Matt Simms humbles the Eagles “2’s”….Jets 27, Birds 20…

Well, that was unpleasant if you're an Iggles phan…

Our 2's and 3's got handled…

Don't hit the panic button. Not yet. But here's the national Associated Press perspective:

"Geno Smith stayed on the sideline. So did Mark Sanchez. While the New York Jets' quarterback competition is far from settled, Matt Simms certainly showed he might deserve to stick around when the season starts."[This kid Simms has the best arm on the Jets' QB trio, by the way—- just my opinion—Lupes]

Simms, competing for the No. 3 job, led four scoring drives, and Kahlil Bell ran for 80 yards and two touchdowns as the Jets topped the Philadelphia Eagles 27-20 on Thursday night in the teams' preseason finale. Both Rex Ryan and the Eagles' Chip Kelly rested their starters, which meant Michael Vick also sat this one out on Philadelphia's sideline. Vick won the Eagles' competition last week, earning the job ahead of Nick Foles.

Geno Smith, the Jets' second-round draft pick and the team's possible Week 1 starter, was in uniform but only in case there was an emergency at quarterback.

Matt Simms, whose father Phil had plenty of big games against the Eagles in his days with the Giants, didn't need any help in this one. Simms finished 33 of 44 for 285 yards while playing almost the entire game; newly signed Graham Harrell took a knee to end it. Greg McElroy, whom Simms has been competing with, didn't play with an injured knee.

Antonio Allen appeared to seal it for the Jets (3-1) when he intercepted Matt Barkley and returned it 20 yards for a touchdown with 1:57 remaining in the game. But the Eagles (2-2) had one more chance after Zach Rogers dropped a fair catch of a punt with 45 seconds left. Matthew Tucker ran it in from 1 yard moments later to make it 27-20 with his second TD of the game for Philadelphia.

The ensuing onside kick attempt by the Eagles went out of bounds, sealing it for the Jets.

Foles was 6 of 17 for 63 yards in two quarters, before being replaced by Barkley to start the second half. Barkley was 13 of 27 for 134 yards and the interception.

After Barkley led a tying touchdown drive for the Eagles, Simms went to work — and the Jets stayed on the field a while. Bell capped a 19-play drive over 80 yards that ticked 10:19 off the clock with a 2-yard touchdown run, his second score of the game.

Simms was sacked seven times in the first half, and the first came 2:21 into the game when he was taken down by Brandon Graham in the end zone for a safety that gave the Eagles a 2-0 lead. The Jets got the ball back quickly, though, by forcing a turnover on second down when Ricky Sapp (NO-OOO!!!!) sacked Foles and forced a fumble that was recovered by Antonio Garay.

Simms then led a five-play scoring drive that included a defensive holding penalty and was capped by an 8-yard run by Bell, who took a direct snap in the wildcat formation.

Dan Carpenter, signed Tuesday to compete with incumbent Nick Folk, kicked a 45-yard field goal with 4:01 left in the opening quarter to make it 10-2. [Carpenter was released by the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday, four days after he was signed to compete with Jay Feely.]

Philadelphia took advantage of a fumble recovery by Colt Anderson late in the first half after Konrad Reuland lost the ball and put the Eagles deep in Jets territory. Alex Henery kicked a 38-yard field goal moments later to make it 10-5 with 2:34 left.

Simms was solid during the Jets' first possession of the second half, hitting Ryan Spadola for 29 yards, Michael Campbell for 41 and Chris Pantale for 7.  The drive stalled after that, though, and New York settled for a 28-yard field goal by Folk to increase the lead to 13-5.

Barkley led a 16-play, 80-yard scoring drive on the Eagles' second possession of the second half, capped by a 3-yard run by Tucker. The undrafted free agent out of TCU then took a hand-off up the middle for the 2-point conversion to tie it at 13 with 6:35 left in the third quarter.

Matt Simms… really?

From the Eagles' standpoint, Nick Foles really struggled… but Emmanuel Acho had a very nice game at LB for the Birds.

