At least for one night, Chip Kelly’s fast paced offense looks like it can be successful at the NFL level.
LeSean McCoy certainly looked at home as he ran for 184 yards on 31 carries and a touchdown as the Philadelphia Eagles picked up a 33-27 victory over the Washington Redskins. As a team, the Eagles rushed for 265 yards on the night.
The Philadelphia Eagles raced out to a 26-7 halftime lead with the Washington Redskins’ only points coming on a deflected backward pass that DeAngelo Hall returned 75 yards for a touchdown. Michael Vick was efficient through the air going 15 of 25 for 203 yards with touchdown passes to DeSean Jackson and Brent Celek.
The Eagles ran 53 plays in the first half of the game. By contrast, the Carolina Panthers ran just 50 plays all game against the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday. The Eagles are going to play fast and it’s going to cause problems for opposing defenses.
Meanwhile, RG3 looked more like RG1.5 most of the night. Robert Griffin III seemed to be favoring his surgically repaired knee in his first game action since a playoff game with the Seattle Seahawks in January. Griffin wasn’t driving through his throws and his accuracy was noticeably affected at times.
However, the Redskins defense began to slow down the Eagles attack in the second half as they slowly worked back into contention. Washington finally got their first offensive score of the night with six seconds left in the third quarter on a six-yard touchdown run from Alfred Morris.
Griffin then tossed a pair of touchdowns to Leonard Hankerson in the fourth quarter - the second coming with 1:14 left to play to draw within six points at 33-27. The onside kick from Kai Forbath was recovered by Jason Avant to preserve the win for the Eagles.
Griffin finished the night completing 30 of 49 passes for 329 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions. Morris was held in check by the Eagles defense as he carried just 12 times for 45 yards,