Philadelphia Eagles: Five Observations vs. Cardinals

Oct 26, 2014; Glendale, AZ, USA; Arizona Cardinals wide receiver

(11) catches a pass under pressure from Philadelphia Eagles cornerback

(22) in the first quarter at University of Phoenix Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

Undisciplined play equals costly penalties

Watching the Philadelphia Eagles play the Arizona Cardinals you would have thought the Eagles were throwing a yellow ticker-tape parade. In just over 5 minutes the Eagles had been penalized five times for a total of 38 yards! None of the infractions were committed by rookies. These were all veterans playing like this.

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In all, the Eagles committed 11 penalties for a total of 103 yards. Up to this point they are not the most penalized team in the league. But if they keep it up they could be. They pushed themselves back 103 yards. Five of those penalties occurred when the Cardinals were on third down and handed them two first downs. The Eagles gave the Cardinals yardage they couldn’t afford to give up.

Lack of discipline will crush any momentum a team has. An occasional penalty happens. But the list of penalties they had yesterday were sloppy. Here is the list;

False Start
Defensive Holding
Encroachment
Illegal Use of the Hands (2)
Defensive Pass Interference
Roughing the Passer
Low Block
Offensive Pass Interference
Offensive Holding
Ineligible Downfield Pass

A couple of those are to be expected but false start and illegal use of the hands are inexcusable.

11 penalties. In one game. Add that to three turnovers and you have yourself an undisciplined team. That’s not good news.