Sunday, September 13, 2009 Philadelphia Eagles 38 Bank of America Stadium Carolina Panthers 10 Bolstered by stifling defensive pressure on Panthers quarterbacks, 1st 2nd 3rd 4th Pts the Eagles registered seven takeaways and five sacks en route to a Philadelphia 3287 0-38 38-10, opening day romp of the Carolina Panthers in Charlotte. Ea- Carolina 7300-10 gles cornerback Sheldon Brown notched two of the Eagles five in- terceptions as they scored 24 points off turnovers. Trailing 7-0 Car - D.Williams, 11 run (Kasay) (13-70, 8:06) following an 8-minute touchdown drive by the Panthers on the Phila - D.Akers, 49 FG (4-1, 1:48) game’s opening possession, the Eagles responded with a 49-yard Phila - V.Abiamiri, 2 fumble return (Akers) field goal by David Akers after Brown’s first interception later in the Phila - D.Jackson, 85 punt return (Akers) first quarter. On the first play of the 2nd quarter, Panthers QB Jake Phila - B.Celek, 9 pass from McNabb (Akers) (1-9, 0:06) Delhomme fumbled after a sack by a blitzing Trent Cole. Fellow de- Phila - B.Westbrook, 4 pass from McNabb (Akers) (10-74, 4:27) fensive end Victor Abiamiri scooped up the loose ball at the Pan- Car - J.Kasay, 22 FG (8-56, 1:34) thers 2-yard line and scored to give the Eagles a 10-7 lead. The Phila - D.McNabb, 3 run (Akers) (3-10, 1:22) Eagles scoring barrage was just beginning, though, as DeSean Jackson returned a Panthers punt 85 yards for a touchdown on their TEAM STATISTICS PHILA CAR ensuing possession. Brown came up with his 2nd interception of the First Downs 17 14 game on the Panthers next possession to set up a 9-yard touchdown Net Yards Gained 267 169 pass from Donovan McNabb to TE Brent Celek. After a 3-and-out by Rushes/Yards 32/185 30/86 the Panthers, McNabb led the Eagles on a 74-yard drive that was Net Yards Passing 82 83 capped off by a 4-yard shovel pass to RB Brian Westbrook, giving Att/Comp/INT 29/17/1 34/14/5 the Eagles a commanding 31-7 lead late in the 2nd quarter. Al- Sacked/Yards Lost 2/20 5/55 though the Panthers would tack on a field goal in the waning mo- Punts/Average 4/42.8 4/55.8 ments of the first half, they would not score again. In fact, after Fumbles/Lost 2/1 2/2 rolling up 70 yards of offense on their first possession, Carolina Penalties/Yards 9/76 5/30 would gain just 99 more for the rest of the game. The only scoring Time of Possession 31:37 28:23 in the 2nd half would occur on a 3-yard touchdown run by McNabb, 3rd Down Efficiency 5/13 3/16 who suffered a fractured rib on the play that sidelined him for the re- mainder of the game. That touchdown was set up by the first inter- RUSHING: EAGLES - B.Westbrook 13-64, L.McCoy 9-46, D.Jackson ception of LB Akeem Jordan’s career. 2-33, D.McNabb 4-27-1TD, L.Weaver 1-11, K.Kolb 3-4 ... PANTHERS - D.Williams 14-37-1TD, J.Stewart 11-35, J.Delhomme 2-9, S.Smith Notes: The Eagles scored an offensive, defensive, and special teams 1-4, M.Goodson 2-1. touchdown in the same game for the first time since 12/24/94 at RECEIVING: EAGLES - B.Celek 6-37-1TD, B.Westbrook 3-8-1TD, Cincinnati … The Eagles defense forced seven turnovers (five inter- K.Curtis 2-26, D.Jackson 2-9, J.Avant 1-18, H.Baskett 1-6, L.McCoy ceptions, two fumbles), which was the highest total since they forced 1-1, L.Weaver 1-(-3) ... PANTERS - D.Williams 4-42, M.Muhammad seven vs. St. Louis on 1/2/00. It was also their highest interception 4-41, S.Smith 3-21, J.Stewart 2-32, J.King 1-2. total since 9/30/96 vs. Dallas, when they also posted five … Brown’s two-interception game was the 2nd of his career (10/2/05 at KC), PASSING: EAGLES - D.McNabb (starter) 18-10-79-1-2TDs, K.Kolb and the first time an Eagle did so since Lito Sheppard snared two on 11-7-23-0-0 ... PANTHERS - J.Delhomme (starter) 17-7-73-4-0, 10/8/06 vs. Dallas … Jackson was named NFC special teams player M.Moore 11-6-63-1-0, J.McCown 6-1-2-0-0. of the week for his performance. His 85-yard punt return for a INTs: EAGLES - S.Brown 2-56, A.Jordan 1-11, J.Hanson 1-2, touchdown was the 2nd longest in team history (Vai Sikahema, 87 A.Samuel 1-0 ... PANTHERS - J.Beason 