The Patriots' Tom Brady completed five of eight third-down passes for 104 yards and five first downs. The week before, Eli Manning completed eight of 12 passes on third down for 148 yards and five first downs.
* Lockout or no lockout, new defensive coordinator or no new defensive coordinator, blown coverages should be few and far between at this advanced stage of the season. But the Eagles' back seven continues to play like they just arrived at training camp and were handed their playbooks.
A classic example was Tom Brady's 23-yard completion to Deion Branch late in the third quarter on a second-and-9 at the New England 3-yard line. Branch lined up wide left and running back Danny Woodhead and tight end Aaron Hernandez lined up in a split backfield. Brandon Hughes played press coverage on Branch.
When the ball was snapped, Woodhead circled out of the backfield to Hughes' side. There was confusion as to who was responsible for Woodhead. Both Hughes and linebacker Jamar Chaney went to cover the Patriots running back, leaving Branch uncovered at the 8. Brady dumped the ball to him and Branch made short work of safety Nate Allen in space, blowing by him for a big gain and a first down.
It was not one of Allen's better days. Both he and slot corner Joselio Hanson bit on a play-fake to Woodhead in the second quarter, leaving wide receiver Wes Welker wide open for an easy 41-yard touchdown catch. Allen also was one of three Eagles defenders along with Hanson and safety Kurt Coleman who had missed tackles on an 18-yard screen to Hernandez in the third quarter that set up a Patriots touchdown.
* Something else that shouldn't be happening this late in the season is a defense being penalized for having 12 men on the field. It happened to the Eagles on a third-and-2 on New England's second possession when the Eagles were too slow making a change at linebacker. Juan Castillo sent Keenan Clayton into the game and Akeem Jordan was supposed to get off. But Jordan was late running off and Brady alertly had center Ryan Wendell quick-snap the ball, giving the Patriots a first down. Later on the same drive, it almost happened again. The Eagles had to waste a timeout to avoid another 12-men-on-the-field penalty on a third-and-1. Turned out to be for nothing. Right after the timeout, defensive tackle Derek Landri jumped offsides, giving the Patriots another free first down.
* The Eagles were flagged for a season-high 10 penalties in Sunday's loss, including three offsides by the defense (Derek Landri, Trent Cole, Jason Babin) and three false starts by the offense (Danny Watkins, Chad Hall, Jason Avant). The Eagles have been called for 19 false starts and 13 offsides this season. Eleven of their 13 offsides penalties have come in their seven losses.
* The Eagles' front four got some good licks on Tom Brady on the Patriots' first couple of possessions, but sacked him just once in the game. The Patriots focused on mostly short, and intermediate, routes that allowed Brady to get the ball out quickly, which made it difficult for the Eagles to get to him. In the second and third quarters, just one of his passes took longer than 2.43 seconds to get out of his hand. Brady held the ball 4.5 seconds on his 63-yard, third-and-13 completion to Deion Branch early in the second quarter that set up the Patriots' second touchdown. The Eagles got outside pressure on him on the play, but no inside push, which allowed him to step up and wait for Branch to get separation from Brandon Hughes, who was covering him on the play.
* Back-to-back plays on the Patriots' first scoring drive underscored the Eagles' deficiencies at linebacker. On the first, Jamar Chaney got beat by Aaron Hernandez for an 11-yard completion on a third-and-3 play that gave the Patriots a first down at the Philadelphia 4-yard line. On the next play, a run by BenJarvus Green-Ellis, center Ryan Wendell double-teamed defensive tackle Cullen Jenkins, leaving an open lane to Green-Ellis for Brian Rolle. But the rookie was too slow to make his move, which gave Wendell time to correct his mistake and get enough of a block on him to prevent him from making the tackle in the backfield on Green-Ellis. The running back scored on the play.
