Les Bowen: Tough for Eagles to replace Westbrook

* Todd Herremans really fought the good fight at left tackle. Funny how the Birds spent a boatload of money this past offseason to avoid starting Herremans and Winston Justice at the tackles. Herremans and Justice weren’t why they lost.

Who Knew ...

You could throw for 450 yards and lose?

Obscure Stat

Ten first downs and 147 second-quarter passing yards netted the Eagles only a pair of field goals.

Extra Point

I understood what Andy Reid was saying about the defense yesterday, in his recap, but I think he was being unrealistic.

After correctly noting that field goals instead of touchdowns on the Birds’ first three scoring drives “affected the outcome,” and that nine penalties is too many, Reid targeted San Diego’s last drive, when the Chargers scrubbed more than six and a half minutes off the clock before giving the ball back following a field goal with 30 seconds left. “I expect more from my defense than that,” Reid said.

Well, yeah, except what I saw was one of the league’s best quarterbacks, Phillip Rivers, throwing to one of the league’s top receiving corps, picking on Dimitri Patterson and Ramzee Robinson in coverage. Chris Gocong, a middle linebacker for the first time since high school, studied hard all week but had no chance of playing the kind of flowing, instinctive downhill game that makes that position effective in the Birds’ defense. This was not a day to put the game in the hands of the D. Yeah, it’s too bad the Chargers gobbled up the clock, but the offense blew this one much earlier.

A couple remaining timeouts might have come in handy, as well. *