Eagles opportunistic, but far from perfect

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - To their detriment, the Eagles' road win over the Jets lacked elegance, efficiency and late-game execution.

To their credit, the Eagles realize that.

The Jets lateraled, underthrew, blew kick coverage and essentially handed the Eagles a 24-17 win; but then, at least the Eagles didn't fumble it away.

With six players out, including hamstrung franchise running back DeMarco Murray and inside linebackers Mychal Kendricks and Kiko Alonso, coach and czar Chip Kelly called the win "gritty."

Often, teams that are expected to be good get cocky once they sniff a bit of success.

Not these Eagles.

A road loss in Atlanta and a home-opener whuppin' from Dem Cowboys last week leached every ounce of arrogance out of the Eagles, who were favored to play deep into January.

The Birds dropped two Pro Bowl players and seven others in Kelly's rosterwide housecleaning after his front-office coup, but they still entered the season expected to hit double-digit wins.

Last week, right tackle Lane Johnson said the Eagles were "overconfident."

They arrived at MetLife Stadium desperate and bloodied.

"We got hit in the mouth the first two games. I think we're a lot better team than our 0-2 start," Johnson said. "It's a big step up from last week, but it's still not where we need to be."

Next week they'll be outside of Washington, playing that dysfunctional team.

"We can't take them lightly," Johnson insisted, referencing the Game 15 loss that cost the Birds a playoff spot last season. "We did that last year and they got us."

Maybe the Jets will be saying the same thing about the Eagles, whose play was only marginally better in Game 3 than in the first two.

They dropped three passes. Sam "Bullseye" Bradford remained inaccurate; 14-for-28 against minimal pressure from a hardy Jets front that seldom blitzed and stunted just once. Only one Eagles wide receiver caught a pass; Jordan Matthews, with six catches for 49 yards.

With Murray out of the way, Ryan Mathews and Darren Sproles rushed for 125 yards on 36 carries; Mathews, 108 on 25.

Murray would have had similar success the first two games, center Jason Kelce insisted, had the Eagles blocked those plays better.

"This week, instead of screwing them up, we hit them big," Kelce said.

Perhaps that was because, at first, the Jets somehow seemed . . .

Uninterested?

Overconfident?

Sproles' shifty, 89-yard punt return for a touchdown that made it 10-0 in the second quarter had more stops and starts than the Schuylkill at rush hour. The Jets pursued him like the LAPD chased that white Bronco.

Late in the second quarter, Brandon Marshall caught a pass near midfield and, incredibly, he tried to lateral it to a teammate . . . while being tackled by three players.

"That was probably the worst play in NFL history," Marshall said.

He is correct.

To their credit, the Eagles turned that into a touchdown and a 24-0 lead with more than 32 minutes to play.

The Eagles did not score again. Six of their eight possessions in the second half lasted only four plays.

"I was disappointed in our play in the second half," Johnson said. "The defense was on the field way too long."

Sproles and Mathews managed just 38 rushing yards as the Eagles tried to milk the clock in the second half.

"We've got to be able to run that ball when everybody knows we're going to run the ball," Kelly admitted.

Marshall finished with 10 catches for 109 yards and a touchdown.

Jets quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick threw three interceptions in the second half, the first a horrible underthrow of Devin Smith, who had cleanly beaten rookie corner Eric Rowe.

To his credit, Rowe made the interception.

"That's what good teams do," said linebacker Connor Barwin.

Good? No, not yet.

Just better.

"Instead of killing ourselves, now we're capitalizing on the other team's errors,'' Kelce said.

The least effective players had been the most important.

Murray did nothing in the first two games and Bradford stunk, too; two awful interceptions, and four total. But you could barely smell them over the stench of Byron Maxwell, the team's latest free-agent, low-endurance cornerback disaster.

Everything was a little better against the Jets; even Iron Byron.

Maybe it will improve further at Washington; even more, perhaps, when the Saints visit Oct. 11.

"With the personnel we have, once we get everything clicking, this is going to be a special team," Kelce said. "I'm not trying to look ahead, but in the next couple of weeks we can get this thing right back on track."

When the Eagles left Pope-adelphia and traveled up the New Jersey Turnpike a day early they were an 0-2 team on a road to nowhere, not the path of redemption.

And then . . .

This.

An opportunistic road win; a gift, from a flawed Jets squad to an Eagles team loaded with potential.

It might have been fool's gold.

Instead, it is their golden opportunity.

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