Mistakes by the Eagles in the final stages of the game, both on offense and defense and by the coaching staff, contributed to a surprising collapse against the Atlanta Falcons on Monday night.

Here’s what we learned about the Eagles after their 22-21 home loss:

The turning point

After some Eagles players changed and went home after the game, Quinyon Mitchell sat in his locker room in full uniform and reflected on the Falcons’ game-winning drive.

“I just carry it on my back,” the rookie cornerback said. “I just have to be better in those situations. I just have to have situational awareness.”

” READ MORE: Late decisions in the Eagles’ loss to the Falcons increased the pressure on Nick Sirianni

Most stats suggest the Eagles defense was one of the worst units in the league, but the group was able to make timely stops in the red zone to keep the team in the game. The Eagles defense allows 6.9 yards per play, which is tied for the worst in the NFL with the Los Angeles Rams, and has allowed the most rushing yards, more than expected, according to player tracking data from Next Gen Stats.

On the Falcons’ final drive, the red-zone stops that kept the defense afloat finally dried up. Mitchell and veteran cornerback Darius Slay said the six-play, 70-yard drive that gave Atlanta a crucial one-point lead in the final minute was due to their individual gaps in coverage, and that’s understandable. The Falcons went for big gains on Mitchell’s side early in the drive, but caught Slay with his eyes in the backfield and way out of position for Drake London’s 7-yard touchdown catch.

Mitchell had been a bright spot in the Eagles defense up until that point, but the rookie was largely responsible for two consecutive explosive plays at the worst possible time. The first came when the Eagles were in Cover 2; Mitchell got caught on an under route, leaving too much space for Darnell Mooney to work his way between him and deep safety Reed Blankenship for a 21-yard completion. On the next play, defensive coordinator Vic Fangio switched coverages, with a deep safety and Mitchell and Slay in off coverage on the outside, but Mitchell was beaten on a deep out route by Mooney that cost another 26 yards.

“I put him in a tough spot from the start,” Mitchell said of Slay. “I gave up the deep ball and then the out cut. So I just took it upon myself – I put him in a tough spot.”

Still, Mitchell’s troubles on that drive might have been moot had Slay not been beaten by London on the perimeter as the Falcons faced a third-and-5 attempt at the Eagles’ 7-yard line.

” READ MORE: Saquon Barkley defends third-down call and takes blame for Eagles loss

“That was definitely my mistake,” Slay said. “My eyes were on the backfield and I just tried to do more than I should have done.”

Low-percent looks

While a lot has changed in the Eagles’ offense under Kellen Moore, and mostly for the better, Monday night also highlighted some of the challenges the group has faced in recent years that are not so easy to overcome.

Jalen Hurts’ expected completion percentage, a metric tracked by NFL Next Gen Stats that measures the likelihood of a completion using player data, has remained among the lowest in the league for the second straight season after two games. Hurts’ expected completion percentage of 60.7% ranks 30th in the NFL among qualified quarterbacks. Last year, only Justin Fields finished the season with a lower percentage than Hurts’ 61.3%.

This can be explained in part by Hurts’ understandable tendency to target AJ Brown and DeVonta Smith even on throws with little chance of success. With Brown out with a hamstring injury, there were few high-probability opportunities in the game’s most important moments. The Eagles got into the red zone five times on Monday, but scored touchdowns on only two of them, largely due to well-defended route combinations in the most important moments.

Brown’s absence was felt throughout the game, but the lack of productivity inside the 20-yard line was also glaring without the star receiver.

Return on investment

When evaluating the Eagles’ defensive woes across their first seven teams, it’s hard to overlook the group of premium draft picks that failed to make an impression.

Jordan Davis, Jalen Carter and Nolan Smith combined for just four tackles, five pressures and zero sacks against the Falcons. Carter had a tough matchup against Falcons Pro Bowl guard Chris Lindstrom, managing three pressures, but he hasn’t been able to consistently impact the quarterback this season.

” READ MORE: Nick Sirianni needs the Eagles defense to save him. Bryce Huff, Josh Sweat, Jordan Davis and Jalen Carter can’t do that.

After struggling against Steelers edge rusher TJ Watt in Week 1, the Falcons used chip blocks to slow down the Eagles edge rushers at times, putting the onus on the interior linemen to win one-on-one duels to break the pocket, which rarely happened.

With the vast majority of the Eagles’ offensive players on expensive long-term contracts, the team’s defensive balance must be achieved by young players who impress on rookie contracts. That starts with the trio of first-round picks from Georgia who weren’t productive enough against the Falcons.

Inventory report

Thomas Booker, above: Booker played just nine snaps, but he made two tackles for loss in that time, two more than the aforementioned group of Georgia defensive linemen. The former Stanford star, who signed with the Eagles last offseason, had little chance of making the 53-man roster, but has shown enough in recent months to suggest he could be a quality rotation player on the interior defensive line.

Nick Sirianni, below: As the Inquirer’s Jeff McLane wrote, the Eagles’ second-to-last offensive play can be attributed entirely to Sirianni’s decision-making. The third-down pass to Saquon Barkley was criticized as being too aggressive, but the process that led to that pass was actually conservative.

Had Sirianni and Moore viewed the third-and-3 call as one of two chances to score the game-winning first down, rather than prioritizing running out the clock and settling for the field goal, the Eagles would have been significantly more likely to tie the game with two runs 3 yards from the uprights. For those who thought the difference in the game was losing more time before the field goal, remember that the Falcons scored with 34 seconds left.

” READ MORE: A tale of two Jalen Hurts and doubts on defense in our Eagles Week 2 Stock Watch

Mekhi Becton, neutral: I had Becton as a low stock-down player in my postgame analysis, but softened that stance a bit after watching the video. While the guard struggled a few times running twist stunts with Lane Johnson, he also had dominant reps in the run game, giving way to Barkley to rush for 95 yards on 22 attempts. Along with the rest of the Eagles offense, Becton played a characteristically solid game.

Eagles linebacker, below: After an encouraging debut with the Eagles, Zack Baun had an inconsistent performance against the Falcons. According to Pro Football Focus, Baun missed two tackles and was also out of position on several of Bijan Robinson’s big gains. Nakobe Dean also had his share of running over stretch plays and the duo allowed a total of eight catches for 63 yards on 10 attempts, according to PFF.