OAKLAND – It was a wild and entertaining first quarter at O.co Stadium that ended with the Eagles leading, 7-3. Nick Foles returned to the starting lineup at quarterback and completed 7 of 8 passes for 99 yards and a touchdown pass to tight end Brent Celek.
Bryce Brown rushed for 44 yards on three carries as the quarter ended with the Eagles in a second-and-6 situation at the Oakland 18-yard line.
Oakland received first. Two key plays kept Oakland's opening drive alive. On a third-and-4 play from 14-yard line, quarterback Terrelle Pryor escaped pressure in his end zone – eluding Cedric Thornton and Connor Barwin -- and found Denarius Moore for 27 yards and a first down. After the defense held on three downs, Kurt Coleman was penalized for running into punter Marquette King and the Raiders still had the football.
But the defense held, and King punted 36 yards to the Philadelphia 16-yard line, where return man DeSean Jackson called for a fair catch. Nick Foles and the offense had its first possession with 9 minutes, 16 seconds remaining in the first quarter.
A holding penalty against Todd Herremans wiped out a LeSean McCoy run for a first down, but Foles went to Riley Cooper on the left side and Cooper gained 42 yards up the sideline into Oakland territory at the 48-yard line.
A pass to tight end Zach Ertz was wild, and then McCoy lost 5 yards on second down. Foles threw over the middle to Jeff Maehl for 19 yards and a first down to the Raiders 32-yard line. Foles completed a screen pass to McCoy for 13 yards and then threw a quick dart to DeSean Jackson on the right side for 8 yards to the Oakland 11-yard line.
On second and 2 from there, McCoy was forced to the sideline for a loss of 1 yard, setting up a third-and-3 play from the 12. Foles went to Ertz over the middle for 10 yards to the 2-yard line, a key completion.
The Eagles scored on the next play, when Foles threw to tight end Brent Celek for Celek's third touchdown of the season. Foles was 6 of 7 for 94 yards on the drive and the Eagles converted two third downs. Six receivers caught passes on the drive.
Oakland put together a 7-play, 74-yard drive on its next possession, with Pryor completing a crossing route to Rod Streater and and Streater turning up the sideline for a 66-yard gain to set up a Sebastian Janikowski 24-yard field goal to cut the Eagles lead to 7-3.
Then the Eagles moved the ball into scoring position, largely behind Brown's outstanding running. Philadelphia gained 158 total yards in the quarter, 99 passing and 59 on the ground.
