The Eagles snatched defeat from the jaws of victory at Lincoln Financial Field Sunday.

Here are five instant takeaways from the Eagles’ 24-20 loss to the Los Angeles Rams:

Third-and-a-million

Eagles fans flocked toward the exits before the Eagles offense even took the snap facing a third-and-17 at the end of the game.

Can you blame them?

This game was equal parts weird and predictable for the Eagles offense. The group went into halftime with just 100 total yards to show for the 20 points they managed. They went the entirety of the third quarter without picking up a first down (again). And most staggeringly, they put up a goose egg on 12 (!) third-down attempts in the game.

Some struggles were somewhat understandable. The group was missing Lane Johnson, DeVonta Smith, Dallas Goedert, and Saquon Barkley for the majority of the day. Still, the stagnation that has defined each second half this team has gone into this season (and even most of last year, too) has become too consistent to simply chalk up to injuries.

The Rams blitzed the Eagles on almost all of their third down pass attempts in the first half, taking advantage of communication errors between Jalen Hurts and the Eagles patchwork offensive front. Hurts finished 12-for-27 for just 93 yards and two touchdowns, two scores set up by short fields gifted to the offense during the first half.

Patience was always going to be required for this group, but the issues from last season persisting is a fair concern.

Here is how each of the drives in the second half finished:

• Punt
• Punt
• Turnover on downs
• Turnover on downs
• Punt
• Turnover on downs

Take your pick

For about three quarters, the Eagles defense turned in a dominant performance that showed what most believed Vic Fangio’s unit would be capable of going into the year.

Fangio said the Eagles were “due” for some turnover luck after going three games without a takeaway, and Drew Mukuba obliged in the first quarter. The second-year safety picked off Rams star quarterback Matthew Stafford with a diving catch over the middle of the field and returned the pick deep enough into Rams territory to help set up a 29-yard Jake Elliott field goal.

Cooper DeJean delivered the second pick at an even more timely occasion. With the Rams trying to get points before halftime, DeJean pulled off a concentration catch through traffic with less than 30 seconds remaining in the half. A few plays later, Jalen Hurts found Darius Cooper in the middle of the end zone to put the Eagles up, 20-10.

Things unraveled late, though. The Rams reeled off a 98-yard scoring drive to claw within three points and then went another 79 yards with the game on the line to take the lead with 1 minute, 17 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter.

A sympathetic view would point out Kyren Williams’ seven-yard touchdown run was the 75th play of the day for the Rams. Still, the group wasn’t good enough in the game’s key moments.

Injury toll

Already coming into the game with DeVonta Smith, Dallas Goedert, Landon Dickerson, Zack Baun, and Marcus Epps sidelined, the injury woes only worsened for the Eagles as the day wore on.

Not even counting Lane Johnson, who missed the game due to personal reasons, the Eagles lost Quinyon Mitchell, Saquon Barkley, and Jonathan Greenard to injury during the game. Barkley went down with a hamstring injury in the first quarter; Mitchell and Greenard left in the second half with a knee and ankle injury, respectively. Jonathan Jones replaced Mitchell at outside corner.

Cooper DeJean also had an injury scare, but returned to the game after spending a few plays in the medical tent at the end of the third quarter. He was briefly replaced by Mac McWilliams at nickel corner.

Super Cooper

Darius Cooper has five catches this season.

Three of them have gone for touchdowns.

Cooper was ultimately the lone bright spot for the Eagles offense, grabbing his first touchdown off the fingertips of Rams defensive back Quentin Lake after Hurts floated one into harm’s way with pressure bearing down on him. The second touchdown looked much more like the game-winner he pulled off against the Tennessee Titans, with Cooper standing wide open in the middle of the end zone.

Johnson out for personal reasons

Lane Johnson was a surprise inclusion on the inactive list before the game for what the team listed as personal reasons. And with reverse tackle Fred Johnson sidelined the last two games with a knee injury, the Eagles went into the game with just two healthy offensive tackles and seven total offensive linemen.

Markel Bell (the second healthy tackle) stepped into the starting lineup for Johnson, making his first NFL start. The third-round pick out of Miami had some nice moments in the run game, but was a contributing factor for the offense’s game-long struggles sorting out pressure looks against the Rams defense.

The seven healthy linemen resulted in the Eagles being one short of the league’s requirement for the gameday active roster, meaning they came into the game with just 47 players on the active roster rather than the 48 they’re entitled to (49 with an emergency quarterback.)

Speaking of emergency quarterbacks, the Eagles made a change at the backup quarterback spot in the lead-up to the game. NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo reported that Tanner McKee had overtaken Andy Dalton for the No. 2 quarterback spot, although the only indication Sunday was McKee warming up with Hurts during intermissions rather than Dalton.