Eagles Beat Rams, 43-35, But May Have Lost The Season
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- It was a little tough to decipher who won and who lost as the Eagles and Rams came click-clacking up the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum tunnel on Sunday afternoon. No one seemed pleased. Maybe save for Eagles' defensive end Brandon Graham, who never is sullen.
The Eagles moved to 11-2 and clinched a playoff berth as the NFC East champions with a 43-35 victory over the Los Angeles Rams. But it was a Pyrrhic victory. The Eagles may have suffered an irreplaceable casualty: NFL MVP-favorite Carson Wentz may be lost for the season with a torn ACL in his left knee.
Coach Doug Pederson said Wentz's situation was just "a report" and neither confirmed nor denied Wentz's situation. Wentz finished the game completing 23 of 41 for 291 yards and four touchdowns, against one interception. Nick Foles came in to relieve Wentz and did well, converting a key third-down play on third-and-nine with less than two minutes to play.
Defensive end Chris Long may have made the play of the game when he stripped Rams' quarterback Jared Goff of the ball with just over 8:00 left in the game. Rodney McLeod's recovery and Jake Elliott's 33-yard field goal, his second in the fourth quarter, gave the Eagles a 37-35 lead.
Graham added a score on the game's final play with a 25-yard fumble recovery.
But it all seemed wiped away by Wentz's condition.
Pederson said Wentz will be getting an MRI on Monday when the Eagles return from the West Coast.
When asked for the player's reaction in the locker room to the victory: "Jubilation, this is one of those heavyweight fights, the Rams are a great football team. We knew that coming in here. They're a playoff-caliber team. We found a way. This team's been resilient all season long. Along the road, back-to-back, we spent a week out here."
"Guys did a nice job focusing in and getting this win. I'm proud of the guys in the way we fought. We still have three games left. We just have to make sure we take care of business," Pederson said.
Pederson liked how the team rallied around Foles and the defense made crucial plays in the end.
"That's what you need," Pederson said. "We had a lot of guys show mental toughness in that fourth quarter. Carson was fired up. He's excited, NFC East champs."
Pederson kind of downplayed what it meant to win.
"Just gets us to 11, just gets us to 11, we're one step closer to where we want to be," he said. "My mentality all along when we set goals in the beginning of the season, NFC East, we checked the box. We put it behind us and we move on. It's the New York Giants next week."
With the looming possibility that the Eagles' season may have walked away with his head down and a towel draped over his neck Sunday afternoon.
