Atlanta Falcons 12-18 Philadelphia Eagles: Eagles hold on to secure opening night win
Friday 7 September 2018 18:11, UK
Philadelphia Eagles, the defending Super Bowl champions, kicked off the NFL season with an 18-12 win over the Atlanta Falcons.
Two touchdowns from Jay Ajayi in the second half had the Eagles leading late, and in a final drive reminiscent of last season, Matt Ryan's last-second heave to Julio Jones fell incomplete as Philadelphia held on to win.
Perhaps partly due to a 45-minute delay caused by a weather warning before the game, both sides came out flat in a quiet first half that ended 6-3 to Atlanta.
In the second, Philadelphia came out firing. Head coach Doug Pederson had some tricks up his sleeve as his offense re-created the famous 'Philly Special' trick play from last year's Super Bowl.
This time, it was Nelson Agholor finding Nick Foles for a 15-yard gain ahead of Ajayi's first TD run later in the drive.
Atlanta took the lead again in the fourth quarter, turning a Deion Jones interception of Foles into a score through a Tevin Coleman run, but the Eagles responded with 54-yard drive capped by an 11-yard scamper from Ajayi.
Despite 10 catches and 169 yards from Julio Jones - including a pair of key catches on the final drive - the Eagles stopped Atlanta five times at the goal-line to secure the win.
FIRST QUARTER
Falcons 3-0 Eagles: Matt Bryant 21-yard field goal
SECOND QUARTER
Falcons 3-3 Eagles: Jake Elliott 26-yard field goal
Falcons 6-3 Eagles: Bryant 52-yard field goal
THIRD QUARTER
Falcons 6-10 Eagles: Ajayi one-yard run (Elliott XP good)
FOURTH QUARTER
Falcons 12-10 Eagles: Coleman nine-yard run (Bryant XP missed)
Falcons 12-18 Eagles: Ajayi 11-yard run (Ajayi run on two-point conversion successful)
