Something to build upon—Eagles 21, Minnesota 10…

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It was a Keystone Kops comedy of errors in the opening quarter, with both sides stumbling and blundering their way through golden opportunities to take charge— but in the end, the Eagles established themselves through solid special teams play, tight coverage in the defensive backfield, and a blistering display of pressure from their defensive front seven.

The Eagles’ defense found their pressure points in a big way in their 21-10 win over the previously undefeated Minnesota Vikings on Sunday.

The Vikings defense had its moments early—at times reducing Carson Wentz to looking like the high school quarterback he was just a few years ago— but to Wentz’ credit, he huddled up with his coaches Doug Pederson and Frank Reich and his backup QB Chase Daniel on the sidelines, and came back into the game with a better plan.

As for the other team’s QB?— Tim McManus of ESPN.com almost felt sorry for Sam Bradford:

“Former Eagles quarterback Sam Bradford was treated harshly in his return to Lincoln Financial Field. Heavy boos rained down on him as he took the field for the first time. What followed probably hurt Bradford a lot worse, as the Eagles’ defense clobbered him for the next 60 minutes, taking advantage of a decimated offensive line. He was sacked six times and hit 11 times — three times by defensive end Brandon Graham — and put forth his worst performance of the season. Bradford, who did not commit a single turnover and led the league in completion percentage entering Sunday’s game, finished 24-of-41 with an interception and two lost fumbles.”

How the national audience will remember this game:  Josh Huff returned a kickoff 98 yards for a touchdown, Carson Wentz outplayed Sam Bradford and the Philadelphia Eagles beat Minnesota 21-10 on Sunday, handing the Vikings their first loss of the season.

Sounds simple— but it was in reality a dog fight.

The Eagles pressured and harassed their former quarterback all game, sacked him six times, and forced his first three turnovers this season. Wentz also struggled early, tossing two interceptions. But he recovered to lead the Eagles on a couple of scoring drives, including a 5-yard TD pass to Dorial Green-Beckham in the third quarter for an 18-3 lead.

After combining for only three turnovers in 10 games, the teams traded giveaways on five consecutive series in the first quarter and totaled eight turnovers. The Vikings started two straight drives inside the red zone, but squandered both chances.

Blair Walsh hit a 48-yard field goal to give the Vikings a 3-0 lead before Huff broke loose for his second career touchdown return. Huff sprinted up the right side, ran through Walsh’s attempted arm tackle at the 40, raced untouched to the end zone and capped it with a somersault. Wentz ran in from the 1 for the 2-point conversion to give the Eagles an 8-3 lead.

A huge goal-line stand by the Eagles led by DT Beau Allen and LB Jordan Hicks late in the game sealed the deal for the Birds.

FANTASY STATS:  Vikings: Bradford was 24-41, 224 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT. Matt Asiata had 55 yards rushing. Cordarrelle Patterson had seven catches for 67 yards and a TD.

Eagles: Wentz was 16-28, 138 yards, 1 TD, 2 INTs. Ryan Mathews had 56 yards rushing. Huff caught four passes for 39 yards.

MISSED OPPORTUNITIES: The Vikings had the ball at the Eagles 2 after Andrew Sendejo intercepted Wentz’s pass and returned it 16 yards. But Bradford tossed his first pick when Rodney McLeod caught a lofted pass in the end zone.

The Eagles gave it right back when Darren Sproles fumbled Wentz’s handoff. But on the first play from the Philadelphia 17, Connor Barwin stripped Bradford and Malcolm Jenkins recovered. Jenkins returned it 76 yards for a score, but he was ruled down by contact after a video review.

Wentz threw another interception on the next series, a diving play by Xavier Rhodes. But Minnesota’s offense didn’t do anything again.

Down 18-3, the Vikings couldn’t get a yard on third and fourth down from the Eagles 6 early in the fourth quarter.

