PHILADELPHIA -- Flat and at times confused, the Philadelphia Eagles were overwhelmed yesterday by a 26-7 loss to the Cleveland Browns and the loss of middle linebacker Byron Evans for the rest of the year with a broken right leg.
"We lost a great player -- the quarterback of our defense," said linebacker William Thomas. "We've all got to step it up, pick it up."
Against the Browns, the Eagles spent all game looking for something to pick them up -- but even when they found it, they threw it away. Ill-timed penalties, bad judgment and a curious game plan handed theBrowns one opportunity after another.
Perhaps the worst miscue came late in the third quarter, after an interception by Michael Zordich. Down by 19-7, the Eagles had the ball on the Browns' 13-yard line, with a chance to cut Cleveland's lead to lessthan a touchdown.
But quarterback Randall Cunningham, apparently not recognizing a defensive alignment that showed blitz, called an audible. Then he and center David Alexander mishandled the snap. The Browns recovered the fumble and scored a touchdown minutes later to put away the game.
"Chalk it up to just a poor game -- everyone to a man, all of us," said Eagles coach Rich Kotite.
Said Alexander: "We hurt ourselves. You just can't do that against a good football team, because they will turn around and hurt you."
How painful was the loss? The Eagles lost a chance to catch the NFC-leading Dallas Cowboys (8-2), who lost yesterday to the 49ers in San Francisco.
Led by former Super Bowl MVP Mark Rypien at quarterback, the Browns (8-2) played efficiently in all phases of the game, especially on defense. Coach Bill Belichick, the onetime defensive coordinator of the New York Giants, kept Cunningham guessing with a lethal combination of deep zones and blitzes.
The Eagles' longest play from scrimmage was the result of an interference call against Antonio Langham, the Browns' rookie cornerback. The 47-yard penalty set up a 15-yard touchdown run by Vaughn Hebron, the former Cardinal Gibbons standout. Without Langham's infraction, the Eagles might have been shut out by the team that has surrendered the fewest points in the NFL (118).
"We played a well-coached football team," said Cunningham, who completed 22 of 38 passes for 195 yards and threw one interception.
"We didn't play flat at all," said Cunningham, disagreeing with Kotite's assessment. "They had a great game plan to beat us."
While Belichick's game plan worked, Kotite appeared to make few adjustments in his. Hebron, making the first start of his two-year career, was held to 39 yards on 12 carries, but Kotite did not try another running back, as he usually will do, until it was too late.
Rookie Charlie Garner wasn't available. He told Kotite before the game that his right thigh was too tight for full extension, and Kotite decided not to play him. Herschel Walker did not get a carry until the fourth quarter.
The Eagles' passing offense, which had slipped to ninth in the NFL rankings in the last four weeks, had no continuity. Cunningham threw into tight coverage and could not connect deep. And Kotite did not use four wideouts to open up the defense until the game had slipped away in the fourth quarter.
The Browns closed off the swing passes and screens -- plays Cunningham had used with success against Belichick's Giants defenses.
"They covered our receivers very well," said Cunningham, who was sacked twice by tackle Michael Dean Perry. "I tried a couple of dump-off plays to our backs, and they just attacked them at the line of scrimmage."
And with or without Evans, who broke his right tibia early in the second quarter, the Eagles' defense did not put any pressure on Rypien. Philadelphia had no sacks for the first time this season.
Rypien completed only 12 of 30 passes for 158 yards and one touchdown. But the Browns did not need much of a passing game. Running back Leroy Hoard had a big game, amassing 86 yards on 21 carries.
Tack on poor special teams play -- especially Bryan Barker's first bad punting day since he joined the Eagles four weeks ago -- and nine penalties for 84 yards, and the Eagles gave their worst performance of the season.
"We just couldn't get going, and you could feel it," said Kotite, who said he had warned his players on Wednesday about their lackluster attitude. "Unfortunately, during a season -- I hope not too many times -- something like this happens. I wish I had the reason, but we've got to shake it off."