PHILADELPHIA — The Eagles’ league-leading rushing defense is as advertised. Philadelphia held the Broncos to 35 yards on the ground, their lowest output of the season. Denver averaged 1.8 yards per rushing play, gained only one first down on the ground and had five rushes stopped for a loss.
“Everybody is doing their job,” Eagles defensive end Brandon Graham said. “When you know itap a run, we’re calling it out. So if we see it, we just trust it and go with it. Sometimes itap play-action, but at least we have the mindset of ‘this is a power play or this is a trap play.’
“In the red zone, we know we’re going to get one-to-trap. I think (linebacker) Mychal (Kendricks) made a great play stopping them on the one trap on the goal-line. Thatap because people were yelling, ‘Trap, trap, trap.’ Even though (Denver) scored, thatap why we are so good against the run because everybody is reading their keys and trusting their game preparation. Itap paying off because we know what it is coming.”
Eagles’ safety Malcolm Jenkins said the lopsided win surprised even them, but they trusted in their defense.
“With the stable of (defensive) backs that we have, it makes it hard for anybody to stop us when it comes to running the ball,” he said. “Our defense has been good against the run all year. I think when you put all those things together, that complementary football really make s hard on teams that don’t have the same balance that we do.”
Inactives. Receiver Emmanuel Sanders returned against Eagles after missing two games because of an ankle sprain, but inside linebacker needs another week to recover from his ankle sprain. started in place of Davis, who was joined on the inactive list by reserve tackle (calf), rookie running back De’Angelo Henderson, receiver , cornerback , rookie linebacker DeMarcus Walker and quarterback .
For the Eagles, tight end was inactive with a hamstring injury. Ertz tested his hamstring during warmups and was hopeful of playing, but was unable to go.
Drought over. scored a 1-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter to snap his scoring drought at 13 games. The last time Thomas has scored a touchdown was Nov. 13, 2016, at New Orleans.
Thomas’ touchdown Sunday was also the first by a Broncos receiver since Week 2 of this season, against Dallas.
Footnotes. Safety Darian Stewart was the Broncos’ game-day captain. … Denver lost 105 yards on 14 penalties, tied for the second-most in a game in franchise history. Said cornerback : “Penalties killed us. … I feel like we had tight coverage and then bam, a penalty. We have killed ourselves with too many penalties, but today, you cannot make that many mistakes against an offense as good as them.”
