A thunderstorm delayed the Eagles’ championship celebration. It did not rain on their parade, though.
The Falcons’ 2017 season ended in Philadelphia with an incomplete pass in the end zone to Julio Jones. They opened the 2018 season in Philadelphia with an incomplete pass in the end zone to Julio Jones.
It was an encore for the Eagles defense, keeping the Falcons out of the end zone despite Atlanta running six red-zone plays in the final minute. On the final play, Matt Ryan went to Jones, who caught the ball out of bounds, preserving the Eagles’ 18-12 victory.
In the divisional playoff round, the Falcons drove it to the Philadelphia 9 with 1:19 remaining. Atlanta got it to the 2, where Ryan’s pass to Julio Jones fell incomplete on fourth down. The Eagles ran out the clock and won 15-10.
The Eagles used a spinoff of the Philly Special to get their stagnant offense going in the second half. Receiver Nelson Agholor completed a 15-yard pass to quarterback Nick Foles, and five plays later, Jay Ajayi scored on a 1-yard run. Ajayi also scored on an 11-yard touchdown run.
Here are five more things we learned during Thursday Night Football:
1. The Eagles miss Carson Wentz and Alshon Jeffery.
Philadelphia is not the same team it will be once it gets its star quarterback and star receiver back. Wentz went through a pregame workout as he works his way back from the knee injury that prematurely ended his 2017 season, but he remains “several more weeks” from a return, Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reported earlier Thursday.
Wentz tore his anterior cruciate ligament and his lateral collateral ligament in game against the Rams. It’s the damage to the LCL that has delayed Wentz’s return, per Rapoport.
Foles struggled in the preseason, and it continued into the regular season. He went 19-for-34 for 117 yards, no touchdowns, an interception and a 50.7 passer rating. It was hardly the stuff of a Super Bowl MVP.
2. How about that Philadelphia defense?
The Eagles allowed only one touchdown and two field goals. The Falcons had 299 yards as the Eagles frustrated Ryan, who went 21-of-43 for 251 yards, an interception and a 57.4 passer rating. The Eagles sacked him four times, including 1.5 each for Chris Long and Jordan Hicks, and hit Ryan nine other times.
Philadelphia allowed no points in the final two minutes of the second half last year, and they held the Falcons out of the end zone in the waning minutes Thursday.
3. The Falcons still have red-zone problems.
Atlanta insisted the entire offseason it had solved its red-zone problems after scoring touchdowns on only 50 percent of its red-zone trips, ranking 23rd in the league. It didn’t.
The Falcons had five red-zone trips Thursday night. They scored a touchdown, kicked a field goal, threw an interception, turned it over on downs and ran out of time. It was not pretty.
Atlanta ran 17 plays in the red zone, including two penalties on the Eagles. Nine of the Falcons’ red-zone snaps came inside the 10-yard line, including the final play.
Ryan went 1-for-9 with an interception in the red zone, according to ESPN Stats & Info.
4. Penalties. Penalties. Penalties. More penalties.
It’s hard to know whether the fact that it was the season opener led to 26 penalties between the two teams or if that’s the way the season is going to go. The Chiefs and Patriots combined for 21 penalties in last season’s opening game.
But only one of the 256 games last season had 24 or more penalties, according to Rick Gosselin. Tampa Bay and Miami combined for 26 penalties for 205 yards in Week 11 last season.
Thursday’s game was unwatchable at times with flag after flag after flag.
Of all the penalties, though, none was for lowering the helmet.
The Falcons’ 15 penalties were the most by the team since 1990 and only two short of tying the team record.
5. Julio Jones is hard to stop, but the Falcons still can’t figure out how to get him in the end zone.
Jones had 10 catches for 169 yards, his 40th career 100-yard game. That broke the franchise record for most career 100-yard games, a mark he previously shared with Roddy White.
But Jones was on the sideline on the Falcons’ early fourth-down, goal-line play, and he caught the ball out of bounds on the final play of the game.
Ryan was 0-for-3 with an interception when targeting Jones in the red zone. When targeting Jones in the end zone, Ryan is only 1-for-20 the past two seasons, including the postseason, according to ESPN Stats & Info.
He made 88 catches for 1,444 yards last season but scored only three times.