It seemed only fitting that the Philadelphia Eagles' crazy regular season ended the way it did - with a 24-22 road win against the Dallas Cowboys to win the NFC East and head to the playoffs to face the 11-5 New Orleans Saints at home.
While the Cowboys were severely hampered by injuries entering the game, one has to give credit to back-up quarterback Kyle Orton and the much criticized Cowboys defense for playing pretty well in a losing effort last night. Orton threw for 358 yards and two touchdowns, while the Cowboys defense limited the Eagles to 366 total yards of offense.
Overall, the Eagles offense was mediocre and inconsistent throughout the game. While they looked explosive at times, they looked almost lost at others. Numbers wise, Nick Foles had another very efficient outing. He completed 17 of 26 pass attempts for 263 yards (10.1 per), and two touchdowns, for a rating of 124.4. He did lose a fumble deep in Eagles territory, which led to a Cowboys field goal. While Foles' numbers looked very solid, I finally noticed a flaw in his game. NBC announce Chris Collinsworth pointed this out numerous times throughout the game. When plays don't develop to Foles' liking, he has a tendency of holding onto the football too long, which either results in a sack or him throwing it into neverneverland, which results in an intentional grounding call. Last night, Foles got sacked 5 times for a loss of 34 yards. He also got called for intentional grounding on one occasion, and could have been called for it two other times quite possibly. Foles is going to need to learn when to go outside the tackle box and throw the ball out of bound to avoid sacks and penalties. LeSean McCoy had another monster game for the Eagles, and wound up breaking the team's single-season rushing and total offense records during the game. He ran the ball 27 times for 131 yards (4.9 per) and caught one pass for 3 yards and a touchdown. Brent Celek led the receiving corps with 3 catches for 71 yards (23.7 per) and a touchdown.
Defensively, the Eagles played the way they've been playing for most of the second half of the season. They were able to limit their opponent in the running game, gave up several big plays in the passing game, but were able to limit the opposition when they got inside the red zone. They were also opportunistic as far as turnovers were concerned, causing one fumble and picking Orton off twice.
The special teams units were fairly average for the Eagles. There weren't any huge returns by either team. Alex Henery made his only field goal attempt from 47 yards. Donnie Jones punted the ball five times for an average of 47.4 yards per kick and pinned Dallas inside their 20-yard line on one occasion.
Now the Eagles will take on the 11-5 New Orleans Saints next Saturday night at home. While the Saints have been nearly unbeatable at home this year, they've struggled some on the road. Also, while the Eagles hadn't won a game at home for quite some time, they've been quite hot there over the past couple months of the season. Both teams' defenses have improved from last season (and earlier this season), but are most known for their explosive offenses. In other words, it should be a very entertaining game, and no matter how it ends, Philly fans have to be thrilled with Chip Kelly's first season and be excited for the team's future.
http://scores.espn.go.com/nfl/boxscore?gameId=331229006
While the Cowboys were severely hampered by injuries entering the game, one has to give credit to back-up quarterback Kyle Orton and the much criticized Cowboys defense for playing pretty well in a losing effort last night. Orton threw for 358 yards and two touchdowns, while the Cowboys defense limited the Eagles to 366 total yards of offense.
Overall, the Eagles offense was mediocre and inconsistent throughout the game. While they looked explosive at times, they looked almost lost at others. Numbers wise, Nick Foles had another very efficient outing. He completed 17 of 26 pass attempts for 263 yards (10.1 per), and two touchdowns, for a rating of 124.4. He did lose a fumble deep in Eagles territory, which led to a Cowboys field goal. While Foles' numbers looked very solid, I finally noticed a flaw in his game. NBC announce Chris Collinsworth pointed this out numerous times throughout the game. When plays don't develop to Foles' liking, he has a tendency of holding onto the football too long, which either results in a sack or him throwing it into neverneverland, which results in an intentional grounding call. Last night, Foles got sacked 5 times for a loss of 34 yards. He also got called for intentional grounding on one occasion, and could have been called for it two other times quite possibly. Foles is going to need to learn when to go outside the tackle box and throw the ball out of bound to avoid sacks and penalties. LeSean McCoy had another monster game for the Eagles, and wound up breaking the team's single-season rushing and total offense records during the game. He ran the ball 27 times for 131 yards (4.9 per) and caught one pass for 3 yards and a touchdown. Brent Celek led the receiving corps with 3 catches for 71 yards (23.7 per) and a touchdown.
Defensively, the Eagles played the way they've been playing for most of the second half of the season. They were able to limit their opponent in the running game, gave up several big plays in the passing game, but were able to limit the opposition when they got inside the red zone. They were also opportunistic as far as turnovers were concerned, causing one fumble and picking Orton off twice.
The special teams units were fairly average for the Eagles. There weren't any huge returns by either team. Alex Henery made his only field goal attempt from 47 yards. Donnie Jones punted the ball five times for an average of 47.4 yards per kick and pinned Dallas inside their 20-yard line on one occasion.
Now the Eagles will take on the 11-5 New Orleans Saints next Saturday night at home. While the Saints have been nearly unbeatable at home this year, they've struggled some on the road. Also, while the Eagles hadn't won a game at home for quite some time, they've been quite hot there over the past couple months of the season. Both teams' defenses have improved from last season (and earlier this season), but are most known for their explosive offenses. In other words, it should be a very entertaining game, and no matter how it ends, Philly fans have to be thrilled with Chip Kelly's first season and be excited for the team's future.
http://scores.espn.go.com/nfl/boxscore?gameId=331229006
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