Leading up to Sunday's game, it was the creative and conniving Jets defense that garnered all of the big headlines. It's only fitting that the Eagles defense actually put the game's opening points on the scoreboard and paced Sunday's 45-19 demolition of the New York Jets.
Jets wide receiver Santonio Holmes caught a 7-yard pass before he was drilled by strong safety Kurt Coleman and linebacker Casey Matthews. Coleman's hit jarred the ball loose and Juqua Parker, who was lined up as a tackle on the play, picked it up and returned it 47 yards for a touchdown with 8:53 left in the first quarter. It was Parker's second return touchdown of the season and third for his career.
"I just got off the ball and came around on the pass rush and the quarterback threw the ball at the receiver so I went to go chase him down," Parker said. "Somebody made the tackle and I just saw the ball on the ground, picked it up and went in and scored."
That forced turnover was the first of four in the game for the Eagles that led to 21 points. The pass rush, augmented by Juan Castillo's usage of Jason Babin and Trent Cole as stand-up rushers, got to Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez four times. Babin had three sacks, two as a linebacker. Sanchez had just 150 passing yards and threw two interceptions. The Jets didn't get on the board until the Eagles had 28 points. Running back Shonn Greene had 33 yards on his first four carries only to be a relative non-factor and finish with 73 yards on 18 attempts.
The defense was resilient against the league's top-ranked red zone offense. Ahead 7-0, rookie Curtis Marsh muffed a punt that the Jets recovered at the Eagles' 14-yard line. The Jets entered the game having scored a touchdown on 12 straight red zone trips. Two plays later, cornerback Asante Samuel netted his third interception of the year when a short pass attempt bounced off of Holmes into the air. The Jets finished the game just 2-of-5 in the red zone.
"I just made a good, quick reaction, made the pick," Samuel said. "And I think I could have scored, but it's all good, you know getting the team rallying. And they were in the red zone, too. So we stopped them from scoring and that was pretty cool."
Holmes was involved in the two turnovers, but finished with four catches for 40 yards including a 25-yard touchdown. Notorious Eagle killer Plaxico Burress caught one pass for a meaningless 9-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter.
Defensive tackle Mike Patterson forced a fumble that was recovered by cornerback Joselio Hanson which led to the first of LeSean McCoy's three touchdowns of the game. Linebacker Jamar Chaney became the first Eagles linebacker to have three interceptions in a season since William Thomas in 1996 after his third-quarter pick.
The Eagles have kept their opponents to fewer than 20 points in two straight games. They have forced seven turnovers and notched 13 sacks in those contests. The players say that their hard work is being rewarded with the tangible results on the football field.
"When guys are running and hustling, guess what? They're in the right place at the right time because they hustled," Babin said. "There's been some big plays made by everybody at key times. That's what a team does."
The fast start, created by Coleman's forced fumble and Parker's touchdown return on Sunday, set the tone that was implemented for all four quarters.
"You get out there and you don't dig a huge hole for yourself early," defensive tackle Cullen Jenkins said. "Once we start getting on teams and we start carrying that momentum over, we're just trying to finish the games. Not get up and then lose the momentum and then let them back in the game."
The key for the Eagles is carrying that momentum through a short week into Dallas for a Christmas Eve matchup on Saturday.
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