Patriots-Eagles Live Blog: Pats Lose 35-28, 1st Back-To-Back Losses Since 2012
Final: Eagles 35, Patriots 28
The Patriots have suffered their second straight loss, the first time they've dropped back-to-back contests since Weeks 2 and 3 of the 2012 season.
This was just a bad loss, there's no other way to put it. It was exciting at the end as the Patriots tried to mount a comeback, but they beat themselves in this one. Give credit to the Eagles, the Patriots' play calling often left you scratching your head throughout the game.
If you can stomach it, you can hear Bill Belichick try to explain this one (or not explain it at all) on Patriots 5th Quarter on myTV38 and on 98.5 The Sports Hub. There are plenty of questions from this one, like what was he thinking when he pooched a kickoff in the second quarter. That completely changed the momentum of the game, as the Eagles went on to score 35 unanswered points.
We'll try to make sense of this one on CBSBostonsports.com throughout the evening, so stick with us for all the updates.
Hey, at least no one got hurt!
4th Quarter, 00:20: Brady went to Martin over the middle, but the pass fell incomplete. A holding call on New England was declined, so Philly just has to take a knee (without fumbling) to walk away with an absolutely shocking win.
4th Quarter, 00:28: Brady came up empty on a bid for Amendola, so the Pats face their final chance on fourth down.
4th Quarter, 00:31: Brady and LaFell couldn't hook up on a pass over the middle, setting up a third-and-10 for the Pats.
4th Quarter, 00:34: Brady hit White for 12 yards on third down, moving the chains but keeping the clock ticking. Brady had to spike it and the Pats now face a second-and-10 at their own 37.
4th Quarter, 00:50: Brady went deep to LaFell on first down, but there was a little too much mustard on it and the pass fell incomplete. He went incomplete to White on second down.
4th Quarter, 1:02: This is Eagles football for you. Barner fumbled his third down run, and the Patriots recovered at their own 25. Jamie Collins ripped it out of the back's hands.
Incredible.
4th Quarter, 1:13: The Eagles used their first timeout as the play clock wound down. They're looking at a third-and-5 at the New England 28.
4th Quarter, 2:38: Bradford steps up and hits Riley Cooper for a 14-yard reception to keep Philly's drive alive, and likely end this one. The Pats are out of timeouts.
4th Quarter, 2:49: Jerod Mayo sacked Bradford on first down, with the Patriots quickly calling their second timeout. Sproles was stuffed for a loss of a yard on second down, and the Patriots called their final timeout.
The Eagles face a third-and-11 at the New England 47.
4th Quarter, 3:00: The Pats went with the onside kick, though it was off the foot of Nate Ebner. Riley Cooper batted the kick out of bounds, to give the Eagles the ball at the New England 46.
4th Quarter, 3:00 -- Eagles 35, Patriots 28: The Philadelphia lead is down to seven, as Brady takes it in himself from a yard out to make it a 35-28 game.
Brandon LaFell came through with a 12-yard reception on the play before to set up the Brady keeper. We'll see if they try another onside kick to keep a very tired Philadelphia defense on the field.
And we have "Josie" blasting at Gillette. This should be a fun three minutes.
4th Quarter, 3:55: The Patriots are still alive after a 25-yard connection between Brady and White on fourth down. That sets them up at the Philly 22.
4th Quarter, 4:23: The Patriots are going for it on fourth-and-12 at the Philly 48.
4th Quarter, 4:49: The Patriots are in Philadelphia territory, but guard Josh Kline just went down with what looks like a right wrist or arm injury.
4th Quarter, 5:25: The Pats have the ball back, after recovering the onside kick!
Rashaan Melvin fell on the ball after Zach Ertz couldn't come up with it, giving the Patriots the ball at their own 44-yard line.
4th Quarter, 5:27 -- Eagles 35, Patriots 21:
We have a touchdown! Tom Brady found Scott Chandler in the end zone from 14 yards out to cut into the Philly lead. James White had a nice 19-yard catch-and-run on the drive, getting the Pats to the Philly 21,
The Pats made quick work, taking only 2:18 on the seven play drive that covered 71 yards.
But now they'll have to get the onside kick. This one could get very interesting.
4th Quarter, 7:54: The Eagles are just killing the clock, running it three straight times before punting it away to the Patriots. New England was whistled for an illegal formation, so the Eagles had to re-punt. The Pats will take over at their own 29-yard line.
If they want any shot at coming back, they're going to have to put up seven points on this drive.
4th Quarter, 10:25: Another three-and-out for the New England offense. Time is their enemy at this point.
