Julian Edelman threw a touchdown pass to Phillip Dorsett early in the third quarter Sunday evening to lead the New England Patriots past the Philadelphia Eagles 17-10 at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Philadelphia (5-5) scored the first 10 points of the game including a field goal to open the game on the first possession. A 49 yard pass interference call on Jason McCourty led to a Jake Elliott 42 yard kick to make it 3-0. New England only managed a pair of first downs on their first two possessions but couldn’t sustain a drive. The Eagles then went 16 plays covering 90 yards and Wentz found tight end Dallas Goedart over the middle for a 5 yard touchdown to make it 10-0. Jonathan Jones looked as if he had wrestled the ball away from Goedart for an interception in the endzone, but after review it was confirmed that he broke the plane and had control before the strip by Jones.
A 13 play drive by New England (9-1) got them on the board early in the second quarter on a 35 yard field goal from Nick Folk. After a Philadelphia punt the Patriots drove deep into Eagles territory again and had a 1st and goal from the 4 yard line. Three straight Tom Brady incompletions though led to a 22 yard kick by Folk to make it 10-6. Wentz was sacked by Danny Shelton on the second play of the next Eagles possession, and the ball was recovered by New Englands Lawrence Guy at the Philadelphia 22. The Eagles defense stiffened again though and the Patriots were forced into a yet another kick, this time from 39 yards from Folk and it was 10-9 at halftime.
New England then took their first lead of the day that they wouldn’t relinquish on the first drive of the third quarter. The big play was a short out route to Rex Burkhead from Brady that went 30 yards to the Philadelphia 30 yard line. On 3rd and 11 from the Eagles 15, Brady dropped back and hit Edelman in the right flat who then turned and fired a laser of a pass to a wide open Dorsett about two yards deep in the endzone for the touchdown. James White converted on the two point run for the final scoring of the game. Neither team was able to put any long scoring drives together in the final 25 minutes of action. Philadelphia had the best opportunity driving 63 yards on 11 plays late in the third quarter down to the New England 26 with the key play being a 29 yard reception by J.J. Arcega-Whiteside. From the Patriots 26 though Wentz threw four straight incompletions and the ball went back to the visitors on downs.
Brady finished the day 26-47 passing for 216 yards but didn’t throw any touchdown passes in the New England win. The Patriots only managed 74 rushing yards on 22 attempts on the day. Edelman caught five passes for 53 yards and also threw the game winning score. Ben Watson also grabbed three passes for 52 yards. The defense showed up big in this one as Terrence Brooks and Shelton both had seven total tackles. Shelton added a sack and a forced fumble. Kyle Van Noy, Don’ta Hightower, Elandon Roberts, and Adam Butler also each had a sack for a total of five on Wentz. Wentz finished 20-40 passing for 214 yards and a touchdown. The Eagles running game was also well contained finishing with 81 yards on 21 carries. Zach Ertz led all receivers in catches and yards with nine for 94. Nate Gerry had 10 total tackles and a sack to lead the Eagles defense.
With the win the Patriots clinched their 19th consecutive winning season, the most by any franchise in the NFL ever. The second closest is the Seattle Seahawks who currently have seven straight winning seasons. New England will face yet another opponent from the NFC East when the first place Dallas Cowboys (6-4) invade Gillette Stadium next Sunday for a 4:25 p.m. kickoff.
