The Result
The Philadelphia Eagles came in ready to play and itching to show America that they were better than 24 point underdogs even with out the All-Pro quarterback Donovan McNabb. And play they did as all night the defense blanketed Patriots wide receiver Randy Moss, put constant pressure up the middle against quarterback Tom Brady and forced him to look for targets other than Moss.
On offense they took what the Patriots gave them which was a lot of in cut routes and with back up quarterback AJ Feeley hitting those receivers in the middle of the field for many gains of 8-15 yards. It seemed like every time the Feeley needed to make a play he did. The Eagles offensive line was outstanding protecting him and allowing him to make play after play but in the end it just wasn’t enough as the Patriots were able to hold on for a 31-28 win.
No excuses the Eagles had a great game plan and nearly pulled it off as they gave the Patriots everything they could handle but New England was able to withstand it and comes away with their perfect record still in tact.
I’m sure the staff and the players are less than happy with themselves especially after a close game on their home field. Look for better execution on both sides of the ball next week and a return to better play.
Scoring Plays
| Philadelphia | 7 | 14 | 7 | 0 | 28 |
| New England | 14 | 10 | 0 | 7 | 31 |
1st Quarter
- NE Samuel 40 yard interception return – kick good – Patriots 7-0
- PHI Westbrook 1 yard run – kick good – Game tied 7-7
- NE Evans 3 yard run – kick good – Patriots 14-7
2nd Quarter
- PHI Feeley 28 yard pass to Lewis – kick good – Game tied 14-14
- NE Gostkowski 23 yard FG – Patriots 17-14
- PHI Feeley 18 yard pass to Lewis – kick good – Eagles 21-17
- NE Brady 19 yard pass to Gaffney – kick good – Patriots 24-21
3rd Quarter
- PHI Feeley 8 yard pass to Brown – kick good – Eagles 28-24
4th Quarter
- NE Maroney 4 yard run – kick good – Patriots 31-28
Offensive Player of the Game
Patriots wide receiver Wes Welker had 13 catches for 149 yards.
Defensive Player(s) of the Game
Patriots cornerback Asante Samuel had two INT’s one for a touchdown, 3 tackles and 1 pass defensed.
Eagles defense for the job they did covering Randy Moss and putting pressure on Tom Brady.
Turning Point(s) of the Game
The Patriots connect on several passes of 10+ yards during Laurence Maroney’s 4th quarter scoring drive including a 3rd and 9 and a 2nd and 10 both to Welker.
Asante Samuel’s second INT of the game in the end zone kills a go ahead scoring drive by Philadelphia with 3:52 left to play.
Offensive Leaders/Notes
In addition to Welker, Jabar Gaffney had 6 catches for 87 yards and a TD and Tom Brady was 34 of 54 for 380 yards and 1 TD.
QB Tom Brady got sacked by DL Juquai Thomas on 1st and 10 for a 7-yard loss.
On 3rd and 10 Brady goes 33 yards to Jabar Gaffney.
Brady on 2nd and 10 runs 12 yards to the PHI 19 for a 1st down.
On 1st down Brady throws 16 yards to Faulk for 1st and goal at the 3. On 1st and goal the Patriots bring in LB Mike Vrabel as a TE, LB Junior Seau as a fullback and RB Heath Evans as the halfback. After a time out by NE Evans scores on a run.
On 3rd and 3 Brady throws 9 yards to WR Randy Moss on Patriots second series.
Brady hit WR Donte Stallworth for 31 yards on a swing pass to the PHI 8 for 1st and goal. Brady sacked by Chris Gocong.
Pats get stopped at the PHI 6 and kick a FG.
Pats take a false start penalty on 3rd and 1 to get 3rd and 6 with just over 2 minutes left in half.
Pats get a seven-yard pick up to Welker on 3rd and 6.
Brady throws to TE Ben Watson for a 1st down on 3rd and 2.
Brady goes 19 yards to Gaffney for a TD. The TD was close to being out of bounds and there was no booth review.
Brady gets sacked on third down and Pats have to punt on the first drive of second half.
Brady runs for a 1st down in the 3rd quarter on a 3rd and 4.
