The reigning NFC Champion Philadelphia Eagles took a 16-0 first quarter lead on Sunday, and held off the New England Patriots 25-20 in the season opener at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts.
Philadelphia took the opening kickoff down the field on a drive that lasted 7:18, and resulted in a 32 yard field goal by Jake Elliott. New England was moving the ball well with their first possession, but on a 3rd and 5 at the Eagles 42-yard line, Mac Jones made a bad throw high intended for Kendrick Bourne that was intercepted and returned 70 yards for a touchdown by Darius Slay. Ezekiel Elliott in his Patriots debut caught a short pass on the second play of the next possession and fumbled at his own 25. That was recovered by Philadelphia, and Jalen Hurts took advantage with the short field finding DeVonta Smith for a five yard passing score. New England got on the board for the first time with 4:39 left in the first half, when Jones found Hunter Henry in the back of the endzone for a nine yard touchdown. After an Eagles punt, the Patriots sliced the deficit even further to 16-14 on a second touchdown pass from Jones of 19 yards to Bourne with 30 seconds to go.
Philadelphia got three field goals from Elliott in the second half for their only scoring, and held a 25-14 lead with just 5:38 to play after his third kick that was good from 51 yards. New England made it interesting when they would score in less than two minutes, with the Jones to Bourne connection working again on an 11 yard touchdown. The Pats almost cut it to three, but a holding penalty on a successful two-point conversion run by Jones called that back and the second try at it was no good. Hurts gave the hosts another chance when on the first play from scrimmage after the touchdown on an eight yard run he would fumble, and Marcus Jones recovered at the Eagles 41-yard line. After Jones was sacked and New England was called for a delay of game penalty, a pass on 4th and 17 from their opponents 48-yard line was unsuccessful turning it over on downs. They would stop Philadelphia however on downs to get the ball back for one more gasp. A pass from Jones with 51 seconds left on 4th and 11 from the Eagles 20-yard line would find Kayshon Boutte on what would of been a first down at the 9, but Boutte couldn’t get his second foot down in bounds that ultimately ended the game.
Jones had a big day throwing the ball finishing 35-54 for 316 yards, with three touchdowns and one interception. The ground game was nearly non-existent as Elliott and Rhamondre Stevenson combined for just 54 yards on 19 total carries. Stevenson did have six receptions for 64 yards, and Bourne had the same line (6 rec, 64 yards), also adding two touchdowns. Henry finished with five catches for 56 yards and a score. Myles Bryant and Christian Gonzalez each had five total tackles to lead the defense, with Gonzalez also registering a sack. Matt Judon and Josh Uche also had one sack each. Hurts went 22-33 passing for 170 yards and a touchdown in the win for Philadelphia. He also had nine rushes for 37 yards. Kenneth Gainwell had 14 run attempts for 54 yards, while A.J. Brown had seven catches for 79 yards. Smith also had seven receptions for 47 yards and a touchdown. Reed Blankenship led all tacklers in the game with nine for the Eagles. New England stays at home in week 2 when they welcome in their AFC East rival the Miami Dolphins on Sunday Night Football at 8:20 p.m.
The New England Patriots honored their six-time Super Bowl winning quarterback Tom Brady during halftime on Sunday. Patriots owner Bob Kraft announced that the team would be inducting Brady into their Hall of Fame on June 12, 2024 at Gillette Stadium.
Story by Chris Lessner/Video Highlights courtesy of YouTube
