Eagles DB Ronald Darby defends Julio Jones during Eagles win over the Falcons. Jones had 169 yards on ten catches, but no TDs. Photo by Andy Lewis / contrastphotography.com

Eagles head coach Doug Pederson saw his offense was not coming out of his first-half funk against the Atlanta Falcons in the season opener at the Linc; so he went retro.

With 7:41 left in the third quarter and trailing 6-3, Pederson called for the “Philly Special,” the trick play that will live forever in Eagles folklore as the touchdown play that has become the face of the Birds Super Bowl win last February.

This time, instead for Tre Burton throwing the ball to Nick Foles, it was Nelson Agholor, who took the pitch from Corey Clement, which was his role from the Super Bowl.

The pass went for 15 yards and was the key play in an 11-play, 63-yard drive that ended with a one-yard touchdown run by Jay Ajayi to give the Eagles a 10-6 lead. The Eagles (1-0) would go on to register an 18-12 win over the Falcons (0-1).

Foles, who struggled all night, was asked if he or the coach called the play.

“Honestly we were both thinking the same thing at the same time,” said Foles who finished the game 19 of 34 for 117 yards and no TDs. He was sacked twice and was charge with an interception in the fourth quarter. “I went over there to talk to him to say this might be a good time and he pointed to the call sheet and it was like, “That was what I was coming over here for.’ So it worked again.”

Foles was asked what was going through his mind when they called ‘Philly Philly’ and if he thought it helped get the offense going.

“You know in games like this, Atlanta is a tremendous team,” Foles said. “Their defense did an amazing job tonight. Mixing up the coverages. They did really good in their man-coverage tonight. But in the game right there when it’s third down, you need a big conversion, but you also want to get some momentum going. We knew we could probably get them in man coverage at that time. They don’t really count for me, they dropped me, gave me a little bit of time, Nelly [Agholor] got on the edge and made a great throw. I think that was a huge momentum boost for us during the game.”

Falcons head coach Dan Quinn said he knew the Eagles might try a trick play, but his team apparently was fooled.

“I think I expected them to have some, what we call, ‘gadget-plays,’” Quinn said. “We certainly give them credit for it. I’d say the momentum was there and then after, defensively, I thought we got backed up on a punt right there at the end of the game. We punted, had a facemask [penalty] and they push it down the field. That was another shift in momentum, too. But in a game like this, that kind of happens where it goes back-and-forth. I’ll give them credit, they made a good play on that one. But I thought defensively, there were some real signs of things I liked. We played well man-to-man [and] did a good job on the deep ball. But at the end, we thought there were some leaky yards in the run game defensively for us.”

The Eagles could not have played worse during the first quarter Thursday night. Foles looked flat, two needless penalties, two sacks allowed and a running game that was nowhere to be seen.

The Birds defense was up and down but came up big twice after long Matt Ryan drives. The Philadelphia native’s game-opening drive went all the way to the Eagles one-yard line. The the Falcons biggest Nemesis – itself – showed again as the Birds stuffed DeVonta Freeman at the two-yard line after the Falcons went for it on fourth-and-goal from the one-yard line.

Linebacker Jordan Hicks was asked how he read the play on Atlanta’s fourth-and-one attempt during their first series of the game, a play that the Birds blew up resulting in Kamu Grugier-Hill tackling Falcons running back Freeman at the two-yard line.

“We knew they were going to try to test our edges and they actually ran that play on second down, so I knew they were going to run the ball,” said Hicks, who led the team with seven total tackles and a sack and a half in his first game back since mid-season 2017. ” So it opened up, it’s goal line, and I’m coming downhill. He sees me and he bounces outside. Kamu did a great job holding that edge because if you don’t have two good edges on that type of play it’s over. I’ll tell you what, no matter what position we’re put in, no matter what scenario we have, we have confidence that we can make a stand. We have confidence that as long as we have a blade of grass, we’re going to defend them. You’ve seen it through preseason. There were two games in a row where we had first-and-goal on the one-yard line and we held them. We take a lot of pride in our red zone defense. We take a lot of pride in not letting them get in there.”

The Eagles next drive they failed to get a first down and punted. Cameron Johnston’s boot was effective and seemed to have been downed at the Falcons 40-yard line. But a 15-yard penalty on Shelton Gibson gave Atlanta the ball at the the Birds 44-yard-line.

Atlanta’s drive stalled at the Eagles three-yard line and the Falcons had to settle for a 21-yard Matt Bryant field goal.

The Birds offense stalled again on a drive that started at their on 31-yard line as Foles was sacked twice and recovered his own fumble.

The Eagles defense heated up forcing a three-and out highlighted by Linebacker Brandon Graham’s two tackles for loss on Freeman, who finished with six carries for 36 yards.

Foles and the Eagles offense came to life on their first drive of the second quarter. The Birds put together a 14-play, 52-yard drive that ended with a Jake Elliott 26-yard field goal make the score 3-3.
Atlanta tacked on 52-yard field goal to go up 6-3 at the half.

The Eagles amassed 68 total yards in the half. The Falcons produced 152 but only managed six points.
Neither team move the ball in the third quarter until the “Philly Special” struck again for a 15-yard gain on third down that gave the Eagles a first down at the 26-yard line.

Foles then hit Zach Ertz over the middle for pass to the five-yard line. Sproles went four yards before Jay Ajayi scored from the one to make the score 10-6 4:37 left in the third.

On the ensuring kickoff Nathan Gerry committed another mind-numbing 15-yard penalty. But a 15-yard clipping penalty on offensive lineman Ryan Schraeder and a pass breakup by Ronald Darby forced Atlanta to punt.

The Falcons took 12-10 lead with 9:53 left in the fourth quarter when Tevin Coleman scored on nine-yard run. Veteran kicker Matt Bryant missed the extra point.

The touchdown was set up when Foles hit rookie tight end Dallas Goedert, who saw the ball pop out of his hands and right to linebacker Dion Jones, who returned the pick 20 yards giving Ryan the ball at the Eagles 27-yard line.

But Foles was able to put together an eight-play, 54-yard drive that ended with Ajayi scoring on an eleven-yard run, his second touchdown of the game. The two point conversion, also a run by Ajayi, give the Eagles am 18-12 lead they would not surrender. Ajayi led the Eagles with 62 yards on 15 carries.

The Falcons reprised their infamous last drive from last year’s Divisonal playoff game, driving 13 plays to the Eagles five-yard line only to have Ryan throw five consecutive incomplete passes (one called back on penalty).

Ryan was just as bad as Foles going 21 of 43 for 251 yards, no TD passes and one brutal intercpetion to Rasul Douglas early in the fourth quarter. He was sacked four times.

Julio Jones did what he always does. Amassed 169 yards on ten catches (targeted 19 times) and zero trips to the end zone.

Ryan was asked about correcting the team’s red zone offense, which has long been an issue in recent years for the Falcons.

“Just keep working at it. It’s a long season, and tonight wasn’t what we wanted. We’ll continue to go at it in practice and make it a point of emphasis. I really believe we’re going to make those plays as we move forward. It just comes down to making a play here or there. When we get those chances again, we’ll come up with those plays. We’re going to continue to work at it and practice it. We’re disappointed that we didn’t make those plays tonight, but I’m confident that we’re going to move forward.”

The Eagles seem to be a just bit more confident when it comes to the Falcons.

Follow Al Thompson on Twitter @thompsoniii