Eagles happy to be back in the NFC East

The Eagles capitalized on the good field position for the first of five consecutive touchdowns – two on special teams, one on defense and two on offense – to build a shocking 35-14 lead. Patriots special teams captain Matthew Slater left with a stinger in the first half but returned after halftime….

Then, with a little more than a minute left and the Eagles in field-goal range, Kenjon Barner fumbled away the ball to give the Patriots one final chance., but New England gave up the ball on downs.

Speaking about the first interception, which was returned 99-yards for a touchdown, Brady called it a “dumb play” while trying to find Danny Amendola on third and five.

His cryptic non-answer came a day after the Patriots lost to the Philadelphia Eagles, the third straight game where the quarterback has taken some particularly hard hits from opposing defenses.

Almost everyone who pledges allegiance to the Patriots likely talked about a 16-0 regular season during their Thanksgiving dinner.

This Patriots squad knows how to fight back, but these next four games don’t mean much in a runaway division race.

But Patriots head coach Bill Belichick made a decision to get cute on the kickoff after the second touchdown.

“There were a lot of plays in the game that I’m sure all of us would like to have back – all of us that played, all of us that coached”, said Belichick. Cincinnati holds the No. 1 spot by virtue of its AFC record, Denver owns the tiebreaker over New England thanks to a head-to-head overtime win last Sunday. “I think that’s just what it comes down to”, Brady told reporters after the Eagles game. 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.

Curry had a hurry to go with a solo tackle as he played 66 snaps, the Eagles forcing Brady and the Patriots to play catch-up after rolling to a 35-14 lead.

“I think when you start thinking about those scenarios – I think it is so far beyond what we’re thinking about at this point”, Brady said Monday night on Westwood One Radio. And in only two of those did the second loss come at Gillette Stadium. The Eagles have had moments this year when they’ve looked good. Are you going to beat them down every single time?

Then it seemed like the Eagles would go into halftime down a touchdown when New England lined up to punt with 15 seconds left.

Eagles quarterback Sam Bradford returns after missing two games with a shoulder injury. What our players need to be thinking about is the things we need to do as individuals to help our team win this game.

Another glaring problem with the team that was overly noticeable on Sunday was the special teams play, which is normally outstanding from the Patriots. Murray had just eight carries for 24 yards.

“Everything that people said we can’t do – we’ve done before”, safety Jenkins said. So when we’re up, they are throwing the ball more.

Newton, who completed 28-of-41 passes for 331 yards, drove the Panthers 75 yards in 11 plays for the game-winning score. Two drives later, the Patriots were working their way into Eagles territory once again when a poor throw by Brady on a deep ball led to another costly pick.