4th Quarter, 11:09 -- Patriots 35, Patriots 14: Sam Bradford rolled out of the pocket and found Jordan Matthews, who beat Butler to bring in the touchdown grab.
If you've lost track at home, that's 35 unanswered points for the Eagles. It's the first time that's happened to the Patriots since 1993.
There is still a lot of time left in this one, but not much is going right for the Patriots at the moment. And they have no one to blame but themselves.
4th Quarter, 11:14: The Patriots call their first timeout of the half, with the Eagles facing a third-and-2 at the New England 10.
4th Quarter, 13:02: A Malcolm Butler defensive pass interference call on third-and-3 keeps an Eagles drive alive. Jamie Collins was arguing that he tipped the pass, which it appears was the case. So there should have been no flag.
Not complaining too much though, because the refs have been pretty decent today.
3rd Quarter, 2:50 Well, so much for that one. Brady went deep to LaFell, who pulled up on his route, and Byron Maxwell came down with an interception in the end zone.
So we'll never talk about Brady's second-career reception. There really is no making sense of this one right now.
3rd Quarter, 2:59: The Patriots are using their bag of tricks at this point, as James White took a direct snap and tossed it to Danny Amendola, who threw it to Tom Brady. Brady scampered 36 yards to the Philly 39.
3rd Quarter, 4:18 -- Eagles 28, Patriots 14: It's Bizzaro World at Gillette Stadium today.
The tough day for New England's special teams unit continues, as Darren Sproles returns Ryan Allen's punt 83 yards for a touchdown.
The Eagles are now doubling up on the Patriots -- at Gillette.
3rd Quarter, 4:45: Brady had some pretty good coverage on third-and-17, but the Eagles covered anyone and everyone he would have thrown it to and Brady was forced to scramble. He came up well short of moving the chains though, and the Pats will have to punt.
3rd Quarter, 5:29: All that good was wiped out by a hold on Bryan Stork, on a play that Brady was sacked anyways.
Here comes a second-and-17 for the Patriots.
3rd Quarter, 6:20: Big play alert, as Brady dances and buys time on third-and-12 and hits Amendola, who fought for just enough to move the chains.
3rd Quarter, 7:26 -- Eagles 21, Patriots 14
Well, this isn't how we expected this one to play out.
Brady was picked by Malcolm Jenkins at the goal line, who took it 100 yards for a pick six. Yep, the Eagles now have a lead.
Brady went looking for Amendola at the goal line, but Thurmon got a hand on the pass and tipped it to Jenkins. Three of his five interceptions this season have come in the Red Zone.
That's not good Tom. Not good at all.
3rd Quarter, 8:51: James White turned a short screen into a beautiful 24-yard gain to get down to the Philly 1-yard line.
3rd Quarter, 9:37: The Pats may have caught a break, as Danny Amendola dropped/fumbled a deep bid from Brady.
The call could have gone either way, as it appears Amendola took a few steps with the ball, but fortunately for the Patriots it was ruled an incomplete.
3rd Quarter, 10:48: Just as quickly as the Patriots punted it away, they'll be getting the ball back. And they'll have great field position to boot.
After the Patriots forced a quick three-and-out, stuffing Murray on a second down run and Bradford threw an incomplete on third down, Donnie Jones' punt went just 39 yards to give New England the ball at the Philly 46-yard line.
Now it's the Patriots' turn to see if they can take advantage of a short field.
3rd Quarter, 11:24: Sam Bradford's first pass of the drive was nearly picked off by Duron Harmon after it was tipped. Unfortunately it hit the ground before the defensive back could come up with it.
3rd Quarter, 11:35: Brady went to LaFell on third-and-9, who was stopped short by a HUGE hit by Walter Thurman. This came one play after Brady was under heavy pressure, picking up a yard on a scramble before being taken down. He's now been hit seven times in this game.
No block this time for the Eagles special teams though, as Ryan Allen's boot was downed at the Philly 6-yard line.
3rd Quarter, 13:10: Brady picks up another first down on a QB keeper on third-and-1. He had a big smile on his face after.
Matthew Slater was also back on the field for the opening kickoff, so that's good news.
Halftime -- Patriots 14, Eagles 14
Some boos are raining down on the Patriots as they make their way off the field. Tough crowd at Gillette today, and you can't even blame the weather.
You can blame the Pats' special teams unit, as that blocked punt has this one all knotted up at 14-14 at the half. That's a very uncharacteristic miscue by that unit.
It didn't help that the Eagles were given short field position on their first touchdown drive either, as Bill Belichick went for the dagger with a pooch punt. That play gave Philly the moment they've taken into the locker room.
