The Philadelphia Eagles hold a 10-7 lead over the New England Patriots after one quarter of action in Philly thanks to an unexpectedly aggressive offensive attack.
With backup Vince Young in for the Eagles' franchise QB in Michael Vick, the Patriots did not enter the game expecting a major passing attack. Those expectations will clearly have to be re-evaluated after the way the Eagles played their first couple of drives. Starting out at the 16 after a poor return effort, Vince Young let loose three straight passes. The first one went 22 yards to bring the Eagles out to the 38 yard line, the second fell incomplete, and the third left the Patriots reeling. A perfectly thrown lob over the top to sophomre Riley Cooper went for 58 yards, setting up a quick touchdown run. With just over two minutes gone the Eagles had gone 84 yards in five plays to take a 7-0 lead.
If that drive was a message to the Patriots to watch for the deep ball, they apparently weren't paying too much attention. After New England's first drive of the game stalled out on a curious 3rd-and-2 pass call, the Eagles went right back to the air. A wide open DeSean Jackson picked up 44 yards on the first play of the ensuing Philadelphia drive, bringing the Eagles into New England territory. The passing game would falter there, however, with three straight incompletions forcing the Eagles to settle for a field goal.
The Patriots would not use quite so much flair to get on the board, but would do so all the same on their next possession. A steady diet of BenJarvus Green-Ellis runs and short passes brought the Patriots slowly-but-surely into the Red Zone, where an 11 yard strike to Aaron Hernandez sealed the deal, bringing New England within three as the quarter wound down.