Eagles Hand Vikings 1st Loss of Season

By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor 

After two weeks of disappointment, the Eagles defense returned in a big way on a big stage.

In their first home game since the dismantling of the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 3, the Eagles defense returned to similar form, holding down the Minnesota Vikings as the Eagles offense was forced to overcome some early struggles.

The Eagles did overcome the slow start to claim a comfortable 21-10 win over the Vikings at Lincoln Financial Field on Sunday.

Scoring Summary

It was a wild first quarter with no scoring and a lot of turnovers from two teams that have protected the ball well all season long.

After both teams went three-and-out on their opening drives in the game, Minnesota got the game's first turnover as Carson Wentz was intercepted by Andrew Sendejo deep in Eagles territory and the ball was returned to the Eagles 2-yard line. 

Three plays later, Sam Bradford threw his first interception of the season, as pressure from Brandon Graham forced an errant throw to Rodney McLeod for his third interception of the season.

Three plays later, the Eagles coughed up the ball again as a bad handoff exchange between Wentz and Darren Sproles led to a recovery by Anthony Barr. On the very next play, Connor Barwin stripped the ball away from Bradford and that was recovered by Malcolm Jenkins. Originally, Jenkins returned the fumble for a touchdown, but was ruled down by contact upon review.

With the offense back on the field, three plays later, Wentz threw into triple coverage and was intercepted by Xavier Rhodes for the third Eagles turnover of the game.

The Vikings got on the board first in the second quarter as Blair Walsh connected on a 48-yard field goal to cap a 12-play, 50-yard drive.

The ensuing kickoff was returned 98 yards by Josh Huff for a touchdown. It marked the second straight game the Eagles had a kickoff return for a touchdown, the first time that has happened in franchise history.

The Eagles went for two points after a roughing the kicker penalty on the extra-point attempt and converted as Wentz kept the ball himself and powered his way into the endzone.

After short drives for both teams, the Vikings were moving into Eagles territory when Bradford was hit under pressure and fumbled again. McLeod forced the fumble which was recovered by Beau Allen.

The Eagles ran 10 plays on the ensuing drive to get into field-goal range and Caleb Sturgis connected on a 35-yard field goal and the Eagles took an eight-point lead into the half.

The Eagles defense took control in the third quarter, keeping the Vikings under pressure and limiting yardage until the closing stages of the quarter. On the Eagles only drive of the third, they capitalized. A nine-play, 77-yard drive was capped by a five-yard touchdown pass from Wentz to Dorial Green-Beckham for his first touchdown as an Eagle. It was the Eagles first offensive touchdown since the third quarter two weeks earlier in Detroit.

The Vikings started driving into Eagles territory at the start of the fourth quarter, but the Eagles defense stood tall again with stops on 3rd and 1 and 4th and 1 to give the Eagles the ball back. The Eagles went three-and-out on the ensuing possession, but a muffed punt allowed the Eagles to recover again at midfield. The Eagles kicked a field goal on that drive as Sturgis connected from 21 yards to extend the lead to 18.

The Vikings scored their only touchdown of the game in the final minutes as Bradford connected with Cordarrelle Patterson for a 14-yard touchdown. It was the first touchdown the Eagles have allowed in the second half of a game this season.

Team Leaders

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Receiving

Team Stats

What's Next

The Eagles return to the field next Sunday night on the road to face the division rival Dallas Cowboys. Kickoff is set for 8:30 p.m.