GOING FOR IT: Doug Pederson took a point off the board after a roughing penalty on the Vikings against Caleb Sturgis and went for the 2-point conversion. Wentz ran it in up the middle on a draw.

Pederson went for fourth-and-2 from the Vikings 44 with 1:21 left in the first half. Wentz gained 6 yards on a keeper and the drive ended with Sturgis making a 35-yard field goal for an 11-3 lead.

INJURIES: Eagles: CB Ron Brooks was carted off the field after injuring his right ankle trying to make a tackle in the first quarter. Brooks was immediately ruled out and the injury appeared serious. … LT Jason Peters didn’t finish the game after injuring his biceps. … LB Kamu Grugier-Hill came out with a hamstring injury.

Vikings: Sendejo didn’t return after injuring his ankle in the first quarter.

Final:

1 2 3 4 T
MIN 0 3 0 7 10
PHI 0 11 7 3 21
SECOND QUARTER MIN PHI
FG
9:01
Blair Walsh 48 Yd Field Goal
12 plays, 50 yards, 4:57
3 0
TD
8:48
Josh Huff 98 Yd Kickoff Return (Carson Wentz Run for Two-Point Conversion)
0 plays, 0 yards, 0:13
3 8
FG
0:07
Caleb Sturgis 35 Yd Field Goal
10 plays, 35 yards, 2:35
3 11
THIRD QUARTER MIN PHI
TD
5:45
Dorial Green-Beckham 5 Yd pass from Carson Wentz (Caleb Sturgis Kick)
9 plays, 77 yards, 5:51
3 18
FOURTH QUARTER MIN PHI
FG
6:09
Caleb Sturgis 21 Yd Field Goal
9 plays, 47 yards, 5:32
3 21
TD
0:37
Cordarrelle Patterson 14 Yd pass from Sam Bradford (Blair Walsh Kick)
11 plays, 56 yards, 3:53
10 21
Matchup Something to build upon---Eagles 21, Minnesota 10... Something to build upon---Eagles 21, Minnesota 10...
1st Downs 18 15
Passing 1st downs 11 9
Rushing 1st downs 5 5
1st downs from penalties 2 1
3rd down efficiency 9-19 4-11
4th down efficiency 1-3 1-1
Total Plays 74 54
Total Yards 282 239
Total Drives 12 13
Yards per Play 3.8 4.4
Passing 189 138
Comp-Att 24-41 16-28
Yards per pass 4.0 4.9
Interceptions thrown 1 2
Sacks-Yards Lost 6-35 0-0
Rushing 93 101
Rushing Attempts 27 26
Yards per rush 3.4 3.9
Red Zone (Made-Att) 1-4 1-3
Penalties 7-56 7-53
Turnovers 4 4
Fumbles lost 3 2
Interceptions thrown 1 2
Defensive / Special Teams TDs 0 1
Possession 32:05 27:55
Something to build upon---Eagles 21, Minnesota 10...Philadelphia Passing
C/ATT YDS AVG TD INT SACKS RTG
Carson Wentz 16/28 138 4.9 1 2 0-0 52.4
TEAM 16/28 138 4.9 1 2 0-0 52.4
Something to build upon---Eagles 21, Minnesota 10...Philadelphia Rushing
CAR YDS AVG TD LONG
Ryan Mathews 14 56 4.0 0 20
Darren Sproles 3 26 8.7 0 17
Wendell Smallwood 4 13 3.3 0 4
Carson Wentz 5 6 1.2 0 6
TEAM 26 101 3.9 0 20
Something to build upon---Eagles 21, Minnesota 10...Philadelphia Receiving
