Eagles rally from big deficit, still lose to Falcons 26-24

The Atlanta Falcons survived a scare from a fast-paced Philadelphia Eagles to secure a 26-24 victory at the Georgia Dome tonight. Parkey missed the potential go-ahead field goal from 44 yards, a distance Kelly described as in Parkey’s “wheelhouse”.

The Eagles had two interceptions in the Falcons game, so they will set out to shake up Tony Romo. That’s because the Cowboys visit the Eagles on Sunday.

All that having been said there were areas of Monday’s contest that, if projected over the course of a 16-game season, could spell nightmare for the Eagles. Not with the forward-thinking Kelly using his play sheet as a prop while shouting out wheel route after wheel route at a frantic pace in the up-tempo offense. “I can’t say enough about him as a competitor”.

“Unfortunately, we didn’t come out and play Vikings football offensively or defensively”, Peterson said. The offense is perfect for digging out of a hole.

SLOW START: The Eagles’ first four possessions ended with punts. He’s a good running back, but for now, the Oklahoma tandem at QB and RB doesn’t look good for the Eagles. Mathews, with a little push from left guard Allen Barbre, scored from the 1, giving the Eagles their first lead of the game, 24-23 with 8:37 left. But without him in the 2015 season opener, the Cowboys did not threaten the Giants on the ground with a modest 80 yards on 23 carries with no touchdowns. Let’s see… the Falcons rushed for over 100 yards five times last season. Overpaid? They totaled three touchdowns, two by Murray.

Jones, on the other hand, was unstoppable.

That spoiled the Eagles debut of quarterback Sam Bradford, who was acquired in an offseason trade with the Rams. Sensational in the second half.

The Eagles couldn’t get a break. That leads us to another issue which has to be fixed ASAP. Jordan Matthews should have caught a ball that was eventually intercepted on the final key play of the night. It should have been ruled a drop. The Eagles had a horrible first half, complemented by an okay second half that brought them to within a field goal of victory.

“I think the difference between the first half and the second half is that we were much more efficient on first down in the second half”, Bradford said.

The Eagles’ second series was a three-and-out with a twist; Murray lost 12 yards on a run. It was crazy.

The cornerback situation was a different story. The communication isn’t there in the secondary.

Another hot take: Byron Maxwell is terrible.

Julio Jones gave everyone their money’s worth, including team owner Arthur Blank. He has to learn from it. It appeared that Freeman had a few steps on Connor Barwin, who dove and somehow the ball hit his helmet.

This isn’t new. Near the end of the season last year, Jenkins put himself into position to make game-changing plays, but was unable to convert.

For all its struggles to contain Julio Jones, the defense got the Eagles back into the game with an early second-half interception of Matt Ryan.

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The Eagles seemed to be in control of the NFC East for much of last season but folded down the stretch, while the Falcons, thanks to a weak NFC South, were in the playoff hunt until getting blown out by the Carolina Panthers in Week 17.

But it doesn’t have to stay that way.