PHILADELPHIA (AP) Sam Bradford kept the New York Giants in the game. His defense wouldn’t let Eli Manning do anything.
DeMarco Murray ran for 109 yards and a touchdown, Nolan Carroll returned one of Manning’s two interceptions for a score and the Philadelphia Eagles beat the Giants 27-7 Monday night.
The Eagles had three takeaways, sacked Manning three times and forced two intentional grounding penalties.
”All the credit goes to them,” Bradford said of Philadelphia’s defense. ”For us to go where we want to go, I’ve got to play much better.”
No kidding.
Bradford threw for 280 yards with a 32-yard TD pass to Riley Cooper, but had three interceptions. The Giants got zero points off the turnovers.
”We were stagnant,” Giants coach Tom Coughlin said. ”They did more with their opportunities than we did.”
The Eagles (3-3) have won two straight to move from last place in the NFC East into a tie for first with the Giants (3-3). The teams meet again in Week 17.
Neither team looked sharp in front of a prime-time audience. They combined for seven turnovers and 21 penalties.
”That’s bad football,” Coughlin said.
The Giants gave the Eagles first downs on a roughing-the-passer penalty and a running-into-the-kicker penalty to keep both of their TD drives going.
Wearing all-black uniforms for the third time in franchise history, the Eagles got off to another slow start.
Manning completed his first 10 passes, including a 13-yard TD pass to Odell Beckham Jr. for a 7-0 lead.
But things went downhill for Manning from there.
The Eagles took a 14-7 lead in the second quarter when Carroll jumped in front of a pass intended for Dwayne Harris and ran it back untouched for his first career TD.
”Terrible read by me, bad decision to make that throw,” Manning said. ”I should have gone to my next guys in my progression.”
After Nikita Whitlock ran into punter Donnie Jones to give Philadelphia a first down at its 28, Murray took over. He had two runs of 11 yards each and finished off the drive with a 12-yard TD run to give Philadelphia a 24-7 lead in the third quarter.
The Eagles were 1-3 before a 39-17 win over the New Orleans Saints at home last week. They’ll travel to play unbeaten Carolina (5-0) next Sunday night.
The Giants had won three in a row. They’ll host Dallas (2-3) next week.
Here’s some things we learned from the game:
MURRAY’S BACK: Murray had his best game since joining the Eagles after a record-breaking season in Dallas. The All-Pro led the NFL in rushing last year and broke Emmitt Smith’s single-season club record, but has struggled in Philadelphia. He entered the game with 130 yards this season. He has 192 of his 239 yards in the last two games. ”It was good to get him going,” Eagles coach Chip Kelly said.
RUNNING UP-TEMPO: The Giants came out playing Kelly’s style of football, running a no-huddle offense. They moved right down the field and Manning connected with Beckham across the middle for a score. But that was it.
THE NFC LEAST: The ugly, sloppy performance by both teams was fitting for a division that doesn’t have a team with a winning record. The Eagles have already lost at home to Dallas and at Washington. ”We have to be able to own the NFC East if we want to go into the playoffs,” Eagles safety Walter Thurmond said.
MISTAKE-PRONE: Kelly blamed a couple of Bradford’s picks on receivers running the wrong routes. Bradford said the team is ”lacking attention to detail.” That’s not a good sign for an offense six weeks into the season.
DOMINANT HALF: The Eagles held the Giants to 55 total yards in the second half, including 27 yards passing. ”It was tough to find completions out there,” Manning said.
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AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and www.twitter.com/AP-NFL
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Follow Rob Maaddi on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP-RobMaaddi
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