The stunning loss put the Patriots in the midst of a rare two-game losing streak – their first since 2012 – and an even rarer two-game losing streak after Thanksgiving, the first since 2002. The Eagles gave the Patriots a taste of their own medicine with their utilization of Sproles clearly reminiscent of how New England deployed Dion Lewis earlier in the year. Best advice: avoid Eagles running backs.
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There has been an internal war in Philadelphia this season and not between players. “But I felt like I made plays when I had to make plays tonight”. Krause played for the first time in his career and had one catch for four yards, the same number of receptions as Austin had in the previous three games.
Not surprisingly, Brady’s targets are taking a similar ownership of the current state of uncertain affairs.
“I can’t understand why so many people continue to rely on Philly’s DeMarco Murray”, ESPN Fantasy Football Insider Eric Karabell wrote. They’ve warranted it in terms of what we’ve seen out of them from a production standpoint and how they are approaching things.
“As the game expressed itself we were just trying to go with a hot hand, and we used all three”, Kelly said. We thought he was a really good player.
-Quarterback Sam Bradford returned Sunday after missing two games with a concussion and injury to his non-throwing shoulder. Again, it’s always, as you figure out the week, who you’re playing and what you’ve got available to you. “Hopefully we get back to where we normally are in the 70s and that let us expanded a little bit, especially in our run game”. In fact, their once dead playoff hopes might be alive depending on what the Redskins do against Dallas on Monday night.
Tell us what you think. “We can’t do anything about what happened obviously tonight or last week just like we can’t do anything about the ones before that”.
“We’re in a decent spot”. The Pats’ offense wasn’t good, but it wasn’t frightful either, except when Tom Brady was throwing interceptions on passes that weren’t remotely close to his receivers. He’s also not scoring as many touchdowns as he did a year ago. Not just for the Patriots, but for bigger linebackers around the league. The protection isn’t good right now.
It was 14-0 on Brady’s 11-yard lob to Amendola capping another 80-yard. Mathews, meanwhile, has 427 rushing yards on just 75 carries for a 5.7-yard average. There’s been a lot of talk about Chip Kelly and the way he operates and the way he handles players. He played eight snaps Sunday against the Patriots.
-SPECIAL TEAMS: A-plus. A huge game by Dave Fipp’s unit. While the rest of the team was underperforming, it was rather solid. However, at the end of the day, he is responsible to lead the Eagles and it isn’t happening.
Kelly added that the running back rotation will be determined on a week-to-week basis. It forced the Eagles to take a timeout or a 10-second runoff of the game clock. Part of it is struggling to set the edge.
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Sproles and Barner, who ripped off a 19-yard run, kept the Patriots off balance for much of the first quarter. On Sunday, Sproles and Barner both topped 4 yards per carry. Darren Sproles and Kenjon Barner got the bulk of the carries against the Patriots. His only blemish came when he fumbled the ball away to New England with 1:02 remaining at the Patriots’ 28, giving them a final chance to tie the game. Overall the Eagles were able to run the ball with more consistency and production than the Patriots would have liked. Sproles punt return was a simple, team-wide breakdown in coverage. The onside kick went out of bounds.