1-10. yards on 11/22/92 at NYG) … Abiamiri’s touchdown was the first of SACKS: EAGLES - D.Howard 2.0, T.Cole 1.0, A.Jordan 1.0, O.Gaither his life … FS Macho Harris became the first Eagles rookie to start at 0.5, M.Patterson 0.5 ... PANTHERS - L.Leonard 1.0, J.Peppers 1.0 safety on opening day since Wes Hopkins on 9/3/83 at San Francisco. Harris also became the first Eagles rookie defensive player to start EAGLES TURNOVER RATIO: +5 (1 fumble, 1 INT/2 fumbles, 5 INTs) on opening day since DT Corey Simon on 9/3/00 at Dallas … West- FIELD GOALS: EAGLES - D.Akers (49G, 51B) ... PANTHERS - J.Kasay brook played in his 100th regular season game. (22G) Weather: Sunny, 82 degrees Wind: NNE 5 mph Playing surface: Grass Time: 3:14 DeSean Jackson soars into the end zone after an 85-yard punt return Sunday, September 20, 2009 Philadelphia Eagles 22 Lincoln Financial Field New Orleans Saints 48 New Orleans broke open a close game with a 31-point scoring bar- 1st 2nd 3rd 4th Pts rage in the final 30 minutes that sent the Eagles home with a 48-22 New Orleans 10 7 17 14 - 48 loss in their home opener. The Eagles and Saints were tied, 10-10, Philadelphia 7672-22 heading into the final minutes of the first half. But Saints QB Drew Brees connected with Marques Colston for his 2nd touchdown of the NO - M.Colston, 15 pass from Brees (Carney) (8-74, 4:06) game with 43 seconds to play, giving the Saints the lead for good at Phila - D.Jackson, 71 pass from Kolb (Akers) (4-85, 1:51) 17-10. The Eagles did respond with a 32-yard field goal by David NO - J.Carney, 23 FG (10-48, 3:21) Akers as time expired in the half to cut the lead to 17-13, but the Phila - D.Akers, 23 FG (15-68, 8:20) game went downhill quickly from there for the home squad. First, NO - M.Colston, 25 pass from Brees (Carney) (2-54, 0:37) Ellis Hobbs fumbled the 2nd half kickoff and the Saints turned that Phila - D.Akers, 32 FG (7-65, 0:43) into an 11-yard TD pass from Brees to FB Heath Evans. On the en- NO - H.Evans, 11 pass from Brees (Carney) (3-22, 1:10) suing possession, Kevin Kolb, making his first NFL start in place of NO - M.Bell, 7 run (Carney) (4-24, 1:19) an injured Donovan McNabb (fractured rib), was intercepted by LB NO - J.Carney, 25 FG (12-70, 6:16) Scott Shanle. Four plays later, Saints RB Mike Bell scored on a 7- Phila - J.Avant, 3 pass from Kolb (Akers) (8-35, 3:41) yard TD run, giving the Saints a commanding 31-13 lead. New Or- NO - R.Bush, 19 run (Carney) (6-52, 3:14) leans upped their lead to 21 points after a field goal by John Carney Phila - D.Brees fumble out of bounds in end zone for a Safety before Eagles WR Jason Avant grabbed a 3-yard scoring pass from NO - D.Sharper, 97 interception return (Carney) Kolb on a fourth down play late in the third stanza. But New Orleans scored on a 19-yard run by Reggie Bush early in the fourth quarter TEAM STATISTICS NO PHILA to seal the victory for the Saints, who also scored on a 97-yard in- First Downs 23 23 terception return by Darren Sharper in the final minutes of the con- Net Yards Gained 421 463 test. Kolb started quickly for the Eagles as he found Jackson for a Rushes/Yards 29/133 22/79 71-yard scoring play on just the fourth play from scrimmage. That Net Yards Passing 288 384 touchdown tied the game at 7 after Brees connected with Colston for Att/Comp/INT 34/25/1 52/31/3 a 15-yard TD on the game’s opening possession. Sacked/Yards Lost 2/23 1/7 Punts/Average 3/52.0 5/45.0 Notes: Kolb’s 391 passing yards were the 12th-highest total in team Fumbles/Lost 2/0 1/1 history and the most by an Eagle since McNabb threw for 464 on Penalties/Yards 3/13 7/45 12/4/04 vs. Green Bay. It was also the highest yardage total ever for Time of Possession 30:26 29:34 an Eagles quarterback in his first NFL start … Jackson’s 71-yard TD 3rd Down Efficiency 6/13 7/16 catch was the longest of his career … Jackson and TE Brent Celek each topped the 100-yard mark in receiving yards, becoming the first RUSHING: EAGLES - B.Westbrook 13-52, L.McCoy 5-18, D.Jackson WR/TE tandem to do so in one game for the Eagles since WR Terrell 3-15, K.Kolb 1-(-6) ..