By Paul Macrie, Sports Talk Philly staff writer 
Whether it was the subpar officiating, terrible first-half defense or crucial fourth-quarter turnovers, the Eagles dug themselves too big of a hole in the loss to Detroit this past Sunday. Despite coming back from a 21-7 first-half deficit to take a brief fourth-quarter lead, there were too many mistakes throughout the game.
Let's put it this way: if they would have won, it would have been a very fortunate result.
This loss can be filed away as one to quickly forget, move on, use it as a teaching moment and get set for a big NFC East matchup at Washington on Sunday.
How can the Eagles use the loss to the less than stellar Lions as an instructional moment? Well, losses can always be learning notes and for a team with a rookie quarterback, he needed to encounter some adversity early.
Carson Wentz continued his solid quarterback play, even in defeat. Wentz threw for 238 yards and two touchdowns, good for a 102.8 QB rating. He completed difficult throws, and improvised at times — something only a few quarterbacks in the league can do with regularity.
The first big mistake of Wentz's career came at the end of the game against the Lions. On a first down play, trailing 24-23 with less than 1:30 to go in the fourth quarter, he tossed a ball deep downfield to Nelson Agholor. Agholor never had a shot on the ball and it was picked off by Detroit corner Darius Slay.
It was either supposed to be a deep post that was thrown more to the outside and Agholor got turned around, or it was a ball meant to be thrown in that general direction to try to force a defense pass interference. Either way, it was a risky throw and it proved costly.
The first interception of Wentz's career will serve as a teaching moment, and it can be a positive as the young QB continues to develop. As the team heads back to the practice field on Wednesday in preparation for the Washington Redskins, it wouldn't be surprising if Wentz works with Agholor and his other receivers on that type of situation and immediately correct it.
The first three results of the season proved to be mostly sunshines and rainbows for the Eagles. Reality struck hard in the loss against Detroit. The loss put into perspective a few more things, including they still have a lot of work to do to get to the ultimate team goal and there are weaknesses that opposing teams will continue to try to exploit.
The Week 5 outcome was far from a demoralizing loss, however. It wasn't a division game, but three of the next four contests are against the NFC East. Let's face it, the Eagles weren't going unbeaten this season, and they will lose at least a few more before the end of the season.
Wentz and the offense can take some valuable lessons away from the loss. The defense can learn from their mistakes as well. Jim Schwartz's unit adjusted after giving up 21 first-half points, but they will have to figure out how to avoid getting gashed like that again. Nigel Bradham's presence was felt when he played more snaps in the second half, and the defensive line put more pressure on Matthew Stafford.
It is a new week and the Eagles need to have a short memory. There is little doubt they are already over the loss, especially since it was only Game No. 4 of the season. Despite the overused cliche, it really is about taking one game at a time. The difficult upcoming schedule won't allow the team to remotely look ahead.
Instead of harping on the abysmal officiating against the Lions, it is important to overlook that and focus on why they really lost. If Ryan Matthews protects the football and carries it with his outside arm, the fumble probably doesn't occur. If they didn't give up 21 points on the Detroit's first three possessions, then they wouldn't have had to play from behind so early.
Everything happens for a reason. The Eagles need to treat this as that, embrace the adversity and put together a solid game plan to beat division rival Washington on Sunday. With 12 games left in the season, hopefully the team can look back in December at the Week 5 loss and say "that particular game, against the Lions, made us a better team in the long haul."
