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Eagles Vs. Chargers: Gold Stars And Demerits

By Spike Eskin

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – While there was a lot about to annoyed about after the Eagles 33-30 loss to the Chargers on Sunday, let's take a small step back for one moment.

We expected the Eagles to score a lot of points, and be exciting on offense. We expected the Eagles to have trouble stopping pretty much everyone due to a new system without the proper pieces, and a secondary that doesn't have the correct pieces for any system.

So far, it seems like we've got exactly what we expected.

Again, I'm not saying there weren't players, plays and decisions that could have been better on Sunday. What I am saying is that the Eagles, who have pretty clear deficiencies, are going to lose games, especially trap games like this one.

Gold Star - Michael Vick

The Chip Kelly engineered revival of Michael Vick seems to be going pretty much as planned, as Vick had a career passing day on Sunday, throwing for 428 yards and two touchdowns. Vick did miss a couple of throws, and there were also a couple that DeSean Jackson should have held on to. All things considered, if you're going to get a Michael Vick with a 119 quarterback rating, and without any turnovers, you've got to take it.

As well, even though he probably went out of bounds when he shouldn't have toward the end of the game, it seems like Vick made an effort to take fewer hits on Sunday.

Demerit - Nate Allen

At this point, relieving Allen of his duties in the secondary would be a service to both fans, and Allen himself. Defensive statistics showed how misleading they can be on Sunday, as Allen had 10 tackles. It seemed like he blew twice as many coverages as tackles he made.

Allen was able to become the first defender in the NFL that I've ever seen get run over, drug for six or seven yards, and manage to add a 15-yard facemask penalty to the play.

Gold Star - DeSean Jackson

The revival of Michael Vick seems like it's come hand-in-hand with a revival of DeSean Jackson. Jackson had nearly 200 yards on Sunday, and found himself catching balls in space to show his speed after the catch.

Jackson's got 16 catches for nearly 300 yards in two games. Not too shabby.

Demerit - DeSean Jackson

Jackson took a stupid penalty late in the game after the Eagles took a 27-23 lead that dropped the Eagles back 15 yards on the ensuing kickoff. The kickoff resulted in great field position for the Chargers, and then a touchdown.

It's exciting that Jackson seems so fired up this year, and the best DeSean is the DeSean that's yapping most of the game, so you take the good with the bad.

But the bad hurt on Sunday.

Gold Star- Brandon Boykin

I'm not sure of Boykin played particularly well, or was just the best of a bad group. Probably a little of both.

It looks like Boykin is a player though.

Demerit - Chip Kelly

Time mis-management down the stretch.

A misunderstanding of the rules that would have allowed him to put Michael Vick back in the game and not waste a snap with Nick Foles.

It's not surprising that Kelly's grasp of close game situations and NFL rules aren't great yet, as he didn't play a ton of close games at Oregon, and he's only been in the NFL for two regular season games.

But not Chip Kelly's best game.

Follow Spike on Twitter @SpikeEskin.

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