Eagles Survive Lions Challenge, Win Opener, 38-35

The defnse didn't have many bright spots, aside from James Bradberry's pick-6, but the offense ran for 216 yards behind Jalen Hurts and Miles Sanders

USA Today

DETROIT – The Detroit Lions never went away.

The stars of HBO’s summer series, ‘Hard Knocks,’ answered just about every touchdown the Eagles threw at them.

It still wasn’t enough, and the Eagles escaped the madhouse atmosphere with a crowd of 64,537 on hand at Ford Field to open their season of great expectations with a 38-35 win on Sunday.

Five different players scored for the Eagles, including cornerback James Bradberry, whose 27-yard interception return for a touchdown opened up a 21-7 lead midway through the second quarter. 

The TD came just 1 minute, eight seconds after Miles Sanders ended his 13-game touchdown drought with a 1-yard run.

Sanders had 13 yards on 96 carries, none bigger than the 29-yard scamper around the left side on third-and-short that gave the Eagles a first down on the Lions’ 49 at the two-minute warning.

Jalen Hurts had the Eagles’ first touchdown of 2022, a 1-yard walk-in score on fourth-and-goal that evened the game at 7-7 with 12:56 to play in the second quarter.

Boston Scott and Kenny Gainwell each had touchdown runs as well.

Like Bradberry, A.J. Brown’s Eagles debut was a smash.

The WR had 10 catches for 155 yards, including a 54-yard catch of a beautifully thrown ball from Jalen Hurts that helped the Eagles get a 23-yard field goal from Jake Elliott at the end of the first half to take a 24-14 lead at the break.

DeVonta Smith didn’t have a catch.

Tight end Dallas Goedert made three for 60.

The Eagles’ defense, however, never really found its footing, and kept the Lions in the game, unable to make a key stop and force a second-half punt.

Maybe that’s a product of a summer spent not tackling to the ground, but whatever it was, it has to get fixed.

Bradberry’s play stood out, though.

But there wasn’t much to hang a hat on with that unit, especially after Philadelphia opened up a 38-21 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

There was only one sack, shared by Fletcher Cox and Brandon Graham and safety Marcus Epps made a game-high 10 tackles, but D’Andre Swift had 144 yards rushing on 15 carries as Detroit’s rushing attack churned out 181 yards.

The Eagles’ running game was better.

In addition to Sanders, Hurts had 90 yards, including a critical fourth-and-one QB sneak that sealed the win.

The Eagles put up 216 yards on the ground.

Hurts completed 18 of 32 passes for 243 yards.

The Eagles will play the first of nine home games this season when the Minnesota Vikings come to two on Monday night.

Ed Kracz is the publisher of SI.com’s Fan Nation Eagles Today and co-host of the Eagles Unfiltered Podcast. Check out the latest Eagles news at www.SI.com/NFL/Eagles or www.eaglesmaven.com and please follow him on Twitter: @kracze.