Brady tried to go long but Moss dropped a pass of about 45 yards.
Brady converts on 3rd and 3 to Welker.
Laurence Maroney is finally getting a chance to run and has had a couple good runs on 1st downs.
Welker gets 42 yards on a 3rd and long swing pass to set up 1st and goal at the PHI 4. Some great down field blocking Stephen Neal.
Randy Moss had a TD taken away on offensive pass interference. It’s the third TD he has lost this season because of a pass interference penalty.
Patriots get stopped at the 14 after the penalty and take the FGA, which Gostkowski missed wide left.
Faulk drops a pass on 3rd and 3 and the Pats are forced to punt. The Eagles go offside on the punt attempt and give the Pats a first down.
Patriots open the 4th qtr by converting a 3rd and 6 Brady to Welker.
Patriots fail to convert on 3rd down as the pass was incomplete to Watson on 3rd and 4. They go for it on 4th and 4 and the pass was short to Moss.
Patriots start to move the ball on the second drive of the fourth qtr with passes to Welker, Faulk and Stallworth for gains over 10 yards.
Brady converts on 3rd and 9 to Welker for 14 yards.
After overthrowing Moss in the end zone on 1st down from the PHI 14, Brady goes to Welker for 10 yards giving the Pats 1st and goal at the PHI 4. Maroney runs 4 yards for a TD on 2nd down.
On 3rd and 1, OL Matt Light gets a motion penalty to give them 3rd and 6 with 2:27 left. Patriots convert nearly 20 yards to Gaffney as Brady was blitzed.
Defensive Leaders/Notes
In addition to Samuel the defense was led by Rodney Harrison who had 7 tackles and Adalius Thomas who had 6.
CB Asante Samuel picks off Eagles QB AJ Feeley on the games third play and returns it 40 yards for a TD.
After initially stopping Brian Westbrook before the 1st down marker on 3rd and 1 he bounced off and got 6 yards during the Eagles 2nd drive.
Patriots give up 16 yards on a 3rd and 7 pass during the same drive.
LB Adalius Thomas stopped Westbrook shy of the first down on 3rd and 1 from the 15. Philly decides to go for it on 4th down. Feeley gets it on a sneak.
LB Rosevelt Colvin missed Westbrook at the PHI 24 and he was able to get 13 yards on a first down screen.
Patriots did not get enough pressure on Feeley he wasn’t sacked and he was hit only 2-3 times in the 1st Qtr. He threw for 98 1st Qtr yards.
Patriots snuffed out an attempted WR pass in the 2nd Qtr.
Feeley goes 28 yards to Greg Lewis for a TD as the Pats blitzed.
Colvin gets a sack after the onside kick when Feeley slipped.
Patriots stop the Eagles after the onside kick on a 3 and out.
On 3rd and 8 Feeley goes 27 yards to Lewis on a blitz.
On 2nd and 8 Feeley goes 18 yard to TE Matt Schobel on a blitz.
Feeley fumbles while throwing and recovers. Then next play follows it up with a 23-yard TD pass to Lewis while under a blitz.
Thomas and Colvin stuffed Westbrook on 3rd and 2 for a loss after Hobbs snuffed him out.
Feeley goes 19 yards to Curtis on 3rd and 10 late in the 3rd quarter.
Samuel breaks up a pass at the goal line late in the 3rd quarter to put Eagles in 3rd down and 4 on the NE 8. Next play, Feeley goes to WR Reggie Brown for an 8 yard TD.
Junior Seau whacks Westbrook on 3rd and 9 pass attempt and the ball falls to the turf forcing the Eagles to punt.
Samuel almost picked off his second pass with 6:25 left it would have been another TD return.
After moving the ball down the field pretty easily, Samuel finally gets his second INT of Feeley in the end zone with 3:52 left to play.
James Sanders intercepts Feeley with :11 seconds left to seal the game.
Special Teams Leaders/Notes
On the KO by Gostkowski after the Samuel TD the return team stopped JR Reed at the PHI 23.
KOR team allowed only an 18-yard return after the Evans TD.
