PHILADELPHIA _ The Eagles rode an extraordinary second half to a 32-27 come-from-behind victory over the Washington Redskins Sunday, showing the team's lethal potential, in the season opener at Lincoln Financial Field.
The Eagles spotted the visitors 17-0 and 20-7 leads, then reeled off three successive second-half touchdowns and a 22-yard field goal on four possessions, while allowing Washington no second-half points and no second-half first downs until the Birds had built a 32-20 lead with about three minutes left.
Fans exasperated at the early futility of the team they hoped would regain the Lombardi Trophy seemed pretty happy, sunbathing under blue skies with a comfortable lead in the final minutes, even when the Redskins drove for a meaningless touchdown with six seconds remaining. It made for a very happy 68th birthday for team chairman Jeffrey Lurie.
DeSean Jackson's return to the scene of his early career triumphs was all anyone could have hoped for � eight catches for 154 yards and two long touchdowns.
Carson Wentz, under wraps the entire preseason, seemed a little slow making reads early, but his second half was incendiary � 16 for 21 for 201 yards and three touchdowns.
Earlier, it was apparent from the first series that the Eagles weren't primed and ready.They won the coin flip, deferred, and then watched 35-year-old Redskins tight end Vernon Davis hurdle Ronald Darby and run away from Rodney McLeod and Andrew Sendejo. Sendejo was in coverage and seemed to have Davis lined up but just sort of flailed at him.
Washington, a 10-point underdog, had a 7-0 lead four minutes and six seconds after the opening kickoff. The Eagles were chasing the game.
Their first possession started well but ended when Jackson retaliated with a shove after Quinton Dunbar head-butted him in the facemask. As so often happens, officials saw only the retaliation and the 15-yard penalty put the drive too far behind the chains.
The Redskins added a field goal, and then lightly-regarded quarterback Case Keenum found rookie wideout Terry McLaurin, somehow isolated on Eagles corner Rasul Douglas, for an easy 69-yard touchdown and a 17-0 Washington lead.
For an Eagles team that talked all week about correcting the 2018 problem with slow starts, this was not ideal.
In between, the Eagles went for it on fourth and 2 from the Washington 29, and Wentz's pass was blocked.
The only offensive success the Eagles had in the first half came on a 51-yard Wentz touchdown bomb to Jackson, but the Eagles wasted the good feeling from that by gift-wrapping a field goal for the Redskins at the end of the half. First they called timeout on third and 4, gave up the conversion, pushed Washington out of range briefly on a Tim Jernigan sack, then negated that by giving up a completion and a senseless Derek Barnett offside on an attempted Washington spike to stop the clock. It was 20-7 at halftime and the Linc crowd was disgruntled.
The second half started just a little better, though.
Wentz threw TD passes on his first two third-quarter possessions, five yards to Alshon Jeffery in the back of the end zone, Wentz dodging and darting and buying time, then another heave into the wild blue yonder, 53 yards to Jackson. The Redskins, the mentally sharper team early, somehow left their former wideout uncovered on the play, which is seldom a good idea.
After the Jackson TD, Wentz was 16 for 25 for 187. After a touchdown screen to Jeffery on the first snap of the fourth quarter � ruled a lateral and a rushing touchdown for Jeffery � Wentz was 21 for 29 for 250 yards and three TDs that would have been four had Jeffery been a step closer to the line.
His final line was 28 for 39 for 313 yards, three TDs and a 121 passer rating.
