FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — If you didn’t see this one coming, well, you weren’t alone.

Even though the New England Patriots were short-handed because of injuries, nearly everyone expected them to defeat the Philadelphia Eagles Sunday at Gillette Stadium.

But after Chip Kelly’s Eagles strutted away with a 35-28 victory, you were left wondering two things:

1. Is this the Eagles team everyone expected at the beginning of the season?

2. Is this what we can expect from the Patriots until their injured players return?

The Patriots uncharacteristically imploded, squandering a 14-0 lead with some questionable decisions by both their coaches and star players, as well as poor execution and bad special teams.

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It was a recipe for disaster and the Patriots mixed it very well.

Give the Eagles credit. They had lost three in a row and could have fallen apart after a shaky start against the Patriots.

“It just shows that we are a resilient group,” said defensive back Malcolm Jenkins. “We believe in what we are doing, we believe in the guys that we have in the building, and it was just a matter of playing the way we are capable of playing.”

Those are words that usually come from the Patriots’ locker room. Not on this Sunday.

Instead, the Patriots spoke softly, and about getting better and playing together.

“We’ve just got to go back to the drawing board and try and get ourselves better,” said special teams ace Matthew Slater.

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This loss was stunning in how suddenly it happened.

After Tom Brady threw an 11-yard touchdown pass to Danny Amendola to give the Patriots a 14-0 lead, Bill Belichick decided to not only try an onside kick, but to have former rugby player Nate Ebner take it instead of Stephen Gostkowski. The drop kick was recovered by Philadelphia’s Seyi Ajirotutu at the Eagles’ 41. Eight plays later, Sam Bradford found Zach Ertz in the back of the end zone, and it was 14-7.

Asked why he tried the onside kick, Belichick said, “I think everything we did, we’re trying to do what we think is best.”

Including having Ebner take the kick?

“Because we thought that was the best thing to do,” said Belichick.

Fast forward to the final two minutes of the first half. The Patriots got the ball at their 13 with 1:32 remaining. Instead of going no-huddle to try to add to their lead, the Patriots were cautious. Philadelphia forced a punt by Ryan Allen with 15 seconds left and it was blocked by Chris Maragos. Najee Goode scooped it up at the 24 and ran in for the touchdown, and the Eagles suddenly had tied the game.

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“We blew it, just didn’t block it properly, obviously,” said Belichick.

It was still 14-14 in the third quarter when Brady connected with running back James White for a 24-yard completion to the 1. White was thrown for a 4-yard loss on the next play, however. After an incompletion, Brady tried to hit Amendola, who was covered by two Eagles. Walter Thurmond deflected the pass and Jenkins intercepted it. His 99-yard return gave the Eagles a stunning 21-14 lead.

“It was just a dumb play,” said Brady. “There was really not much chance of a completion, so I should’ve just probably thrown it out of the back of the end zone or found someone else to throw it to. We would’ve kicked three points. It was just a bad play.”

And things got worse for the Patriots. The Eagles forced a punt on New England’s next series.

Darren Sproles fielded it at the Philadelphia 17 and returned it for touchdown that made it 28-14.

It would reach 35-14 before Brady rallied the Patriots to a pair of touchdown drives. And Brady got the ball back with 1:02 left when Jamie Collins – back from his mystery illness – forced a fumble that was recovered by Malcom Brown.

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But there would be no Brady Magic this time. After picking up one first down, he spiked the ball to stop the clock, then threw three incompletions – all dropped by receivers.

At 10-2, the Patriots are still tied with Denver and Cincinnati at the top of the AFC with four games remaining, though both teams hold tiebreakers over New England. They’re still in a good spot, but they can’t afford many more slips.

Yes, they were missing their two best receivers in Rob Gronkowski and Julian Edelman. But they know they can play better.

“You’d love to have everyone healthy,” said Brady. “But it’s just not the reality. You’ve got to find ways to adjust, and we do plenty of good things.

“I think tonight there were just some critical errors that it really came down to. Just a disappointing night. But we’ve got to figure out how to win a game next week.”

 


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