Philadelphia Eagles defense of their Super Bowl started with an 18-12 win over the Atlanta Falcons last night, in a game that saw Doug Pederson adopt one of the most iconic play calls in NFL history.
With his offense struggling, the Eagles head coach elected to call the "Philly Philly" play. The Patriots ran it during last year's final but the pass to Tom Brady fell incomplete. On what was overall a poor night for Nick Foles, the quarterback ran the play and caught the pass from Nelson Agholor for a 15-yard gain.
Nick Foles is the best WR in Philadelphia Eagles history pic.twitter.com/GZbecmSSkA
— Barstool Sports (@barstooltweetss) September 7, 2018
Eagles OT Lane Johnson on Nelson Agholor’s throw to Nick Foles, tells team broadcast it wasn’t Philly Special: “It was the same play the Patriots used — the one that Tom dropped.”
— Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) September 7, 2018
There is no doubting Foles' hands, as he demonstrated when he caught a pass during a trick play move last year. The image of Foles and Pederson discussing that play is now famous and a statue was even created depicting it. The duo also talked over last night's call before running it.
Elsewhere, Jay Ajayi had a pair of touchdown runs and Matt Ryan to Julio Jones once again failed to produce effective yardage. You can watch full game highlights here.
It came down to the final play once again between the @AtlantaFalcons and @Eagles.
The defending Super Bowl champs came up BIG.
Highlights from #ATLvsPHI! #Kickoff2018 pic.twitter.com/aJm4JKaRyO
— NFL (@NFL) September 7, 2018
Next up, the NFL kicks into gear with Sunday football where the Patriots will return to action against the Texans.
