Lightning delayed the festivities at Lincoln Financial Field on Thursday by about 45 minutes, but it didn’t put a damper on the unveiling of the Super Bowl LII Championship Banner.
The Eagles got off to a sluggish start in Thursday’s game, playing to a 6-3 halftime deficit. In the third quarter though, Doug Pederson reached into his bag of tricks to jump start the offense and called “Philly, Philly”, a play reminiscent of the “Philly Special” from Super Bowl LII in which Nick Foles caught a TD pass from Trey Burton.
In “Philly, Philly” though, the pass came from Nelson Agholor and went for 15 yards and a 1st down. It would eventually lead to a 1 yard touchdown run by RB Jay Ajayi, his first of two on the night.
The defense played well, allowing the Falcons to score only once in 5 trips into the Redzone, a 9 yard touchdown by Tevin Coleman. The ensuing extra point failed after hit the upright.
This game was eerily reminiscent of the January Divisional playoff game that these two teams played, which came down to a 4th and goal play in which Matt Ryan threw a pass to Julio Jones, and which fell incomplete. This game, too, came down to a 4th and goal play but this time with only 1 second left on the clock and again, it came down to Matt Ryan throwing a pass to Julio Jones in the endzone. This time, the opposite corner from the January game, but with the same result. Jones caught the ball this time, but landed out of bounds, to end the game.
So the Eagles get the victory and move to 1-0, going next to Tampa Bay to face the Bucs in week 2.
The Eagles start the season with a victory over Atlanta, can they finish the season with a victory IN Atlanta? That’s the goal.