Big day for little guy
The smallest player on the MetLife Stadium turf Sunday made the biggest contribution — and helped save the Eagles’ season in the process.
With previously winless Philadelphia clinging to a 30 lead and already looking sluggish on offense for the third straight week, Darren Sproles came to the Birds’ rescue with an 89yard punt return for a touchdown that jumpstarted them to a 2417 win over the Jets.
It was the secondlongest punt return for a score in franchise history, and couldn’t have come at a better time for a coach and a team staring into the abyss of a seasoncrushing 03 start.
“It was big,” the 5foot6 Sproles said of the Eagles’ first victory of 2015. “It was really big. We needed that win to get us going.”
Sproles helped make it happen with a pair of TDs in the second quarter (the other was a 1yard run in with 2:11 left) that propelled Philly to a 247 halftime lead and ended up providing the difference.
The true jolt from Sproles was the punt return, though. Fielding Ryan Quigley’s low kick along the Jets sideline, Sproles cut inside then darted back outside while breaking at least three tackle attempts on his way to the end zone to put the Eagles up 100 with 12:21 left before halftime.
It was the sixth punt return for a score in Sproles’ 10year NFL career (he also has two kickoff returns for scores). He also joined Gale Sayers as the only two players in league history to notch a punt return TD and a rushing TD in the same game.
“It was kind of like a line drive, and my punt return team did a great job of getting me open,” Sproles said. “To tell you the truth, I don’t know what I did. All I know is that I ended up in the end zone.”
Sproles said the coast was clear for his first punt return for a score since Week 10 last season against the Panthers when he saw Quigley was the Jets’ last line of defense on the play.
“When I got up on the [punter] — that’s when I knew,” Sproles said. “And it was good, too, because it gave us a spark at the time, and when we really needed it.”
They certainly did Sunday.