LeSean McCoy rushed for 130 yards and a touchdown against the Titans. Photo by Tom Engler/ contrastphotography.com

There is nothing like facing a last-place team a week after getting the stuffing knocked out of you.

The Tennessee Titans provided the relief as the Eagles jumped out to a 17-0 lead in the first quarter and never looked back, cruising to a win 43-24 win and improving their record 8-3 and setting up their Thanksgiving showdown in Dallas.

To be honest, the Eagles looked back a little.

The Birds scored on the very first play of the game when rookie Josh Huff took the opening kickoff seven Yards deep in the end zone and took it to the house, setting an Eagles franchise record for a kick return.
Head coach Chip Kelly said he wants his team to start fast and well, that was fast.

“Obviously, we talk about starting fast, but I don’t think you can get a faster start than that,” Kelly said. “Both teams obviously, and you’ve been on both sides, you’ve been there. Teams are excited, they’re ready to go. They’ve got a game plan in, [say] ‘Let’s execute it, let’s go play,’ and then you take the opening kickoff, I think that’s got to take a little wind out of your sails if you’re the opponent.”

Titans head coach Ken Whisenhunt agreed.

“That’s not the way you want to start the game off,” Whisenhunt said. ‘”It’s tough. But to get down 17-0, I thought we made a good recovery in the second quarter.”

Mark Sanchez then led the Eagles on an eight-play 51-yard drive that ended with a Darren Sproles four-yard run to make the score 14-0.

After two Tennessee three-and-outs sandwiched around an Eagles short drive that stalled, The Birds marched 46 yards for a 36-yard Cody Parkey field goal and it looked like an early day for the Eagles starters.

But The Titans fought back, taking advantage of a Sanchez interception by cornerback Brandon Ghee at the Eagles 30-yard line.

After a Titans 10-yard penalty, rookie quarterback Zach Mettenberger hit Justin Hunter with a 40-yard strike to make it 17-7.

The Eagles answered with a Parkey 26-yard field goal to go up 20-7.

The Titans responded with a five-play 81-yard drive and a Shonn Greene two-yard plunge to make it 20-14.

You could feel the anxiety creep in a bit with the crowd at the Linc.

But the Eagles, led by LeSean McCoy, would score again and head into the locker room with a 27-17 lead.

Parkey finally missed with seven seconds left in the half. It was a 49-yard attempt that hit the left upright and careened away in the wrong direction.

The Eagles pulled away at the start of the third quarter.

After an unusual Titans turnover, a batted pass by Mettenberger that landed in the hands of Brian Schwenke, his center, who then fumbled when the 6-foot-3, 318 pounder tried to advance the ball…the Eagles scored on a 14-yard pass from Sanchez to James Casey to go up 34-17.

The home team was never seriously threatened after that.

Sanchez finished 30 of 43 for 307 yards, one touchdown pass, two interceptions and was sacked twice.

McCoy had a solid game rushing 21 times for 130 yards and a touchdown.
McCoy was asked about the difference in the run game this week.

“We just stuck to it,” said McCoy, who now has 859 yards on the season. “Coming off a terrible loss to Green Bay, everybody focused in and had a terrific week of practice and we just stuck to it. I think everybody executed, they got the backs in one-on-one situations. The guys up front really, really blocked well. Even the guys outside, the wide receivers, they blocked well too so it was just all together. I think Mark [Sanchez] played good and made the right calls and the different reads, got points when we needed points and drove the ball well. Overall, we did well.”

Jordan Matthews and Jeremy Maclin each caught six passes for 77 and 59 yards respectively.

Mettenberger was 20 for 39 for 345 yards and two touchdown passes. He was intercepted once and sacked five times with Connor Barwin and Trent Cole notching two apiece.

Cole said the defense wanted to rebound after losing to the Packers they way they did last week.

“After a loss like that we have to regroup,” Cole said. “We needed big plays. We needed to learn what we did wrong, learn from our mistakes, focus on things at practice. We knew we needed a win here, get the vibe going and get ready for Dallas.”

Without much of a running game – the Titans had just 52 yards on 19 carries – it was hard for Mettenberger to be consistent. And he is no Aaron Rogers.

“Obviously you’re playing a different quarterback, so he held on to it a little bit longer,” Kelly said. “I think [Mettenberger’s] time of throwing the ball away was probably a little bit less than Aaron [Rodgers’] was a week ago. But I think our guys were relentless in terms of going after it. I don’t think [defensive coordinator] Billy [Davis] schemed very much. It was a lot of three-man and four-man rush, so individual match-ups going. I thought they played really, really hard. Connor [Barwin] had a couple nice moves in there to get in. I thought Trent [Cole] played outstanding today, so I just think it was some real good individual efforts.”

Kelly will need the same effort, maybe more, this Thursday.