Cornerback Ronald Darby spent a lot of time this summer guarding Bills wide receivers in practice and he was back in that position on Thursday night.
The big difference was that Darby was now wearing an Eagles uniform after last week’s trade that sent him to Philly in exchange for wide receiver Jordan Matthews and a third-round pick and that Bills coach Sean McDermott couldn’t just blow a play dead if Darby stifled the offense. That meant Darby got to weave through the Bills for 48 yards after picking off a pass Tyrod Taylor threw under pressure from his new teammates.
After the game, Eagles coach Doug Pederson expressed his happiness with how Darby played after less than a week after he joined the team.
“Yeah, it’s very impressive,” Pederson said in comments distributed by the team. “Very exciting. Encouraging, obviously. He’s definitely going to help us there in the back end. You kind of credit some of the throws, too, to our defensive line. The pass rush was there tonight and disrupting some of the timing offensively.”
Darby got a game ball from his new teammates after the game and there will likely be more in his future if he continues to turn around what was shaping up to be a major trouble spot for the Eagles before last week’s trade.