10 of the regular season. View the full gallery here...

LB Mychal Kendricks

RB Ryan Mathews


RB Darren Sproles



TE Brent Celek

DE Fletcher Cox



Kristen and the Noise

WR Josh Huff, C Jason Kelce

WR Jordan Matthews

EaglesSalute

DT Bennie Logan






LB Kiko Alonso, LB DeMeco Ryans

T Matt Tobin, T Lane Johnson

WR Jordan Matthews

DT Bennie Logan


WR Josh Huff



T Lane Johnson

C Jason Kelce, RB Ryan Mathews

RB Ryan Mathews

TE Brent Celek

WR Nelson Agholor

RB DeMarco Murray


WR Jordan Matthews

RB Ryan Mathews

WR Miles Austin

WR Josh Huff

WR Jordan Matthews

LB DeMeco Ryans

QB Sam Bradford

TE Brent Celek

LS Jon Dorenbos

LB Connor Barwin

WR Josh Huff

WR Jordan Matthews

P Donnie Jones, K Caleb Sturgis

LB Bryan Braman



T Matt Tobin

DE Cedric Thornton

QB Sam Bradford

WR Jordan Matthews

LB DeMeco Ryans

LB Connor Barwin


RB DeMarco Murray

RB DeMarco Murray

QB Sam Bradford

TE Trey Burton, P Donnie Jones, K Caleb Sturgis

DT Bennie Logan, DE Cedric Thornton


DE Fletcher Cox


DE Fletcher Cox

LB Brandon Graham

DB Walter Thurmond

RB DeMarco Murray

TE Brent Celek

RB Ryan Mathews

LB Kiko Alonso

WR Josh Huff

WR Jordan Matthews, WR Josh Huff

LB Kiko Alonso

WR Nelson Agholor

LB Connor Barwin

RB DeMarco Murray

RB Darren Sproles


WR Josh Huff

LB Mychal Kendricks

TE Brent Celek

LB Mychal Kendricks

LB Mychal Kendricks

S Malcolm Jenkins

QB Sam Bradford

QB Sam Bradford

T Matt Tobin

P Donnie Jones, K Caleb Sturgis

RB Darren Sproles

LB Brandon Graham

LB Brandon Graham

LB Brandon Graham

LB Mychal Kendricks

QB Sam Bradford

P Donnie Jones

WR Josh Huff

T Matt Tobin

QB Sam Bradford

DE Fletcher Cox

TE Brent Celek

RB Ryan Mathews


LB Brandon Graham

RB Ryan Mathews

RB DeMarco Murray

DE Fletcher Cox

DB Walter Thurmond

RB DeMarco Murray

QB Sam Bradford

LB Kiko Alonso

WR Seyi Ajirotutu

QB Mark Sanchez

QB Mark Sanchez

WR Nelson Agholor


TE Brent Celek



WR Nelson Agholor

WR Nelson Agholor

P Donnie Jones