OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Chip Kelly walks by a sign commemorating
Adrian Burk’s record seven touchdown passes in a single game every day
in the Philadelphia Eagles’ offices.
Even knowing the importance of that mark, Kelly saw little reason to allow Nick Foles to try to break it.
Foles
tied an NFL mark with seven touchdown passes and threw for 406 yards
before being replaced in the fourth quarter in the Eagles’ 49-20 victory
over the Oakland Raiders on Sunday.
“I know what the record is,”
Kelly said. “But this isn’t about records, it’s about going out and
getting a win. If I put Nick out there to try to get a record and he
gets hurt, that’s being silly. Records are meant to broken when they’re
supposed to be broken.”
The backup quarterback connected three
times with Riley Cooper to become the seventh passer in NFL history with
seven TD tosses in a game. Peyton Manning did it for Denver on opening
night this season against Baltimore.
Foles also threw scoring
passes to Brent Celek, Zach Ertz, LeSean McCoy and DeSean Jackson as the
Eagles (4-5) looked nothing like the offense that failed to score a
touchdown in each of the past two weeks.
The other players to
reach the record are Burk, Sid Luckman, George Blanda, Y.A. Tittle and
Joe Kapp. Burk did it for the Eagles in 1954 against Washington.
“A
couple people came up to me and said that I tied the record with seven
touchdowns,” Foles said. “It’s a great honor. Hats off to our guys for
doing a great job.”
Here are five things to take away from the Eagles victory over the Raiders:
BOUNCE-BACK
PERFORMANCE: Foles was coming off a historically ineffective
performance two weeks ago against Dallas when he threw for 80 yards on
29 passes — the eighth-lowest total in the last 50 years by an NFL
quarterback with that many passes. After sitting out last week with a
concussion, Foles looked like a completely different quarterback against
the Raiders, throwing scoring passes on his first four drives.
“I
slowed everything down,” he said. “I understood what we were trying to
do. I wasn’t trying to make too big of plays. Obviously there are going
to be times when big plays need to be made, but I was trying to do what I
did all week during practice and just carrying that onto the field.”
EMPTY
YARDS: With the Eagles scoring so quickly, the Raiders managed to run
92 plays and gain 560 yards — the third-most in their history. It was
also the ninth-most yards gained by a losing team since the 1970 merger
and third most in that span by a team that scored 20 or fewer points.
That’s why quarterback Terrelle Pryor saw little positive to take from
the performance despite throwing for 288 yards and running for 94 more.
“It’s
embarrassing,” Pryor said. “I hate losing. It’s not acceptable to me
and I don’t like it. All the guys in here agree with me. We have to do
something about it instead of tanking it.”
RUNNING RILEY: After a
slow start to the season with eight catches and one TD in the first five
games, Cooper has hit his stride in recent weeks. He had five catches
for 139 yards Sunday and became the first Eagles player with three TD
catches in a game since Kevin Curtis in 2007. Cooper has 17 catches for
360 yards and four touchdowns over the last four games.
“It’s
definitely fun when you feel like you’re contributing,” Cooper said.
“That’s the biggest thing. I don’t want to get 1,000 yards every game, I
don’t want multiple touchdowns every game, I just want to contribute
and be there for my teammates.”
HUMBLED HAYDEN: Raiders rookie
cornerback D.J. Hayden had a rough day as Foles repeatedly picked on him
in coverage. He was beaten by Cooper for a 17-yard touchdown and a
63-yard touchdown on successive plays run by the Eagles early in the
second quarter. He also allowed a 59-yard touchdown on a deep pass to
DeSean Jackson in the third quarter, making for a forgettable day by the
No. 12 pick in the draft.
“Nobody’s going to feel sorry for him,”
teammate Charles Woodson said. “And one thing about it is he was in
position. He was in position to make plays. Those are plays he’s going
to have to make going forward.”
IMPROVING DEFENSE: After allowing
34.5 points per game the first four weeks, the Eagles have held their
last five opponents to 21 points the last five games. The only other
team to be so stingy in that span is undefeated Kansas City.
“I
just thought that we executed well today,” safety Nate Allen said. “Guys
made plays when we needed to and got off the field on some big third
downs. Yeah, main thing is we executed well and played well as a
defense.”
