After suffering just their second loss of the season against the Arizona Cardinals, the Philadelphia Eagles bounced back and re-took the NFC East lead with a 31-21 victory over the Houston Texans.
The Eagles offense got off to a not-so-hot start as they went three-and-out on their first possession. However, the Birds got back into the swing of things on their next drive that was capped off by a 59-yard touchdown pass from Nick Foles to Jeremy Maclin. Maclin, who had a monster game last week in Arizona, proved to be just as effective all throughout the game again today.
Foles on the other hand continued his up-and-down spiral early in the game. After the huge touchdown completion, Foles threw his 10th interception of the year to the Texans’ A.J. Bouye. Bouye took the pick 51 yards to the endzone, tying the game at seven.
Foles’s struggles continued as a sack forced him to leave the game with a shoulder injury that has been bothering him for weeks. Foles finished his time in the game 10/13 with 123 yards, a touchdown, and an interception.
As a result of the Foles injury, quarterback Mark Sanchez entered the game and immediately got into the swing of things with a 52-yard completion to Maclin. Later on the possession, he threw a perfectly placed ball to Jordan Matthews for an 11-yard touchdown.
The Texans later forced themselves back into the game, first with an interception which came off the fingertips of Josh Huff. Houston capitalized with a 56-yard touchdown from Ryan Fitzpatrick to Arian Foster.
The Eagles re-took the lead at the end of the back-and-forth half with a 45-yard field goal completion by Cody Parkey.
Although Sanchez did not see much of a struggle in the pass game, Chip Kelly began drawing up a ton of run plays to keep the momentum going for the Eagles offense. On a third quarter drive, two long runs for a total of 40 yards by LeSean McCoy set up an eventual eight-yard touchdown run by running back Chris Polk.
The turnover game seemed to dominate the late third quarter and early fourth quarter minutes beginning with Jumal Rolle’s second pick from Sanchez on the day. Then on a Texans possession, Demeco Ryans came up with a potentially huge interception, but instantly fumbled giving the ball right back to Houston in the redzone. The turnover led to a seven yard touchdown pass from Fitzpatrick to DeAndre Hopkins.
On their longest possession of the game, the Eagles extended their lead late in the fourth quarter with a eight-yard touchdown pass from Sanchez to Maclin. The touchdown was Maclin’s second of the day. The Eagles held on to seal the victory and improve to 6-2.
Next week, the Eagles return to primetime as they take on the struggling Carolina Panthers on Monday Night Football from Lincoln Financial Field.
[Photo: Philadelphia Eagles Official Facebook Page]
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