It was a tale of two halves for the Philadelphia Eagles as they started strong before sinking in their 20-19 loss to the Miami Dolphins.
The early parts of the contest saw the Eagles completely dominate the Dolphins on both sides of the ball. Although Miami had good ball movement on their opening drive, the struggles in the endzone, and the Eagles held them to a field goal.
Once quarterback Sam Bradford and the Eagles offense took the field, it was off to the races. The first play was a 60-yard strike from Bradford to tight end Brent Celek. After getting running backs Ryan Mathews and DeMarco Murray involved, Bradford scrambled and hit wide receiver Josh Huff for a two-yard touchdown.
Miami’s next drive proved to be disastrous. Kick returner Damien Williams bobbled the kick in the endzone and tried to take it out before going down on his own one-yard line. The Eagles took advantage of the poor position as safety Walt Thurmond sacked quarterback Ryan Tannehill in the endzone for the safety.
The Eagles offense again showed great ball movement, this time highlighted by a 20-yard reception by Celek. The Eagles got down to the one before Mathews punched it in for the touchdown.
It was Bradford to Celek part three on the next drive with a 40-yard strike. The Eagles would not get any points out of the drive as kicker Caleb Sturgis missed a 32-yard field goal attempt.
Following the missed field goal, it was all Miami for the remainder of the half. Their comeback trail started with a 22-yard Andrew Franks field goal.
Then, the next Eagles drive ended in a blocked Donnie Jones punt, which Miami would capitalize off of with a 13-yard touchdown pass from Tannehill to running back Lamar Miller.
Dysfunction for the Eagles continued as Derrick Shelby knocked the ball out of Bradford’s hands. Olivier Vernon would initially recover but lose it before getting complete possession, giving Bradford the opportunity to get the recovery. The Eagles would ride the narrow lead into halftime.
The second half started with fairly neutral back and forth between the two teams before things went downhill for the Eagles. Bradford was shaken up on a sack and fumble and would not return, queuing quarterback Mark Sanchez to takeover.
Sanchez would see some solid play early, completing his first pass for a 17 yard gain.
In addition to the loss of Bradford, Mathews also left the game after being diagnosed with a concussion.
Tannehill and the Dolphins would take the lead after a 43-yard completion to Rishard Matthews set up a deflected pass that would land in the hands of receiver Jarvis Landry for the touchdown.
A Sturgis 37-yard field goal would put the Eagles within one, but a late interception in the endzone by Sanchez would squander the Eagles hopes of getting the win.
The Eagles now move to 4-5, and will host the Tampa Bay Buccaneers next Sunday at 1 p.m.
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