And yet, Sunday’s 35-28 Philadelphia victory over the New England Patriots might have been the most improbable win of the 2015 National Football League season.
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Patriots quarterback Tom Brady after his team for the second week in a row when they went down to Philadelphia. – Miami intercepted a pair of deflected passes from Matt Schaub to score two touchdowns 20 seconds apart late in the first half, and held on to beat Baltimore.
The deafening sound of silence in the New England Patriots’ locker room spoke volumes about their work day.
Now the defending Super Bowl champions are trying to recover from their first back-to-back losses in more than three years.
The offensive line play has been another topic for concern for the team and they have been struggling to stay healthy all season long.
If there is one thing that Bill Belichick and Tom Brady don’t like to do. 21 of those points came without New England’s defense even stepping on the field, (interception return for TD, punt return TD, blocked punt returned for TD) breathing some life into a Eagles team that had lost three straight games.
Following their shocking upset in New England against the Patriots – coupled with the Dallas Cowboys’ win over the Washington Redskins on Monday night – the Philadelphia Eagles are the current favorites to win the NFC East at 5-7. And New England had won 94 straight games when leading by eight points or more at home dating back to 2001.
Streak-snapper: Patriots 38, Bills 7. 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.
In the seven games with all his major weapons, Brady’s full-season pace of 5,381 passing yards with 46 touchdowns and just five interceptions (117.3 rating) actually surpassed his record-breaking 2007 season performance (117.2). They just had the Detroit Lions and Tampa Bay Buccaneers drop 45 points on their defense and send them to a world of darkness and humiliation.
There’s no truth to any rumors that pigs were sighted flying above Gillette Stadium on Sunday evening. “It’s unfortunate because those cost you the game, and I’ve got to do a better job”. “Of course you’re aware of that”, Kelly said. But more importantly, it was Jenkins’ interception return and Darren Sproles’ 83-yard punt return in the third quarter that broke the game open, with a Bradford touchdown pass to Jordan Matthews giving the Eagles a 35-14 lead early in the fourth.
Kelly’s hand-picked quarterback Sam Bradford managed just a miserable 120 yards on 12 of 24 passes. There was a general feeling while watching the game that the Philadelphia Eagles wanted to prove their season was not over.
“Anybody who said our confidence is low is probably outside of our building”, Jenkins said. So when we’re up, they are throwing the ball more. Nineteen of those 24 yards came on one run.
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Asked why he had Ebner attempt two onside kicks and Gostkowski one, Belichick said simply, “Because we thought that was the best thing to do”. Instead of running a no-huddle offense, the Patriots were conservative and were forced to punt. – Tyrod Taylor threw a 40-yard touchdown pass to Charles Clay with 1:53 left to lead Buffalo over Houston.