Philly is actually out-gaining New England 161-157 after the first 30 minutes of football.
2nd Quarter, 00:08 -- Patriots 14, Eagles 14:
Well that escalated quickly.
After Brady and Chandler couldn't connect on a third down pass, Philly's Chris Maragose burst through the line and blocked Ryan Allen's punt attempt. Najee Goode picked it up and marched 38 yards into the end zone to tie this one at 14-14. It looks like Geneo Grissom missed his block at the line, letter Maragose free for the block.
That's the first punt block allowed by the Patriots since 2009.
2nd Quarter, 00:40: Brady gets sacked for the third time today on first down, but Philly's Fletcher Cox is down after the play. That would be a huge blow to their defensive line.
It looks like he got a face full of Bryan Stork's helmet on the play.
Brady actually walked into Josh Kline on the play, but it'll still go in the books as a Philly sack.
2nd Quarter, 00:50: The Patriots use their second timeout after Bolden has picked up 20 yards on back-to-back runs. They have the ball on their own 33, but don't look to be in a big hurry to try and find the end zone.
2nd Quarter, 1:39: Bradford went to Sproles with a short pass, who was stopped by the Pats D after a five-yard pickup.
That set up a fourth-and-8, with the Patriots using their first timeout of the half. It looks like Chip Kelly isn't going to try anything out of the ordinary, and will punt it away.
2nd Quarter, 2:00: After Sproles picked up a first down with a nice run on the first play of the drive, the Eagles will face a big third-and-13 when we return from the 2-minute warning.
Patrick Chung almost leveled Bradford on the following first down, and Bradford threw right to Jerod Mayo who couldn't come up with the ball. On second down, Sproles was swallowed up by Rob Ninkovich and Jabaal Sheard at the line.
2nd Quarter, 3:14: The Patriots weren't on the field for long, as Philly forces a quick three-and-out. Brady threw a pair of incomplete passes with a 2-yard catch from Brandon Bolden mixed in between.
Now the Eagles have a chance to tie it before the half, with all three of their time outs remaining.
2nd Quarter, 4:04 -- Patriots 14, Eagles 7: That short field comes back to hurt the Patriots, as the Eagles march 59 yards in 3:43 to get on the scoreboard. Sam Bradford hit tight end Zach Ertz for a five-yard score, making it a 14-7 New England lead.
2nd Quarter, 7:46: Bill Belichick is messing with the Eagles now, having Stephen Gostkowski pooch the kickoff. Philly recovered near their own 40-yard line, but they weren't ready for that one.
We'll see if giving them a short field comes back to bite them, though.
2nd Quarter, 7:47 -- Patriots 14, Eagles 0: Welcome back Danny Amendola! The Pats had the receiver in motion, and Brady found him all alone in the back of the end zone for an 11-yard score.
Danny has three receptions for 32 yards so far. The offense appears to have found its stride against a poor Philly defense, marching 80 yards down the field on eight plays.
Of course, that 42-yard defensive pass interference helped, but that's part of playing against the Eagles.
Brady is now 8-for-12 for 92 yards and two touchdowns on the evening.
2nd Quarter, 10:09: Tom Brady and LeGarrette Blount just ran into each other on a handoff. Let's hope the Eagles' poor play isn't rubbing off on them.
Speaking of the Eagles' poor play, they were hit with a 42-yard defensive pass interference on a deep bid by Brady to Martin. They've had six penalties accepted for 87 yards.
2nd Quarter, 12:40: Darren Sproles continues to make guys miss, but the Eagles offense isn't very good. The Patriots applied some pressure to Bradford on third down, who dumped it off to Barner for two yards before he was met by a trio of Pats defenders.
Malcolm Butler is all over the place so far in this one. He made a nice pass deflection on a first down bid for Nelson Agholor.
2nd Quarter, 14:57 -- Patriots 7, Eagles 0:
The Patriots went scoreless in the first quarter, but needed just three seconds to find the end zone in the second.
Brady hit James White from four yards out to break the scoreless tie, the QB's 29th touchdown pass of the season. It's also the 421st of his career, moving him past Dan Marino into third on the all-time touchdown list.
End 1st Quarter -- Patriots 0, Eagles 0:
Scott Chandler comes up with a big 30-yard connection with Brady, as the QB scrambled to buy some extra time as the pocket collapsed around him.
It's a good sign that both Amendola and Chandler have gotten involved in this drive. New England needs both of them to step up with Edelman and Gronkowski out.
The Pats have the ball at the Philly 4-yard line when the second quarter begins.
1st Quarter, 1:25: We have our first Amendola sighting of the afternoon, as he hauls in a 10-yard reception to move the chains on third-and-9.
