Eagles shock Patriots with 35-28 win

The Eagles needed all of it to hold off the New England Patriots 35-28 on Sunday. It’s still an unimpressive record, but after the New York Giants lost on Sunday, the Eagles are only a half-game behind the Washington Redskins for a first-place tie in the division.

Strange? Eagles linebacker Najee Goode scored on a 24-yard return of the first New England punt block in 97 tries. They had more first downs but were outgained, 161-157, in total yards from scrimmage in the first half.

ABOUT THE EAGLES (4-7): While the absence of Bradford may partially explain the three-game skid, Philadelphia’s defense has been shredded for 45 points in each of the last two games by a pair of offenses that rank among the bottom half in the league.

“It takes those things to win in this stadium”, Kelly said, “against that coach and that quarterback”.

After falling behind 14-0, Philadelphia scored five touchdowns in a row – two on special teams, one on defense and two on offense. The fumble was recovered by Malcom Brown and set up a potential game-tying drive for New England.

“Sort of had a chance there at the end”. “On the interception, it was just a dumb play”.

“We’d love to have everybody healthy”.

“I was just playing my technique the whole game”, Rowe said, “so nothing really changed for me”.

“Chip really doesn’t coach the defense”, Jenkins said. “I’m not sure anybody outside that locker room gave us a chance to come in here and win (Sunday) but we believed in ourselves, we knew we had a great week of preparation”.

Tom Brady finished 29 of 56 for 312 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions in the game.

Going forward it will be interesting to see how the Eagles handle Murray.

The Eagles foiled the Pats’ next onside kick attempt, then Sam Bradford came up in the clutch, particularly on a third-and-11 conversion after the Patriots had burned their timeouts, to finish a yeoman’s day behind center.

The win was the second for the Eagles in Foxborough, their first since 1987. They jumped out to a 14-0 lead in the second quarter.

Remember when people said Bradford looked like a Deer in headlights? Eagles Pro Bowl punt returner Darren Sproles returned a punt for a touchdown and the blockers should be given a lot of credit because he only made one or two tacklers miss and one of them was the punter. Kenyon Barner led in rushing with 30 yards. James White took a direct snap and handed the ball off to Danny Amendola who completed a pass to Tom Brady for a 36 yard gain. The seqeuence went for naught as Brady threw an interception on the next play to Byron Maxwell in the end zone. On a third and 2 from the 10-yard line, Bradford rolled out and found Jordan Matthews crossing the middle for the 35-14 lead.

Brady made it a 14-point game on a 14-yard pass to Scott Chandler, then the Patriots recovered an onside kick. Brady’s fourth scoring pass cut the gap to 35-28 with three minutes left.

Brady was intercepted twice, sacked four times – with Brandon Graham and Connor Barwin getting two each – and hurried an incredible 13 times. He also registered his 71st 300-yard game, third all time. His second scoring pass gave him 30 for the year, his sixth 30-TD season, fourth all time.

Defensive end Fletcher Cox went off with a concussion with 40 seconds left in the second quarter. Brady was 40-8 after a loss in his career.