The Eagles needed an all-around team performance to beat Tom Brady and the Patriots (10-2), and they got it. The defense scored a touchdown, special teams had two scores and the offense got both of its TDs on third downs.
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The Eagles held a team to less than 45 points, kept a quarterback from dropping five touchdown passes on them and scored more than 19 points, all in the same game.
The Eagles moved into a tie for second place in the division, a half-game behind the Washington Redskins, who play the Dallas Cowboys on Monday night.
He was deactivated for the first time this season against the New England Patriots on Sunday in favor of rookie Jonathan Krause, who had been promoted from the practice squad less than two weeks earlier. He led New England with eight tackles, adding a quarterback hit, a pass defensed and a forced fumble in an impressive return.
“Sort of had a chance there at the end”.
“Obviously, Coach O’Brien knows this team very well, so a lot of familiarity there”, Slater said. “But when you give up 21 points when your defense isn’t on the field, you’re going to lose 98 percent of those games”. Murray had the most carries in each of the previous 10 games that he played in. With tough road games looming in Houston and NY and several key injuries at skill positions, wins may be tougher to come by for the Patriots down the stretch. The Pats were without almost their entire starting offiensive line, No. 2 running back Dion Lewis, starting slot receiver Julian Edelman and tight end Rob Gronkowski. “You’d love to have everybody healthy”.
“I’d say every week it’s hard to win a game”.
Murray saw the field for just 14 snaps against the Patriots on Sunday and Chip Kelly instead turned to Darren Sproles to lead the way at running back. The Patriots had only lost consecutive post-Thanksgiving games twice before in the Brady era, most recently in 2009.
The Patriots trailed, 35-14, before Brady tried to will the Patriots to victory with a late fourth quarter rally that fell just short.
“We’ve got to do a better job”, Brady said after the loss.
“When you play a team like Philadelphia that runs the up-tempo and that type of thing you have to have a little bit of awareness for that”. This team is bound to bounce back and remind the rest of the National Football League that this team is only going through a slump and will be ready for the playoffs when the time arrives.
Bradford completed 14-of-24 passes for 120 yards in the win.
It took eight plays for the Eagles to go 59 yards, with Bradford connecting with Ertz from the 5 to make it 14-7.
“We threw stuff at them and they handled it”, Ebner said.
“I think everything is a weekly basis depending on who we are matched up with”, Kelly said.
LOSING STREAK: The loss was New England’s second in a row, which is a pretty rare occurrence. They blocked a punt and returned it for a score.
Malcolm’s score gave the Eagles a 21-14 lead. Even so, the Patriots could move only 12 yards before a pair of dropped passes helped end the home team’s hopes. Brady’s fourth scoring pass cut the gap to 35-28 with 3:00 minutes left. On third down, with a chance to run off all but 20 seconds left on the clock, Barner fumbled.
While Brady didn’t have the best of games, the Eagles do deserve credit for pulling off the impressive upset.
-Running back Ryan Mathews missed his third straight game with a concussion. “That 99-yard interception return… was about as bad as you can do for a quarterback”.
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BRADY THREW three touchdown passes, giving him 31 for the season and 423 in his career.
