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 The Jaguars, who only won four games last season, jumped to an
early 17-0 lead and the Eagles were being booed by their home fans
just a quarter into the 2014 season. But they were cheering at the
end, when the Eagles scored 17 points in the final seven minutes to
win going away.
"It didn't look too good there for a while, did it?" said Eagles
center Jason Kelce. "But even though we were behind by a lot of
points, we knew there was a lot of time left to play and we were
confident in our ability to do what needed to be done.
"I'm not saying I wasn't concerned. But nobody on the team was in
panic mode at halftime. We approached it methodically and that's how
we won the game -- methodically."
A couple big plays didn't hurt, either. The play that finally got
the Eagles on the scoreboard, a 49-yard touchdown sprint in the
third quarter by running back Darren Sproles, made it 17-7. Sproles'
play came on fourth-and-1, and once he popped through the Jags'
short-yardage defense there was nobody in front of him.
"After he broke that one off I think we all got the feeling that,
'Here we go,'" Eagles linebacker DeMeco Ryans said. "We needed a big
play and we got it, and then we needed another big play and we got
that, too."
That other big play was made by wide receiver Jeremy Maclin, who
missed the entire 2013 season with a knee injury. The game was tied
17-17 midway through the fourth quarter when the Jaguars blew a
coverage and allowed Maclin to get behind them. Maclin hauled in
Nick Foles' pass and ran into the end zone to complete the 68-yard
touchdown play that gave the Eagles the lead for good.
"That play came at the right time," Maclin said. "It kind of sucked
a little bit of the life out of them."
Jaguars coach Gus Bradley said mental mistakes by his defense
allowed those two plays and that's something they have to correct if
they don't want another 4-12 season.
"We started off really well and took advantage of the opportunities
we had," Bradley said. "Little things allow big things to happen and
that's what we did in the first half, then things just sort of
flipped in the second half."
The Jaguars built their lead after their defense sacked Foles twice
and forced two fumbles. Those defensive plays set up two touchdown
passes from quarterback Chad Henne to rookie wide receiver Allen
Hurns, from 34 and 21 yards.
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"We made the big plays in the first half and they made the big plays in
the second half," said Henne, who completed 24 of 43 passes for 266
yards and the two touchdowns. "We just needed to make a couple more
plays and that's the lesson we have to take from this one -- it's a
60-minute game."
Foles shook off a slow start and finished strong -- his passer rating
for the first half was 50.5 and his rating for the second half was
129.7. Afterward, Foles said he didn't let his first-half struggles
bother him in the second.
"I just continue to work forward and think about the next play, not the
last play," Foles said. "You can't score 17 points on one play, so you
just have to keep working, get some points in the board and go from
there."
NOTES: Jaguars starting WR Cecil Shorts III was deactivated with a
hamstring injury. Shorts was the Jags' leading receiver last season with
66 receptions for 777 yards in 13 games. WR Allen Hurns started in
Shorts' place. ... Eagles RB Darren Spoles' 49-yard touchdown run in the
third quarter was the longest run from scrimmage of his 10-year NFL
career. ... Hurns is the second player in NFL history to score two
touchdowns on his first two career receptions. ... The Eagles had to
play without All-Pro G Evan Mathis in the second half after he sprained
a knee in the second quarter and did not return. He was replaced by
backup C David Molk, who had never played guard in a game at any level.
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