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The Philadelphia Eagles start slowly, holding off the Cleveland Browns as fans boo

Posted on by Kennedy
The Philadelphia Eagles start slowly, holding off the Cleveland Browns as fans boo

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PHILADELPHIA − The Eagles don't make it easy for themselves, no matter the opponent.

After almost everything went wrong for them, starting with a sluggish offense, a special teams fiasco that gave the Browns a touchdown, and injuries to three key starters, the Eagles somehow found a way to pull out a 20-16 win win over the Cleveland Browns on Sunday.

The Eagles (3-2) scored the go-ahead touchdown on a short pass from Jalen Hurts to DeVonta Smith, who turned it into a 45-yard touchdown with 7:54 left in the fourth quarter.

Still, they had to stop the Browns, who had a first down inside the Eagles' 10-yard line with about five minutes left. However, after the Browns lined up to score the touchdown on 4th-and-8, they were assessed a false start penalty that set them back 5 yards.

Instead, they kicked a field goal.

Then the Eagles drained the final 3 minutes, 54 seconds, sealing the game with two minutes left on a 40-yard deep pass from Hurts to AJ Brown. It was a risky play on 2nd-and-11 because an incomplete pass would have stopped the clock and the Browns still had a timeout.

With another stop they could have won the ball back.

“We had the mindset of, 'Hey, let's not give this ball back,'” Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said. “Don’t put our defense in a position where they can stop them in two minutes.”

For Brown, it was his first game back after missing three games with a hamstring injury. He finished the game with six catches for 116 yards, including a 22-yard touchdown in the second quarter, giving the Eagles a 10-0 lead.

“The game the whole time was throwing me the ball,” Brown said. “We saw what we liked and we made the play.”

Added Hurts, who had his first turnover-free game since Nov. 5 last year over a 12-game stretch: “It's a warning in my head, yeah (to go to Brown because of the coverage). If you warn something, it's always been like that. “The potential to be number one isn't necessarily the guy it's intended for, but everyone is attainable.”

It was a tedious affair until the last journey. The Eagles began the game as if they had another week off against the moribund Browns (1-5), although Brown, Smith and right tackle Lane Johnson returned to the lineup.

They failed to score in the first quarter for the fifth straight time. And the good vibes that the starting offense was intact for the first time since the opening game on Sept. 6 continued through all three games. At that point, star tight end Dallas Goedert left the team with a hamstring injury.

And things got worse when cornerback Darius Slay left in the third quarter with a knee injury and tackle Jordan Mailata left in the fourth quarter with a hamstring injury. Mailata was carried to the locker room.

There was no information about the severity of the injuries after the game.

And Sirianni, who yelled at fans toward the end of the game after they booed the Eagles for most of the game, didn't want to hear about the slow start.

“The defense started fast (expletive),” Sirianni said. “We will say it on offense. The defense started quickly. You know what? (The offense) started slowly. We didn't score in the first two series, but then they put their heads down and went down and got points and then they did it again.

“So, I don’t want that to cross their minds. We didn't make it. We didn’t play well enough and didn’t score early, but we scored and took a 10-point lead.”

The defense sacked beleaguered Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson five times, held him to 168 yards passing and limited the Browns to 244 yards of offense.

It was a big improvement after the Eagles' defensive debacle in their last game, a 33-16 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sept. 29.

Hurts, who started 2-for-8 for 19 yards, finished 16-for-25 for 264 yards and 2 touchdowns.

“I just came out here and played clean,” Hurts said. “It's nice to have a win, especially after all the work we've put in, all the conversations I've had with everyone. “It's good to win. That’s what it’s all about at the end of the day.”

But it was hardly flawless on offense, although Grant Calcaterra, who replaced Goedert, rushed for a career-high 67 yards. His 34-yard catch early in the second quarter led to their first touchdown, a 22-yard pass from Hurts to Brown.

It seemed like that got the Eagles going. Towards the end of the first half they wanted to take control of the game.

The Eagles were facing a 3rd-and-1 from the Browns' 31 with 32 seconds left when Hurts was sacked for an 8-yard loss. Sirianni said after the game that the play call was his idea and not offensive coordinator Kellen Moore.

The Eagles had no choice but to have Jake Elliott attempt a 57-yard field goal. Then Myles Garrett blocked the kick and former Eagle Rodney McLeod picked it up and ran it back for a touchdown.

The Eagles were simply tied 10-10 and the crowd booed them off the field at halftime.

“If you don’t do your job, this is what’s going to happen,” said Smith, who finished with 64 yards receiving.

The booing didn't continue until the third quarter, when the Eagles could only get a 44-yard field goal from Elliott, which the Browns were able to tie early in the fourth quarter.

Then Hurts and Smith connected for a 45-yard TD with 7:54 left. But Watson and the Browns came right back. With about five minutes left, they had a first down at the Eagles' 8. Cleveland was going for the game-winning touchdown on fourth down in the 8th, but a false start penalty changed that.

The Eagles held on from there. Barely.

“Sometimes we make it harder on ourselves,” Johnson said. “We can be more efficient by getting into the end zone instead of settling for a field goal.”

As for the slow starts, Johnson said, “It’s definitely on our minds. (Starting fast) is something we haven't done in a long time, last year actually… A win is a win. It wasn’t pretty.” And the way we start games needs to be better.

Contact Martin Frank at [email protected]. Follow on X @Mfranknfl, on Threads and Instagram @martinfrank1.

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