PASS THE TEST

With a bulls eye on the Patriots and their 10-0 record, every week can end up being a challenge. And with a desperate 5-5 Philadelphia Eagles team in town for a Sunday Night nationally televised game, a challenge it was in week 12.
The Pats came in 24 point favorites over the A.J. Feeley fronted NFC East team. Things started off great as Samuel picked off Feeley and took it back for the pick 6. But surprisingly, the Eagles fought back and responded with a td of their ow and we had a 7-7 game early on. The Pats scored again after Tom Terrific drove the team down the field on all pass plays until Evans ran it in from the one.
After tying it up at 14 a peice, the Eagles continued to take agressive chances to hang weith the merciless Pats. In an earlier drive they went for it on 4th down, and after tying it up they attempted a first half onside kick and recovered! That's when you knew thePats actually had an opponent this time.
The Pats marched down the field after Philadelphia could not take advantage of gaining the onside kick and took a 17-14 lead on a 23 yard field goal by Gostkowski. Once again though Feeley continued to exploit the Pats somewhat confused secondary and marched down the field and gave his team a 4 point cushion.
The back-and-forth game continued late in the first half as Brady continued to exploit the Eagles secondary by going inside and underneath to Moss, Gaffney and specifically Welker. A Gaffney late score put the Pats up 24-21 at halftime. Ironically, the Pats only rushed 1 time in the first half. Every play featured Brady in the shotgun and Faulk in instead of Maroney.
The 3rd quarter featured two big plays that affected the scoring. After Gostkowski missed a 32 yard field goal, the Eagles went down the field and shocked the Pats with another td and the game was 28-24 going to the 4th.
Welker continued to play light's out, as Moss was double covered and shut down in the process, and worked well with Brady and the Pats took a 31-28 lead with 7 minutes to go.
In the end, Feeley threw 2 late picks on the Eagles final 2 late drives and the Pats held on for the victory. A close call was all it was. Brady finished 34-54 with a td and 380 yards. Feeley looked great but his 3 picks were clearly the difference on this night. Welker was player of the game with a career high in catches and yards. Samuel's 2 picks did not hurt either.