Tough loss tonight for the Birds, perhaps made more frustrating for the extremely familiar way it all went down: a charming cocktail of poorly used coach’s challenges, clumsy clock management, and the misguided belief that the Eagles weren’t actually the 30th-best team at converting third- and fourth-and-short on the ground.

It’s not like the Eagles are exploring new and innovative ways to lose — they’re failing in all the ways that the fans dread.

I just watched Andy Reid’s presser, and he seemed especially gruff tonight. I can understand why. He knows there will be much chitchat amongst the blatherati regarding his role in tonight’s loss. And why not? If you’re putting together a list of Andy Reid haterade this evening, you’ve got plenty of material:

the heretofore unprecedented feat of back-to-back failed challenges (seriously — that’s hard, and I don’t think you’ll need the timeouts anyway);

the maddening clock management around the two-minute warning (no no, take your time);

how the Giants’ success with their fullback reminded us all that it was Andy Reid’s idea to go light on the fullback position (I have no idea why the Eagles would need one of those!);

the failure of the Eagles to convert first downs on short yardage running plays and Andy Reid’s refusal to acknowledge this fact (this will be filed under “Stubborn Andy Reid” — I mean, sure there’s data on this, but in Andy Reid’s Platonic ideal of the Eagles offense, those plays work, and he’ll keep calling them until reality does what it’s supposed to do).

From the sound of the rest of the pressers, I think we can expect variations on the above in tomorrow’s papers.

At least the pulled pork was satisfying.