Birds fortunate to earn a win in familiar fashion
PHILADELPHIA » It was ugly, awkward and at times, pathetic. Yeah, an NFL opener.
But the ending was familiar. And once again the Eagles found a way to beat the Atlanta Falcons on the last and biggest play, Ronald Darby bodying Julio Jones off the field with no time remaining to nail down an 18-12 victory to open the 2018 season Thursday night at Lincoln Financial Field.
Almost as amazing as the ending, one in which Jones hauled in Matt Ryan’s pass, though clearly out of bounds, is that the Eagles milked a win out of Nick Foles on a night he’d like to have back. And Doug Pederson again had to pull out all the stops.
The Eagles were sputtering offensively in the third quarter. They’d been dinking and dunking all evening until Pederson called the Philly Special. Well, not PhillyPhilly, but a hybrid.
On third-and-5 at the 41-yard line of the Falcons, Foles got the ball to Corey Clement, who pitched to Nelson Agholor on what looked like a reverse. Agholor lobbed a pass to Foles around the right edge for a 15yard gain, the Eagles’ longest play of the game at that point.
The Linc erupted. Five plays later, including an 18-yard reception by Zach Ertz, Jay Ajayi ran through linebacker Duke Riley, trying to fill a gap, for a one-yard score. The Eagles’ first TD of the season gave them a 10-6 lead with
4:37 left in the third quarter. The Eagles seemed to be in control until safety Tre Sullivan, making his regular-season debut, got caught in a pile of Falcons downing a punt and touched the ball. The Falcons gained possession at the 32 of Philly.
The Falcons had third-and-3 at the 15 early in the fourth quarter. Ryan is deadly on those downs. But he underthrew Jones, and Rasul Douglas cut it off at the fouryard line for his third career interception.
Later in the frame, Foles connected with Dallas Goedert for what would have been a sizable gain. But safety Damontae Kazee put a thump on the rookie tight end that popped the ball loose, and Deion Jones hauled it in and returned it 20 yards to the 27 of the Eagles.
Tevin Coleman cut back and got into the end zone from nine yards out to give the Falcons the lead with 9:48 remaining.
The Eagles caught a break when 43-year-old Matt Bryant hit the right upright with the PAT. That kept the Eagles within 12-10. It was just the sixth miss for Bryant in 16 seasons and counting.
It was the 25th penalty of the game, a facemask on Eagles punt returner Darren Sproles, that positioned the Eagles for the win.
Clement’s 21-yard run on thirdand-two set up Ajayi for his second TD, an 11-yard run with 2:19 left. Ajayi scored on the two-point conversion to give the Eagles an
18-12 lead.
The first half was a mess, unless you’re a fan of watching referee John Hussey and his crew call penalties. Sixteen flags were accepted, and they added up to
134 yards and five first downs, four of the latter in favor of the Eagles.
Incredibly there were no turnovers although Foles dropped a shotgun snap that led to a sack.
Kamu Grugier-Hill, the special teams ace and emergency kicker, made the play of the first half for the Eagles with the Falcons knocking on the door. On fourth-and-goal at the one, Hill rocketed through a pile of blockers and threw Devonte Freeman for a one-yard loss that rocked the Linc.
If you’re keeping count, that was Eagles 2, Ryan and the Falcons 0 in their last two meetings on fourth-and-goal at the Linc. There was one yet to come.
But the first half underscored the ineptitude of the Eagles’ offense. They were held to zero yards in the first quarter, the first time they’ve been blanked in the frame in four years.
In eight plays, Foles was sacked twice for 13 yards of losses. He dropped a perfectly good shotgun snap from Jason Kelce.
Foles wasn’t the only Eagle who was rusty. The defense, for all the plays they made, extended a Falcons scoring drive with an offside penalty by Derek Barnett that wiped out a sack by Chris Long. His roughing the passer penalty got the Falcons close for their second field goal.
Another Barnett offside penalty negated what would have been a drive-killing sack of Ryan by Fletcher Cox.
Pederson had his own struggles. He threw the red challenge flag almost 40 yards into the field to challenge Austin Hooper’s three-yard catch. The play was close, but Hooper appeared to surround the ball with his hands. Pederson lost, which doesn’t happen often with his challenges.
When the first half was all said and done, the Eagles had 68 net yards and 66 penalty yards. Not something a Super Bowl champ wants to put at the top of its resume.
But there were good times as well.
Rookie Avonte Maddox, after a silly offside penalty, caught a towering 59-yard Cameron Johnston punt at the 11-yard of the Falcons late in the first half.
And on the last play of the game, after Jordan Hicks was flagged for a penalty giving the Falcons one more down, Darby came up big.