Eagles cornerback calls Falcons a “front-runner”

Carson Wentz found Jordan Matthews on a corner route for a 20-yard reception, giving them a first down.

Mathews ran for 108 yards and two touchdowns, and Caleb Sturgis made a clutch field goal from 48 yards to seal the win late.

The hit left Matthews’ lip bloody, and a dent in his helmet, requiring him to get a new facemask and visor. And then the O-line is playing like that, it makes my job easy.

Then it was the Philadelphia offense’s turn to push the ball into the end zone, helped along by a 21-yard pass-interference penalty against Falcons cornerback Brian Poole, which put the ball on the Atlanta 5.

The Falcons’ run defense, which recently went 14-straight games without allowing a 100-yard rusher, has been a bright spot for most of 2016.

Four other drives, though, ended in Matt Bryant field-goal attempts. Of their 25 first downs, the Eagles picked up 12 of them on run plays – one more than the Falcons’ total first downs in the game. “We’re looking forward to that same opportunity next week”. On offense, the Eagles entered the game ranked as the 30th-best team in the National Football League on converting third downs, at just more than 32 percent. “I know they’re going to work hard on every play to try to open up holes”.

Rookie Wendell Smallwood had 70 yards rushing and Philadelphia finished with a season-high 207 on the ground.

“It was good to finally finish a game and we are going to build on that for sure”, Wentz said. Matthews was rocked by Flacons safety Keanu Neal with a hit that clearly should have been flagged. He had a busted lip and needed to replace his facemask because it was bent. A lot of it is by progression based on what they see.

“Pederson is going ballistic”, said announcer Kevin Burkhardt on the Fox broadcast as Pederson gave an earful to the closest ref. Ryan Matthews scored two rushing touchdowns for Philadelphia and Atlanta still played mediocre pass defense.

The suddenly successful rushing attack allowed the Eagles to control time of possession by a almost 2-to-1 margin, forcing the league’s top-scoring offense to be spectators for much of the day. Hopefully for the sake of Eagles fans, the defense that showed up on Sunday is the defense that shows up for the rest of the year.

Leading 10-9, the Eagles closed out the third quarter facing a third-and-goal from inside the 1. Punter Matt Bosher averaged 47.5 yards per punt but left in the fourth quarter with an injury.

Vic Beasley registered his second sack of the game.

Philadelphia’s Ryan Mathews rushed for 109 yards and two touchdowns, while Devonta Freeman had 49 yards for the Falcons. But that’s OK for the Eagles, who will have at least a hint of a swagger with the 5-4 record they carry into their game next week at Seattle. They had key injuries to tend to this week in Tevin Coleman and Jacob Tamme. Atlanta was held to less than 300 yards of offense and just two third-down conversions out of 11 heading into the two-minute warning. Wentz didn’t throw for a score, but he dominated the game. “They really took the challenge to heart and did a great job up front, and the tight ends blocked well”.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) – Justin Leon scored 17 points, KeVaughn Allen added 13 and Florida handled Mercer 76-54 on Sunday night. In the previous five games, including four losses, he had completed 64.1 percent of his passes with four touchdowns and five interceptions.

Leon was 6-of-10 shooting, including 3 of 5 from 3-point range, and had five rebounds. This made it tough for Atlanta to get rolling.

The Hawkeyes have won 39 of their last 40 non-conference home games.