PHILADELPHIA _ It was an oddly gray, gloomy October day in South Philadelphia, as the Eagles blew away the winless New York Jets, 31-6, and somehow still managed to not look as impressive as the score might indicate.
The Eagles took eight penalties for 66 yards as Carson Wentz and the offense spent far too much time behind the chains. But a 10-sack, two-touchdown effort by the defense made the game a rout. Third-string Jets quarterback Luke Falk was pummeled mercilessly in his second NFL start. he compiled a 37.0 passer rating and endured nine of the 10 sacks.
The 3-2 Eagles are going to have to play a much more complete game to win next week at Minnesota. Or the week after at Dallas. Or the week after that at Buffalo. But they probably know that.
Wentz left the field in favor of Josh McCown after completing 17 of 29 passes for 189 yards and a touchdown. On a day when running yards were harder to come by than they had been the previous game at Green Bay, you could see how much the loss of DeSean Jackson limits Wentz's options.
The Eagles' start was by far their best of the season, not that it had much competition. The Jets went three-and-out with a third-down sack by Brandon Graham, the first time the defense has gotten off the field without giving up point on an opponent's first drive.
The Eagles got the ball at their 47 and scored in nine plays, helped by Wentz's fortuitous chase-down of a bad shotgun snap, which he picked up and threw at the feet of Mack Hollins. This avoided a 22-yard loss that almost certainly would have limited the team to a field goal.
Then, Jets quarterback Luke Falk, in his second NFL start, failed to see Nate Gerry jumping a route on fourth and 1. Gerry returned the interception 51 yards for the Eagles' first 14-0 lead of the season.
However, something happened at the end of the play that foreshadowed later events � apparently for no reason at all, Eagles defensive end Derek Barnett threw a cut block, fortunately for the Eagles, just after Gerry crossed the goal line. That's a 15-yard penalty, which was enforced on the ensuing kickoff.
Barnett was penalized 15 yards and fined $28,075 for his helmet-first hit on the first play of the Packers game. He has three personal fouls in five games.
For a while, the Eagles' offense seemed to have lost interest in adding to the score; it was pretty obvious the Jets weren't going anywhere. The home team pretty much put a damper on the crowd's celebration by gaining minus-23 yards on the next three possessions. Somewhere in there, Wentz missed Nelson Agholor on a TD bomb just off Agholor's fingers, and Doug Pederson challenged that pass interference should have been called. On replay, Agholor was obviously bumped offstride well downfield, but maybe not after the ball was thrown. Pederson's challenge was denied.
The Eagles' offense got it together long enough to drive for a late-second-quarter TD, and a 21-0 lead that wasn't entirely satisfying.
In the second half, the defense continued to dominate, the offense continued to bog itself down with penalties and mistakes.
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The Jets got on the board mostly because Darren Sproles suffered a quad pull. Corey Clement took the field on the next punt, which was short. It caromed near new Eagle Ryan Lewis. Clement must have thought it hit Lewis, because he leaped and tipped it as it bounced high. The Jets recovered on the Eagles' 19 and then scored on an end-around.
But Orlando Scandrick, fresh off his California couch, wrestled the ball away from Falk during a sack and ran it in from 44 yards, making it 31-6 and sending much of the crowd shuffling for the exits.
