LeSean McCoy celebrates after his second rushing touchdown of the game in the Eagles 24-16 win over the Washington Redskins. Photo Courtesy of ESPN.com
For the first time in over a calendar year, the Philadelphia Eagles possessed the home-field advantage that can shift the momentum in a matter of seconds.
The Eagles continued to show their dominance as the first half played out in almost identical fashion to the Week 1 game between the two teams. Then the Eagles had to cling to the lead. Despite giving up two late touchdowns to make things interesting, the Eagles moved into sole possession of first place in the NFC East with a 24-16 win over the Washington Redskins on Sunday at Lincoln Financial Field.
The Eagles opened the scoring with a four-play drive that resulted in a four-yard touchdown run for Nick Foles. The big play on the drive was a 49-yard pass from Foles to LeSean McCoy.
Just over three minutes later, the offense struck again. The big play on the six-play drive was a 42-yard pass from Foles to Brent Celek. That put the Eagles on the one-yard line where McCoy ran it in for a touchdown.
The Eagles added a field goal from 24 yards on a drive that saw McCoy go down with a hamstring injury. He left for the remainder of the half but returned in the third quarter.
On the Eagles second drive of the third quarter, McCoy capped off a 13-play, 80-yard drive with his second one-yard touchdown run of the game.
Washington erased the Eagles bid for the franchise's first shutout since 1996 with one play. Following a turnover on downs, Robert Griffin III connected with Nick Williams for 62 yards as Trent Cole and Patrick Chung collided. Cole left for concussion tests but later returned. Washington converted on the two-point conversion attempt.
On the next Redskins drive, RGIII connected again for 41 yards to Aldrick Robinson for a touchdown. Again, Washington converted the two-point attempt to cut the lead to eight.
The Eagles were forced to play on their heels and quickly found themselves punting the ball away with four minutes remaining. Donnie Jones punted to the Washington four-yard line, leaving the Redskins facing a 96-yard drive with the chance to tie.
The Redskins pushed slowly but surely – using 16 plays – to get to the Eagles 18. That's when Griffin fired an ill-advised pass to the end zone that was intercepted by Brandon Boykin to seal the win.
Foles continued to shine for the Eagles, completing 17 of 26 passes for 298 yards. Even without a touchdown, Foles also didn't turn the ball over once again.
McCoy passed the 1,000 rushing yard mark with 77 yards on 20 attempts and two touchdowns. McCoy also added 73 yards on four catches. DeSean Jackson led the Eagles in receiving yards with 82 on four catches.
Defensively, the Eagles shined for most of the game. Cole picked up two sacks, with Connor Barwin and Najee Goode each adding sacks as well. Fletcher Cox also added a fumble recovery.
The Eagles move into first place with a 6-5 record. They now head into the bye week for Week 12 before returning to play at home again, facing the Arizona Cardinals in Week 13.
Kevin Durso is a contributor for Eagledelphia. Look for his Monday Review the morning after every Eagles game. Follow him on twitter @KDursoPhilsNet.
