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Eagles defeat Ravens 40-17, Sam Bradford makes his debut

By Anthony DiBona

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There you have it, another dominant win for the Philadelphia Eagles as they beat the Baltimore Ravens tonight, 33-17. Tonight’s game may have been one of the most anticipated preseason games in NFL history. There was a whole lot of hype surrounding Eagles quarterback Sam Bradford making his debut in midnight green after a long recovery from his second torn ACL.

While Bradford didn’t exactly light up the stat-sheet during his first game with the Eagles, he played well overall. But before Bradford took the field, the Eagles defense started the game off in impressive fashion. After giving up a few runs and looking shaky against Ravens running back Justin Forsett and their fearsome offensive line, the Eagles shut down quarterback Joe Flacco through the air.

Eagles head coach Chip Kelly focused on addressing the team’s secondary this offseason and the main additions were safety Walter Thurmond and cornerback Byron Maxwell. Well both players showed up tonight against the Ravens, as each picked off a pass from Flacco. It was quite an impressive showing from the Eagles’ starting defensive unit, especially the secondary.

Following Thurmond’s interception, Bradford took the field for his only drive on the night. Bradford looked rusty throughout the drive, but that’s expected from a player that’s been away for the game as long as he has. Despite Bradford shaking off the cobwebs, he led a 12-play, 84 yard drive that was capped off with a 14-yard rushing touchdown from running back Ryan Mathews. Once again, another one of Kelly’s new additions made a play.

The most telling part of Bradford’s debut drive was the hits he took from the Ravens defense. Controversial outside linebacker Terrell Suggs took quite an intentional shot at Bradford’s knee, which drew a penalty for roughing the passer. Bradford then took a hit from 6-1, 335 pound defensive tackle Brandon Williams that had him checking if his jaw was still intact. All in all, it was promising to see Bradford take a few hard shots and get back up.

Mark Sanchez took the field once Bradford left and looked much better than he did last week…but that isn’t saying much. Although his numbers for the game look good, his overall performance was mediocre at best. The offense was firing on all cylinders to start the game but hit a towards the end of the first half and then…OH MY GOD ANOTHER KENJON BARNER TOUCHDOWN!

He did it again. Eagles running back Kenjon Barner returned a punt 68 yards for a touchdown, after he returned a punt 93 yards for a touchdown last week against the Colts. Although the Eagles and Kelly may not want to keep a fourth running back on their final roster, Barner is making it tough for them to not keep him around. Maybe the Eagles can pull off another trade and ship Barner for a conditional pick, as they did with running back Bryce Brown in the past. But with the age and injury concerns ahead of Barner on the depth chart, it may be worth just keeping him in midnight green.

On the defensive side of the ball, Vinny Curry made his debut at outside linebacker, which was fun to see. Although he was caught biting on play action passes early on in the game, he made adjustments and got better as the game progressed. Curry just has a knack for rushing the passer and generated pressure regardless of where he lined up throughout the night. The future looks bright for Curry on the outside and he could certainly end up rotating in as both the third defensive end and third outside linebacker at the same time.

Once the second half began, another name along the defensive front stood out. This time it was second-year defensive end Taylor Hart. After a “redshirt” rookie season with the Eagles, Hart looks like a changed man on the field. He failed to impress me during last week’s game but he showcased his strength and athleticism this week by generating pressure multiple times. Here are a few clips that demonstrate just how good Hart was tonight:

Despite their impressive showings against the Colts, quarterbacks Matt Barkley and Tim Tebow weren’t nearly as impressive against the Ravens. Both struggled and failed to impress against third and fourth string players. Reports surfaced prior to the game that Barkley is available for trade and he could improve his trade stock with a strong showing on the field but it doesn’t look like he’ll be worth much on the market.

Although the quarterback play wasn’t even remotely at a high level during tonight’s game, the Eagles still posted 40 points against the Ravens which proves just how effective Kelly’s uptempo attack is. I’m pretty sure you could plug in present day Donovan McNabb at quarterback in Kelly’s offense and he’d put up a couple of touchdowns…right now. Kelly’s “college offense” is pretty effective, isn’t it?

That being said, it was a solid showing overall for the Eagles yet questions still remain. Bradford will have to play much more against the Green Bay Packers during their third preseason game to truly prove he’s ready for the preseason. It’ll be interesting to see what happens at inside linebacker once DeMeco Ryans, Kiko Alonso and Mychal Kendricks all finally take the field as well.

All of those questions will be answered throughout this week and during next week’s match-up with the Packers. Be sure to check back here for all of the latest Eagles news, analysis and more!

Next: Eagles lead Ravens 24-0 at halftime, Sam Bradford takes some shots

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