Alone in 1st place after eerie, unlikely road win

Doug Pederson hasn’t lost his nerve or his ability to call and coach his way through an excellent game. Carson Wentz isn’t a horrible quarterback, even though he played one on TV for three-plus weeks. Travis Fulgham is no longer some obscure practice-squad wide receiver.

In jumping from the ranks of the winless to all alone atop the NFC East standings Sunday night, the Philadelphia Eagles proved all of the above and then some.

So many things lined up for them on national TV at Levi’s Stadium in northern California, where they scored a Week 4, 25-20 win over the defending-NFC champion San Francisco 49ers, that you could have sworn they were not on the West Coast at all, but rather back in Green Bay.

That’s where the Eagles, ravaged by injuries, accomplished the improbable in Week 4 a year ago, beating a bona fide Super Bowl contender on a short week on the road following inexplicable losses to Atlanta and Detroit.

Some guy named Craig James was the big defensive hero that night, breaking up a pass that was picked off by teammate Nigel Bradham in the end zone to preserve a 34-27 victory.

Some guy named Alex Singleton was the big defensive hero on this night, intercepting a Nick Mullens pass and returning it 30 yards for a touchdown with 5:50 remaining to put his team up by 11 points.

That came exactly seven seconds after this Fulgham guy pulled in a 42-yard, over-the-shoulder catch from Wentz and made an incredibly acrobatic move to avoid stepping out of bounds right before tumbling into the end zone for a go-ahead touchdown.

This dizzying series of events served as another reminder that anything is possible in the NFL and that the Eagles should consider renaming themselves the Cockroaches because they just can’t be killed.

Depleted by massive injuries and winless coming in, the Eagles were

further staggered by injuries that knocked linebacker T.J. Edwards and safety Rudy Ford out of the game for good, and threatened to do the same to cornerback Darius Slay and tackle Lane Johnson before both came back to play at considerably less than 100%.

With major help from a defense that had zero takeaways through the first three weeks but three in this game, the Eagles were able to score a season-high 25 points.

With even more help from a bunch of division rivals who are no good, they also sit in first place in the NFC East with a 1-2-1 record.

This Eagles team already was playing without All-Pro right guard Brandon Brooks, 17-year veteran left tackle Jason Peters, left guard Isaac Seumalo, wide receivers DeSean Jackson,

Jalen Reagor, Alshon Jeffery,

J.J. Arcega-Whiteside and Quez Watkins and cornerback Avonte Maddox before losing Edwards and Ford.

But, as safety Rodney Mcleod loudly reminded them in an emotional pregame rally, “we all we got, we all we need.”

And it was enough on this night.

So was one practice rep.

One.

That’s how many times Wentz attempted to hit Fulgham — who didn’t join the team until right before the season started and didn’t play his first snap until starting against the 49ers — with that same TD pass in practice last week.

That didn’t prevent Wentz from having the confidence in a teammate he basically just met to make the biggest play of the season on second-and-18, following a 12-yard loss and a penalty that pushed them out of field-goal range.

“When we broke the huddle, Carson said, ‘Get ready,’”

Fulgham said. “So I knew there was a good shot he was going to throw the ball at me. So came off the line, kind of beat the corner.

“At first, I actually lost the ball [launched well before Fulgham turned his head], but since Carson gave me a great throw, I was able to locate it and it was right in the breadbasket.”

Fulgham was only up with the varsity because of so many injuries to the wide receivers.

The same for Singleton, who was always around the ball in training camp but remained limited to special teams until Edwards was injured.

“It’s been a long time to obviously get to the point where I got any defensive snaps,” the journeyman said. “First time in the league was six years ago. So to be able to finally have that come and being able to make a play for this team is what you do it for. As much as I do it for myself, I’m happy this team won.

“Because if we don’t win at the end, you’re sick to your stomach whether you scored or not.”

And speaking of the end, which featured the Eagles having to defend only against a touchdown, it likely would have been much different had Pederson not called a successful two-point conversion after their first touchdown.

That led to the Niners having to go for two after they scored their final TD in the fourth quarter to cut the Eagles’ lead to five points. They failed.

And the Eagles succeeded at a most unlikely time and unlikely way, their winning culture having carried them again.

“These guys don’t quit,” Pederson said. “Man, it’s a resilient group. It doesn’t matter what the adversity is, what they’re faced with, these guys seem to rally around each other.”