PHILADELPHIA — When the Eagles lost to the Falcons last week, they had an excuse when the game ended in defeat — injuries.

Leading into Sunday, the Eagles had all week to prepare for the Detroit Lions, full well knowing they’d be without a handful of key players, especially on offense.

The boo birds that rained down on the Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field on Sunday should give a good idea about how things went.

That is: Not well. Not at all.

The Eagles lost to the Lions 27-24 on Sunday afternoon in a mostly embarrassing performance. Now, all of a sudden, they’re 1-2 heading into the most difficult stretch of the season.

They’ll play once at home in the next 40 days, against the Jets in Week 5. They have a quick turnaround this week to playing the Packers in Green Bay on Thursday night.

All of a sudden, this looks less like a Super Bowl contender and more like a team that will be fighting to make the playoffs at all by the end of this season.

Who is to blame for Sunday’s struggles?

We pinpointed 11 of them.

1. WR Nelson Agholor: For the second straight week, Agholor had a bad drop. This one came in the second quarter on third-and-long when he dropped a catchable ball that would’ve been a sure-fire first down.

Even worse: Later in the quarter, Agholor actually did catch the ball and promptly fumbled it away, allowing Detroit to score on a field goal after that.

He bounced back with two second-half touchdowns — including one that was quite impressive for 20 yards — but the inconsistency has to stop.

Agholor’s stock during a contract year is down.

2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Offensive Line: For the second straight week, this supposedly elite offensive line didn’t do a very good job protecting Carson Wentz, who was sacked three times and hit five times while being pressured frequently. There were a few occasions where the Eagles’ receivers failed to get open so Wentz was forced to hold onto the ball longer, but this is inexcusable.

Was it better than last week? Sure.

Was it good enough? No.

7. Fletcher Cox: It’s rare that the Eagles’ star has not made an impact on a football game, but he really was MIA on Sunday. The Eagles’ pass rush struggled overall, but Cox didn’t even record a tackle.

Both Wentz and punter Camerson Johnston did.

Perhaps he’s not as fully recovered from offseason foot surgery as the team has purported him to be.

8. Special Teams: The Eagles ultimately might’ve lost this game because of a poor lapse in performance on special teams early in the game. After scoring a field goal on the first drive, the Lions turned around and scored on a 100-yard kick return from Jamal Agnew that had mostly poor coverage.

This unit bounced back on a late-game field goal block, but the damage was done by this first half mishap. Two of the biggest players to blame on the return: safety Andrew Sendejo and defensive end Josh Sweat. The former for struggling to get off a block, the latter for a lack of effort.

9. Miles Sanders: This is a complicated one. Sanders had an impressive 40-yard catch and ultimately was the Eagles’ most productive offensive player, getting 53 rushing yards and 73 receiving yards. But he also had a costly fumble in the first half which led to a field goal, after fumbling it a few plays earlier when the Eagles recovered it.

He deserves praise for his playmaking, but ball-carrying was an issue for him coming into the NFL and he didn’t help anything there.

10. Dallas Goedert: The second-year tight end had a brutal drop in the fourth quarter on what should’ve been the easiest touchdown catch of his career. The Eagles still ultimately scored, but not for another almost two minutes. That can’t happen. He also allowed a sack.

11. Eagles training staff: This group continues to have a tough go of things. The Eagles saw Jason Peters, Andre Dillard, Derek Barnett and Ronald Darby go down in the first half. Peters and Barnett returns, but the fact remains that the Eagles’ health issues don’t seem to be going away.

Darby missed the whole second half.

Zack Rosenblatt may be reached at zrosenblatt@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @ZackBlatt. Find NJ.com on Facebook.