Bradford saves best for last
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. >> The Eagles defeated the New York Giants, 35-30, not themselves Sunday, to end the season on an upward trajectory.
The triumph cost them the 10th pick in the draft. They have No. 13.
But instead of the dreaded road trip to London next year, the fate of the vanquished Giants, the Eagles get the Seahawks in Seattle.
“Yeah, that was on our minds,” offensive tackle Lane Johnson said, echoing the anti-London sentiment of teammates. “That’s something I didn’t want to have to deal with.”
The Eagles (7-9) will have no shortage of issues stateside in the coming months. Owner Jeffrey Lurie is conducting a search for the successor to Chip Kelly, fired Tuesday with two years left on his five-year pact.
Interim head coach Pat Shurmur, who almost evened out the time of possession by slowing down the up-tempo offense Sunday, is among the head coaching candidates. Just say the owner didn’t have to walk into the locker room and deliver a pep talk as he did in New England.
“Pat told us we’ve got 60 more minutes to go as a team,” defensive end Cedric Thornton, one of several pending free agents said. “He told us this group of guys in this room is going to look different next year. It will be our last time playing together. And guys, you know, took heed to that. It was a very emotional game. I’m glad we came out with a win. “Good job by Pat.” Eagles quarterback Sam Bradford threw for 320 yards and two touchdowns, both to Jordan Matthews. Zach Ertz hauled in nine passes for a career-high 152 yards in front of plenty of empty seats at MetLife Stadium.
It was quiet enough the Eagles looked proficient using the silent count.
Bradford completed 30 of 38 attempts. There were at least three drops, one on a deep ball to Matthews, who had a lot of open field ahead. He finished three yards short of 1,000 receiving yards.
Matthews felt better about getting into the end zone to help his team win rather than the individual standard.
“If I’ve got 1,000 yards, what does that do for me, what does that do for anybody?” Matthews said. “That’s not a big deal. But when we play winning football, that’s when you want to go out there and be that No. 1 guy that puts out 1,200, 1,300 or 1,400. And that’s what I’m committed to doing.”
The Eagles essentially put the game away on Matthews’ 3-yard scoring catch with 9:19 remaining. The march consumed 13 plays, 91 yards and more importantly, 6-minutes, 12-seconds of rest for the defense.
“Sam has been sharp all week in practice and he had himself a day today,” right tackle Lane Johnson said. “We slowed things down a little bit and I think we just executed the offense the best we did all year. Everything was a lot smoother than what it normally was. I just think the communication was good. We ran the silent cadence and everything was just a lot smoother today.”
The touchdown, Matthews’ eighth on the year, gave the Eagles a 35-27 lead.
There was a scary moment on the series as Nelson Agholor, on a 16-yard reception, and Giants defender Trumaine McBride collided helmet-to-helmet, at the three-yard line. Both were evaluated for concussions. Eagles tight end Brent Celek also left with a suspected concussion.
Josh Brown’s 48-yard field goal, his third of the game, pulled the Giants within 3530 with 4:30 to go.
The Eagles had an opportunity to knock the breath out of the Giants on the next series, but Bradford aired a deep throw just off the hand of Riley Cooper, who was single-covered, on third-andeight. Cooper turned late and the ball fell incomplete.
The Eagles punted and Eli Manning, inside of two minutes, got a couple of first downs before linebacker Mychal Kendricks broke up a pass on fourth down, allowing Shurmur to hug it out with players.
Giants head coach Tom Coughlin, whose future is in doubt, might have ended his NFL coaching career the way he began it in Jacksonville … with a loss.
DeMarco Murray ran 54 yards for a touchdown on the fifth play for the Eagles. He finished with 12 carries for 69 rushing yards.
The Eagles, backed to their three-yard line, forced the Giants into kicking a field goal cutting the deficit to 7-3 in the first quarter.
When Bradford found Ertz running free over the middle, the 60-yard connection set up a 6-yard TD run by Darren Sproles giving the Eagles a 14-3 bulge.
With the Giants threatening again, Marcus Smith barreled over the pass protection to sack Manning at the 12-yard line. Yes, Marcus Smith, the 2014 firstround pick among the symbols of underachievement in the Kelly era.
“I’m happy we won, I’m happy we ended on a good note and I’m happy Marcus got a sack,” linebacker Brandon Graham said. “Boy, that boy got a sack today. I’m happy about that. He just keeps on going up. I told him to get his mind right for next year. He’s got a clean slate. So let’s go.”
The Giants kicked another field goal to pull within 14-6.
The Giants cut the deficit to 14-13 on Willie Tye’s 9-yard catch-and-run. Tye faked Kendricks out of the play at the 4 and walked in. Jonathan Casillas’ interception of a ball tipped by Jason Pierre-Paul gave the Giants the ball at the Eagles’ 35.
Ertz set up the next Eagles score with a 19-yard catch. Two plays later Bradford lobbed to Matthews from 4 yards out for a 21-13 Eagles lead with 4:38 left in the half. It was Matthews’ seventh TD. The spike off the wall in the end zone hit a photographer.
Rashad Jennings rushed for 116 of his 170 yards in the first half, including a two-yard scoring run with 13 ticks left to draw the Giants within 21-20 at the intermission.
The Giants got their first lead when Rueben Randle beat Walt Thurmond for a 45-yard scoring reception with 9:11 left in the third quarter.
Murray’s fumble at the 45yard line of Philly set it up.
It looked like the Giants would add to their 27-21 advantage along with the record book, Manning moving ahead of Fran Tarkenton and into 10th on the all-time list for pass attempts. Additionally Odell Beckham Jr. passed Randy Moss for most receiving yards in the first two NFL seasons. But Connor Barwin got a piece of Manning’s hand and Thurmond, who played for the Giants last year, outfought Shane Vereen for the jump ball. Thurmond rolled 83 yards with was ruled a fumble to give the Eagles a 28-27 lead with 3:34 left third quarter.
The Eagles surrendered 502 yards, the seventh straight game they’ve given up at least 400.
But the Eagles got 435 yards of their own. And this week they were just fourminutes down in the time of possession department.
“I learned some things about myself today that, you know, would make me a better employee tomorrow,” Shurmur said. “It’s fun to win and see a bunch of guys fight to do it. This was not going to be easy.”