The Philadelphia Eagles opening day win over the New England Patriots was a clinic on the importance of defense.
By Chris Murray
For the Philadelphia Sunday SUN
Above photo: New England Patriots tight end Hunter Henry (85) is pursued by Philadelphia Eagles safety Reed Blankenship, left, as he scores a touchdown on a pass from quarterback Mac Jones in the first half of an NFL football game against the Philadelphia Eagles, Sunday, Sept. 10, 2023, in Foxborough, Mass. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)
FOXBORO, Mass.–On a day when the Philadelphia Eagles’ offense was inconsistent and didn’t take advantage of chances to put the New England Patriots away in the second half, the defense saved the day as the Eagles hung on to a 25-20 season-opening win.
In the last three minutes, the offense failed to execute on fourth and two and a Jalen Hurts fumble in Eagles territory gave Mac Jones and the Patriots two excellent opportunities to take the lead and win the game.
But the Eagles defense closed the show and kept the Patriots out of the end zone. First, the Eagles needed just four plays to force a turnover on downs including a huge sack of Jones by Jordan Davis and Josh Sweat that resulted a seven-yard loss. The Birds then forced two incomplete passes.
“We had a lot of redzone stops,” Sweat said. “There was a lot of sudden changes, but we still got it done.”
On the Patriots final drive of the game, they moved to the Eagles 19. But on second down, Jones was sacked by Jalen Carter for a loss of three yards. On fourth down, Jones’s pass to Kayshon Boutte was ruled out of bounds thanks to his being pushed out of bounds by Josh Jobe.
“There was a couple of times where I said we got to get to this quarterback and in two of the biggest moments of the game, we did,” Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni said. “It was a great job by us to get to the quarterback when we needed to.”
It was the Eagles defense that set the tone for the game by forcing a pair of turnovers that led to a pair of scores and staked the Eagles out to a 16-0 lead. On the Patriots first possession, Darius Slay intercepted a ball that caromed off the fingers of wide receiver Kendrick Bourne and took it in for a 70-yard touchdown.
The Eagles forced another turnover on the Patriots next possession when defensive tackle Jordan Davis jarred the ball loose from running back Ezekiel Elliot and it was recovered at the New England 26 by Birds linebacker Zach Cunningham. Four plays later, Jalen Hurts hit Devonta Smith with a five-yard pass to give the Eagles a 16-0 lead.
Sirianni said those early turnovers were huge because they ultimately led to the win.
“They created two turnovers that led to 14 points. That’s big time, right,” said Sirianni. “That the difference in the game. Jordan (Davis) making that great play on the screen and then also the coverage that happened and the pressure that happened on the interception for a touchdown that Slay finished. Slay’s got a great knack to get the ball and finish plays like that.”
But in the second quarter, the Eagles offense went three-and-out on five straight possessions and mustered just 19 yards on offense. Meanwhile, Jones and the Patriots offense found their rhythm late in the second quarter and scored touchdowns on their last two possessions of the half to cut the Birds lead to 16-14 at the intermission.
In the second half, Hurts led the Eagles offense on three scoring drives that led to three Jake Elliott field goals that gave increased the Birds lead to 25-14 with 5:39 left in the game in the game.
New England cut the lead to five on an 11-yard touchdown pass from Jones to Bourne. But the Patriots failed to get the two-point conversion and that’s as close as they would get.
While the Eagles were able to escape Foxboro unscathed, they don’t have long to fix what needs fixing with the offense. That’s because the team welcomes the Minnesota Vikings, who lost to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 20-17, to Lincoln Financial Field Thursday night for the team’s home opener.
You can catch the game on Fox-29 beginning at 8 p.m.
Leave a Comment