Eagles Notebook: Darren Sproles' punt return sparks Eagles

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - Darren Sproles has been doing this a long time, which is how you get to be the only player in NFL history with more than 15 rushing touchdowns (18), more than 25 receiving touchdowns (27) and more than five punt-return touchdowns (six).

Sproles is 32 now, still just 5-6, 190. Little guys who depend on speed and shiftiness have no business running around out there at age 32, darting up the left sideline, making at least four tacklers miss - I counted Kellen Davis, then a guy whose number I couldn't read, then Bilal Powell, a partially blocked Tommy Bohanon, and long snapper Tanner Purdum - en route to an 89-yard punt-return touchdown that might have been the key play of the Eagles' 24-17 victory yesterday over the New York Jets.

Sproles is the Eagles' most dynamic weapon, which is both a testament to him and an indictment of what Chip Kelly has done with the roster over the past two offseasons.

What did the savvy veteran see, as he weaved his way through the Jets, giving the Eagles a 10-0 second-quarter lead?

"A whole bunch of green grass. That's all," Sproles said. He said he had no idea how many tacklers he swerved around, or who they were.

He knew he was going all the way, Sproles said, when he saw punter Ryan Quigley being shoved out of the way in front of him by rookie Eric Rowe. There usually isn't anybody back there after you get past the punter.

"It was a line drive," Sproles said. "The punt-return team did a great job to get me in the open. To tell the truth, I don't know what I did" to elude tacklers.

"Special-teams plays are huge in this league," noted tight end Zach Ertz. The week before, a blocked punt touchdown was a huge swing toward Dallas in the Eagles' loss to the Cowboys. This week, the punt karma swung the other way. "To have a guy like that, we know we just gotta get him started and he'll do the rest, to make a lot of guys miss and set up the blocks the way they need to be set up.

"He's an unbelievable player. He's an unbelievable person, and he's the sparkplug of this team."

"I thought we had a great holdup and gave him an opportunity to catch it clean, and then once he gets a head of steam, he's very difficult to (tackle)," Kelly said. Kelly later called Sproles' number at the goal line, because "he's got a knack for finding his way through," and got a 1-yard touchdown. "You could tell on that (punt return), we were going to get something out of it, because he was going to get a chance to get started."

Reserve tight end Trey Burton was among Sproles' blockers. He said the first two weeks, punters did a great job with high, booming punts, often pinning Sproles to the sideline, but this one came in low.

"Sproles took care of the rest," Burton said.

The return was the second-longest punt return in franchise history, behind Demaris Johnson's 98-yarder in 2012, which will be hard to beat.

Defensive end Brandon Bair, complimented after yesterday's game for the way he gets his hands up in front of the passer, mused aloud about whether that was just what you say to a guy who just can't quite get there.

It took Bair, who turns 31 in November, quite a while to get to his first NFL start, but he did a lot with it, when he was called upon to step in for Cedric Thornton (broken hand) against the Jets. Bair got his big hands on three Ryan Fitzpatrick passes, tipping one to rookie linebacker Jordan Hicks, who also was making his first start.

This came on the first series after a Ryan Mathews fumble set up the Jets at the Eagles' 41, with seven minutes and 23 seconds left and the Eagles' 24-0 lead already cut to 24-14.

"I hit it and I turned around at the last second and saw him catching the ball," Bair said. "We'd just come off a turnover. That's the best opportunity for a defense, if you just had a turnover on offense, to come back out and answer with the same thing."

Chip Kelly said that with Jets quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick taking a lot of three-step drops, the Eagles emphasized rushers getting their hands up. But Kelly also said doing this at the right moment and getting a block on the ball as it's coming out is a knack, one that Bair clearly has - he knocked down a field goal and an extra point last season.

This was the first time Bair has been active in 2015.

Starting right guard Andrew Gardner left the locker room in a walking boot, after suffering a foot injury just before halftime. Matt Tobin filled in for Gardner. Late in the game, left tackle Jason Peters left after getting "rolled up," Peters said afterward, so Tobin went to left tackle and Dennis Kelly, active for the first time this season, played right guard. Peters said he is OK . . . Chip Kelly said running back DeMarco Murray tested his hamstring in warmups and "just couldn't go" . . . Ditto Josh Huff, who suffered a hammy pull in Saturday's practice . . . Chris Maragos left with a knee injury . . . The Eagles are 10-0 all-time against the Jets.

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