The Eagles recover an onside kick after the Lewis TD to give them the ball at the PHI 48
Ellis Hobbs gets a 41-yard return after the 2nd Lewis TD.
Hobbs KOR to start the second half was brought back on a block in the back. Instead of the ball at the NE 45 they have it at the NE 21.
Excellent punt coverage by Kelly Washington to keep Reno Mahe to no gain in the 3rd qtr.
Poor punt in the final seconds but very good coverage to force a Westbrook fumble that Philly recovered.
Coaching Decisions
PHI – Andy Reid goes for it on 4th and 1 in the first quarter and Feeley gets the 1st down on a sneak
PHI – Andy Reid calls for an onside kick after the Lewis TD and Eagles recover.
NE – Bill Belichick tries for it on 4th and 4 at the PHI 33 early in the 4th quarter the pass fell short and the Eagles take over on downs.
Injuries
- NE – Rodney Harrison limped off field, return next series – 1st Qtr
- NE – Ellis Hobbs unknown injury, returned – 2nd Qtr
- PHI – JR Reed unknown injury, unknown return – 3rd Qtr
- NE – Rosevelt Colvin foot injury, will not return – 3rd Qtr
- NE – Randall Gay back injury, will not return – 3rd Qtr
- NE – Hobbs hit to the head walked off field, returned – 4th Qtr
The Officials
Gene Sterator was the referee.
Failed to get a booth review on the Gaffney TD as he possibly only had 1 foot in.
Awful call by the official on the Moss pass interference penalty costs the Patriots a TD.
According to NBC’s graphic the officials blew the Gostkowski FGA.
Game Notes
The Patriots clinched the AFC East when Buffalo lost today. It is the 5th year in a row that they won the division title.
The Eagles All-Pro QB Donovan McNabb missed the game with ankle and thumb injuries, S Quintin Mickell also was out.
The line from Yahoo! Sports at game time was listed as Patriots -24. This ties the largest line ever set for a NFL game. That was in 1976 when the Pittsburgh Steelers were -24 vs. the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in their first season of play. Note: Some sports books had the line at Patriots -24.5.
In the watch for the Patriots 2008 first round pick via San Francisco, the 49ers beat Arizona in OT when Kurt Warner fumbled in the end zone and former Patriot LB Tully Banta-Cain recovered it for a TD. That was the Niners 3rd win of the year. Stephen Gostkowski came into tonight with 75 KO’s and 14 touchbacks tied for 2nd in the NFL.
Asante Samuel became the 20th Patriot to score a TD this season.
The Patriots still have not allowed an opponent to score on their first drive of the game all season.
The Patriots scored on their first offensive possession for the 10th time in 11 games. They have also scored first in 10 of 11 games this year.
Patriots are 28/29 this season in red zone scoring opportunities. Gostkowski’s 32 yard miss in the 3rd quarter was the first time all season the Patriots had failed to convert a scoring chance in while in the red zone.
Tom Brady now has 39 TD passes for the season. This was the first game this season he failed to throw at least 3 TD passes.
Laurence Maroney finally saw the field in the 3rd quarter when they decided to run the ball.
Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling was at the game wearing a Patriots jersey. I always thought Curt was a Steelers fan.
This was only the second game this season in which the Patriots failed to cover the spread.
Asante Samuel now has 22 career INT’s in 5 seasons.
Post Game Press Conferences
Listen to what Patriots head coach Bill Belichick and quarterback Tom Brady had to say about today’s game.
Press conferences via patriots.com
Things To Work On For Next Week
Better pass coverage on in cut routes. Receivers need to hold onto the ball there were way too many drops much more than we’ve seen all year. Reduce the 3rd and long conversion attempts. As the head coach will say they need to leave less yardage on the field.
Next Week’s Opponent
Next Monday the Patriots visit the Baltimore Ravens at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore MD. Kickoff is at 8:30 p.m. and the game will seen by a national audience on ESPN and heard along the Patriots Rock Radio Network.
Don’t just squeak buy with your hotel reservation! If you are going to be in the city of brotherly love get the best Philadelphia hotel there is! Whether you are looking for discount hotels or you want the best in five star hotels there’s a great place for you to stay.