REC YDS AVG TD LONG TGTS
Josh Huff 4 39 9.8 0 14 4
Ryan Mathews 1 27 27.0 0 27 1
Darren Sproles 2 23 11.5 0 19 3
Zach Ertz 1 14 14.0 0 14 3
Nelson Agholor 2 10 5.0 0 6 6
Jordan Matthews 3 10 3.3 0 10 4
Dorial Green-Beckham 2 8 4.0 1 5 4
Brent Celek 1 7 7.0 0 7 2
Trey Burton 0 0 0.0 0 0 1
TEAM 16 138 8.6 1 27 28
Something to build upon---Eagles 21, Minnesota 10...Philadelphia Defense
TACKLES MISC
TOT SOLO SACKS TFL PD QB HTS TD
Jordan Hicks 11 8 1 3 2 1 0
Rodney McLeod 7 7 1 0 1 0 0
Nigel Bradham 7 6 1 1 1 2 0
Nolan Carroll II 5 4 0 0 2 0 0
Malcolm Jenkins 4 4 0 0 0 0 0
Jalen Mills 4 4 0 0 1 0 0
Connor Barwin 4 3 1 0 0 0 0
Mychal Kendricks 3 3 0 0 0 2 0
Brandon Graham 3 2 1 0 0 5 0
Beau Allen 3 2 0 0 0 1 0
Leodis McKelvin 2 2 0 0 1 0 0
Fletcher Cox 2 2 0 1 0 1 0
Marcus Smith II 2 2 0 1 0 0 0
Jaylen Watkins 2 2 0 0 1 0 0
Nelson Agholor 2 2 0 0 0 0 0
Carson Wentz 2 1 0 0 0 0 0
Steven Means 1 1 1 0 0 0 0
Trey Burton 1 1 0 0 0 0 0
Destiny Vaeao 1 1 0 0 0 0 0
Allen Barbre 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
Josh Huff 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
TEAM 67 57 6 6 9 12 1
Something to build upon---Eagles 21, Minnesota 10...Philadelphia Kick Returns
NO YDS AVG LONG TD
Josh Huff 1 98 98.0 98 1
TEAM 1 98 98.0 98 1
Something to build upon---Eagles 21, Minnesota 10...Minnesota Passing
C/ATT YDS AVG TD INT SACKS RTG
Sam Bradford 24/41 224 5.5 1 1 6-35 71.6
TEAM 24/41 189 5.5 1 1 6-35 71.6
Something to build upon---Eagles 21, Minnesota 10...Minnesota Rushing
CAR YDS AVG TD LONG
Matt Asiata 12 55 4.6 0 29
Jerick McKinnon 11 43 3.9 0 9
Zach Line 2 2 1.0 0 2
Sam Bradford 1 -1 -1.0 0 -1
Ronnie Hillman 1 -6 -6.0 0 -6
TEAM 27 93 3.4 0 29
Something to build upon---Eagles 21, Minnesota 10...Minnesota Receiving
REC YDS AVG TD LONG TGTS
Cordarrelle Patterson 7 67 9.6 1 15 7
Kyle Rudolph 5 55 11.0 0 22 11
Adam Thielen 2 52 26.0 0 27 5
Matt Asiata 6 25 4.2 0 7 8
Stefon Diggs 2 18 9.0 0 14 5
Jerick McKinnon 1 5 5.0 0 5 1
Ronnie Hillman 1 2 2.0 0 2 1
Charles Johnson 0 0 0.0 0 0 1
TEAM 24 224 9.3 1 27 39
Something to build upon---Eagles 21, Minnesota 10...Minnesota Fumbles
FUM LOST REC
Alex Boone 0 0 1
Harrison Smith 0 0 1
Anthony Barr 0 0 1
Sam Bradford 4 2 1
Marcus Sherels 1 1 0
TEAM 5 3 4
Something to build upon---Eagles 21, Minnesota 10...Minnesota Interceptions
INT YDS TD
Andrew Sendejo 1 16 0
Xavier Rhodes 1 0 0
TEAM 2 16 0

2016 NFC East Standings

TEAM W L T PCT PF PA
Dallas 5 1 0 .833 159 107
Philadelphia 4 2 0 .667 156 88
Washington 4 3 0 .571 159 162
New York 4 3 0 .571 133 141

 

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