Are you ready for some football? I had the opportunity to attend the Patriot - Eagles exhibition opener at Lincoln Financial Field. The Patriot faithful were definitely outnumbered this evening! As a Patriot fan, it was great to see QB Tom Brady back on the field commanding the team! It was also a lot of fun to hear the Eagle fans discussing (pretty passionately at times) their thoughts on the Michael Vick signing! Either the Patriots were in slow motion the second half of the game, or Buckley and Maclin were just that fast! Eagles Kicker David Akers missed a 43-yard field goal wide left with under a minute to play to keep the Patriots on top, 27-25.
The Good:
Quarterback Tom Brady is officially back! Brady tossed two touchdowns in his return to the field (both to tight end Chris Baker), while rookie Julian Edelman returned a punt 75 yards for another score for a 27 - 25 win over the Eagles in both team's exhibition opener at Lincoln Financial Field.
Sammy Morris led the team with 12 carries for 54 yards. Julian Edelman topped the team with five receptions for 37 yards. Jerod Mayo registered a team-high 5 tackles.
Patriots rookie Pat Chung blocked a 44-yard field goal attempt by David Akers with 46 seconds remaining in the first half.
Rookie receiver Julian Edelman totaled five receptions and had a 75-yard punt return for a score.
The Bad:
The Patriot defense looked slow and vulnerable at times on the field. (Note - one can see why the Patriots might consider playing more four-man fronts. It puts Jerod Mayo in more of a leadership position and opens opportunities to showcase his playmaking ability).
The Ugly:
Patriots quarterback Tom Brady was intercepted by Eagles cornerback Sheldon Brown on a long toss to Randy Moss. The throw was underthrown and off-target.
Tom Brady's return against the Philadelphia Eagles was overshadowed by a bigger comeback. QB Michael Vick stole the headlines from Brady with news that the recently reinstated quarterback had signed with the Eagles.
Game Notes:
Linebacker Jerod Mayo wore the communication device in his helmet for the Patriots' preseason opener against the Eagles. This is the second year that a defender can communicate with a coach through the device. Last year, Mike Vrabel (now with the Chiefs) was the primary Patriots defender with the device.
It would be too early to say that the Patriots are moving away from a base 3-4 alignment, but they've spent a lot of practice time on the four-man line and that was their primary package during the game.
Quotes:
"This is a real small step for this team in a long journey. We're on a mission this year. This is the first step, it's a small step, but it's a step in the right direction." -- Patriot QB Tom Brady
“It was good to come down here and win. You know Philadelphia is a good football team and they certainly hammered us last year and I was happy to see that we could at least be competitive this year. I thought that we played hard. Certainly there were a lot of mistakes and a lot of things that we still have to work on. It was good to see us make a few plays. We played better in the red area and on third down overall as a team. We got some production out of the kicking game and hit a few plays on offense and scoring in the red area. That was very important as far as final score goes." -- Patriot Coach Bill Belichick
"I have a lot to learn. That play -- the punt return -- everyone just executed the play the way we designed it to be. One thing led to another. Totally a team effort, the blocks were there. They did their job, I did mine." -- Patriot Rookie WR Julian Edelman
Game Info from Reiss Pieces, Boston.com
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