By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor 
The Eagles defense had their worst showing of the season a week ago in Washington. Apparently the defense has a short memory.
The Eagles returned home and displayed the defensive form that got them off to a 3-0 start on the season, holding the Vikings to 10 points, a field goal and a last-minute touchdown, to help hand them their first loss of the season.
After the game, head coach Doug Pederson praised the defense for the bounce-back game, particularly the defensive line, which attacked the ball and former Eagles quarterback Sam Bradford.
"I think the guys just put it in their mind to play better than last week," Pederson said. "It obviously starts up front with both sides of the ball, offensive and defensive lines, and our defensive line really came off the ball today and took it upon themselves to just attack the line of scrimmage and play on their side."
Twice in the game, the Eagles created turnovers and stopped the Minnesota offense with a short field. An early interception of Bradford erased an interception for Carson Wentz that set the Vikings up with good field position. Later in the game, they made a goal line stand, stopping the Vikings inside the 10 with goal to go to keep Minnesota off the board.
"It's huge. Our defense playing as well as they did down there and stopping them, again it starts up front and the pressure on the quarterback," Pederson said. "It was fun to watch our defense today. That's the defense that we expect every week going forward."
In particular, the pressure Bradford faced was something that had not been seen in any other game the Eagles have played, even the dominant showing against Pittsburgh. The Eagles brought extra pass rush on the blitz more than usual. It was all part of the Eagles game plan for Bradford.
"Anytime you know a quarterback on the other team and kind of know strengths and weaknesses, give him some different looks and put some pressure on him from different areas," Pederson said. "It was a great game plan. The guys executed extremely well. Sometimes just changing things up to help your guys be in position, we benefitted from that today."
It was not the best day for Wentz, who threw two interceptions and was involved on three first-quarter turnovers for the Eagles. But the Eagles rookie quarterback recovered nicely to have a solid day. He threw the only touchdown pass for the Eagles in the third to help extend the lead and started to settle into a rhythm as the game progressed. The Eagles also used a balanced ground attack to help Wentz settle in.
"Sometimes it happens that way. He might have been pressing a little bit early, trying to make that one play," Pederson said. "I love the way he settled in. There was no panic for him or anyone on the sidelines. We just had to calm down, focus in on our jobs, do our assignments. I knew that somewhere we were going to have to rely on the offensive line, run the ball a bit and help Carson in those situations and ultimately that paid off."
For the second straight week, the Eagles got on the board with a kick return touchdown. Josh Huff's 98-yard return put the Eagles in front for good and marked the first time in franchise history the Eagles had a kickoff returned for a touchdown in back-to-back games.
Overall, special teams has been a factor of late. And with these returns coming at critical times, Pederson had praise for the special teams group as well.
"They're really beginning to click. Great blocks. Josh did a great job on the return," Pederson said. "Dave Fipp really has those guys ready every single week. You need those things. You need special teams scores, you need defensive scores. It was just great to see again two weeks in a row."
The Eagles tough schedule continues when they travel to face the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday night next week. For the defense, a repeat performance may be necessary to stop a red-hot Cowboys offense coming off a bye week. Once again, Doug Pederson expressed confidence in his team, which looked like a confident bunch in their latest win.