1st Quarter, 3:43: We have another Philly punt, as it was a quick three-and-out for Sam Bradford and crew.
Bradford went incomplete to Ertz and Krause on first and third down, respectively, sandwiched between a Murray run that lost two yards for Philly.
Let's see what the Patriots can do with their third possession. They have just 13 total yards so far.
It was also just announced that Matthew Slater is questionable to return.
1st Quarter, 5:02: More pressure by the Philly defensive front, and Brady is sacked again by Connor Barwin on third down.
The offensive line has to do a much better job if the offense wants to move the ball today.
The Eagles will have the ball at their own 43-yard line when action starts up again.
1st Quarter, 6:15: Blount just picked up 10 yards on a nice first down run.
Flags were down on the play, but picked up as there was no foul on the play. That's one of the boxes in the Referee Bingo! card, if you're playing al
1st Quarter, 6:38: Three more penalties for the Eagles, which killed any chance they had on that last drive.
They picked up back-to-back penalties to start, which is embarrassing enough to get a delay of game out of a timeout, but a 15-yard facemask on a second down play wiped out what was nearly a chain-moving play by Sproles.
Instead, Philly faced a third-and-24 and had to punt the ball away a play later. They have five penalties for 45 yards on their first two drives.
The officials may be active so far in this, but at least we got this out of it:
Sproles is very active in this one, with 41 total yards so far.
The Pats will have the ball at their own 20-yard line when play resumes.
1st Quarter, 9:26: The Eagles' defensive front was very active in their first trip onto the field, sacking Brady once and applying pressure on a third-and-11.
Connor Barwin blew through the line to get to Brady on a second-and-4, setting up that third-and-11. Brady went deep to LaFell that down, but was a little too deep for the receiver (who had slowed down a bit).
As if we needed more injury news, Matthew Slater went down on the ensuing punt. It looks like a shoulder injury.
1st Quarter, 12:15: The Patriots were bailed out by a Philly holding call, as Darren Sproles looked top pick up his second first down of the Eagles first drive. But a holding call made it third-and-14 for Philly rather than move the chains, and on the ensuing play Patrick Chung broke up a Sam Bradford pass intended for Jordan Matthews.
Sproles was active on that first drive, and is a very shifty player the Patriots defense will have to keep an eye on this afternoon.
New England will take over at their own 17-yard line after a one-yard punt return by Danny Amendola.
Pregame -- 4:25 p.m.: The Patriots have won the coin toss and defer. No surprise there.
Elsewhere, the Jets beat the Giants in New York, so no division for the Patriots today.
Pregame -- 4:15 p.m.: The hopes of the Patriots clinching the AFC East may have to be put on hold, as the New York Jets have just taken a lead over the New York Giants in overtime.
Pregame -- 3:05 p.m.: It's a beautiful day for some football at Gillette Stadium, as the Patriots get set to host the Philadelphia Eagles.
The Patriots will get some reinforcements back on both sides of the ball, as both receiver Danny Amendola and linebacker Jamie Collins are ready to go for this one.
However, linebacker Dont'a Hightower and defensive lineman Dominique Easley are both inactive, so the Pats' defense is missing a few big bodies in this matchup.
Tom Brady will certainly welcome Amendola's return, as he'll be without Rob Gronkowski and Julian Edelman. That should mean a heavy workload for Amendola, who missed last Sunday's game in Denver with a knee injury. Brandon LaFell will also be a key part of the offense, and hopefully this is the week Scott Chandler can break out.
Also on the offensive side of the ball, tight end Michael Williams is back after a missing last week with a knee injury. That should help the running game as Williams has been a solid blocking tight end for New England.
Newcomer Damaris Johnson is dressed and will make his Patriots debut after being signed earlier in the week, but running back Trey Williams is inactive. He was also signed by the Pats earlier this week.
As for Collins, he returns after missing four games with a virus that caused him to lose strength and weight. It will be interesting to see how he looks on the field, and how much he ends up playing. Not having Hightower is a big loss for the New England defense, but getting Collins back should help alleviate that absence a little bit.
Here are the Eagles inactives for this afternoon:
The Eagles come in losers of three straight, having given up 45 points in each of their last two games. Things are spiraling out of control for head coach Chip Kelly, and a trip to Foxboro probably won't help things.
Stick with CBSBostonsports.com throughout the game for all the updates from Gillette, and be sure to tune into the game on 98.5 The Sports Hub. The Hub will have three hours of postgame coverage after the game, and you can see Bill Belichick and Tom Brady's press conferences live on Patriots 5th Quarter on myTV38 following the game.