Playing behind an offensive line that struggled certainly didn't help Foles, however, as he didn't have a clean pocket to work with all night.

Foles finished the preseason 27-42 for 446 yards, zero touchdowns, one interception, one rushing TD,and two fumbles.

Things got off to a rough start for Foles vs. the Jets, with his first dropback of the night being a sign of things to come. He dropped back on the second play of the game only to have pressure in his face right away. It appeared that there was a mix-up on the offensive line, as Michael Bamiro and Danny Watkins double teamed a Jets defensive lineman— giving Jets' defender Ricky Sapp a free shot at Foles. Sapp, a former Eagle, was able to knock the ball loose- which the Jets recovered.

Things didn't get much better for Foles after that, as he was under pressure most of the night. Even when he was able to get the ball out, his receivers didn't do him any favors. Rookie tight end Zach Ertz dropped a Foles pass in the 2nd quarter, and Greg Salas dropped two in the first half. After a strong start in camp Ertz has had problems catching the ball recently. While his spot on the roster is probably locked up, Salas is very much on the roster bubble. He certainly didn't help his case on Friday against the Jets.

Foles did have one nice moment towards the end of the second quarter. On 3rd down, Foles got away from one defender, maneuvered around another, and hit Bryce Brown in stride for the first down. In many ways the play was Foles at his best. While he is not the athlete that Michael Vick is, he does have improved pocket presence. He also throws a nice ball on the run, which was also highlighted on the pass to Brown.

Foles will end his preseason with mixed results. At times he looked every bit a quarterback that could start in this league. He looked faster than he did last season and showed great command of an offense many thought he couldn't run.

Unfortunately for Foles, there were also plenty of bad moments. Foles turned it over three times in four games, a problem that was supposed to be exclusive to Vick. His interception against the Panthers highlighted his questionable arm strength, as he was unable to get the ball out of the endzone as he went down. His two fumbles in four games continued a trend he showed last season, when he fumbled the ball five times in seven games.

Emmanuel Acho entered the Eagles preseason finale against the New York Jets firmly on the roster bubble, but likely left it with a spot locked up after finishing with 11 tackles, a sack and a forced fumble.

"My goal was 15 but I didn't get there," Acho joked.

The second-year player out of Texas was able to take advantage of the increased playing time with starters DeMeco Ryans and Mychal Kendricks on the bench with the rest of the first team. Acho spent most of the night alternating with fellow backups Jake Knott and Casey Matthews. Knott also had a strong game, finishing with eight tackles and a forced fumble in the Eagles 27-20 loss to the Jets.

"Everyday I feel I have a lot to prove," Knott said. "That comes with being an undrafted free agent. Every single day I come in with that mentality."

Acho was the star of the three, however, as he was all over the field from the very start. The strong performance leaves the Eagles with a tough decision to make over the next two days as they have to cut the roster down from 75 players to 53.

"The coaches have gone a good job of helping me get better every single week," Acho said. "With more playing time, I should have increased production."

It is very possible that the Eagles could keep five inside linebackers on the roster, a move that would get them out of deciding whom to cut amongst Knott, Acho and Matthews. If they go with just four, however, deciding among the three is going to be tough.

On the surface Matthews would likely be the one to go, but his ties to Chip Kelly from his days at Oregon complicate things. He also has considerably more NFL experience than either Knott or Acho  [ think "special teams"- Lupes]. If either Kendricks or Ryans were to go down, the Eagles might feel more comfortable turning to an experienced player, as opposed to the untested Acho or Knott.

"Regardless of the decision the Eagles make, just know you did your best," Acho said on his mentality going into this weekend.

Interesting to note in this game the final push made by the Eagles youngest wide receiver candidates Maehl and Momah… Maehl had 8 catches for 61 yards on 9 targets… Momah had 3 catches for 42 yards with a long gain of 17 yards. Momah was targeted 7 times.  This is going to be a tough cut-down coming up. These two receivers did just enough to make the Eagles wonder if either would survive a waiver claim. My guess is Momah to the practice squad would hold up— but Maehl would get claimed by another team.