PHILADELPHIA — Philadelphia Eagles head coach Chip Kelly defended his team’s offensive gameplan in Sunday’s 24-20 loss to the Arizona Cardinals, in which quarterback Nick Foles threw the ball a whopping 62 times out of a season-high 88 offensive plays.

Kelly pointed to the fact that the Cardinals were the league’s No. 1-ranked run defense. He also pointed out that the Eagles did run the ball 26 times for 110 yards, the most the Cardinals have given up this season.

He said it had nothing to do with his offensive line, which still is missing two injured starters – All-Pro left guard Evan Mathis and center Jason Kelce, both of whom are expected back in Week 10 against Carolina.

“That was more about how we were attacking Arizona as opposed to anything to do with our offensive line or anything going into it,” Kelly said. “They were the No. 1 rush defense. There were some things in the run game we thought we could get accomplished, and I felt we did.

“We probably ran the ball more than I think – I think they were giving up 70 yards a game and we got 110 on them. But we felt like we could throw it. Especially when their No 1 corner, Patrick Peterson, went down. So now you’ve got a couple of new guys in the secondary there and I thought obviously, from a production standpoint, we threw the ball pretty well against them.”

Foles threw for a lot of yards – 411 – and threw two touchdown passes to Jeremy Maclin, who had a career-high 12 catches for 187 yards.

But Foles also threw two more very costly interceptions, which gives him nine for the season. He had just two all of last season.

REPORT CARD VS. CARDINALS

RUSHING OFFENSE: B — The Eagles had 88 offensive plays against the Cardinals, but just 26 of them were runs. That’s a season-low 29.5 rushing percentage. LeSean McCoy finished with a respectable 83 yards on 21 carries against the league’s No. 1-rated run defense. He had seven carries of seven yards or more.

PASSING OFFENSE: C-plus — Nick Foles’ 75.4 passer rating was his second lowest of the season. He threw a ridiculous 62 passes and completed less than 60 percent of them. He had two costly interceptions, including one in the end zone on first down, and another in the fourth quarter when he missed an open Riley Cooper badly. Jeremy Maclin had 12 catches for 187 yards and 2 touchdowns, and tight end Zach Ertz had four third-down receptions for first downs.

RUN DEFENSE: A-minus — The Eagles did a good job of containing Cardinals running back Andre Ellington, holding him to 71 yards on 23 carries. Ellington managed just 21 yards in the second half on nine carries.

PASS DEFENSE: C — But for two plays – Larry Fitzgerald’s 80-yard touchdown catch and run in the third quarter and John Brown’s back-breaking 75-yard touchdown catch after splitting Cary Williams and Nate Allen, the Eagles did a decent job against the Cardinals’ passing game. Other than that, how’d you like the play, Mrs. Lincoln.

SPECIAL TEAMS: A-minus — Cody Parkey had a team record-tying 54-yard field goal and produced five touchbacks on five kickoffs. The punt coverage unit effectively neutralized Ted Ginn. Maclin, subbing for injured Darren Sproles as the punt returner, had an 18-yard return.

COACHING: B-minus — Given the success the Eagles had running the ball Sunday against the Cardinals’ No. 1-ranked run defense, it was a little surprising that Chip Kelly ended up letting Foles throw the ball 62 times. He threw for 411 yards and two touchdowns, but also had two critical interceptions. The Eagles continue to be inept in the red zone. They are the league’s worse red-zone offense.