Patriots at Eagles
THE STORY: The Philadelphia Eagles saved their season with a huge road win last week, but they have little time to exhale with the New England Patriots set to pay a visit to Lincoln Financial Field on Sunday. The Eagles still trail five teams in the NFC wild card chase and could be without Michael Vick for a second straight week. Vick sat out practice Wednesday with two broken ribs, making it more likely that Vince Young will make a second straight start. New England has a short week after routing Kansas City on Monday night, a win that gave the Patriots a two-game lead atop the AFC East.
TV: CBS, 4:15 p.m. ET. LINE: Patriots -3, O/U 49.5
ABOUT THE PATRIOTS (7-3): New England shrugged off a shaky first half to blow out the Chiefs 34-3, but it continued a troubling trend of starting slowly. The Patriots haven’t scored a first-quarter touchdown since Week 5 and have managed only 23 first-half points in the past three games. Second-year TE Rob Gronkowski caught two scoring passes last week – his fourth game this season with two TD passes. He has 20 touchdowns in 26 career games, reaching that mark faster than any TE in history. Tom Brady has throw a TD pass in 26 straight regular-season games and is on pace to shatter Dan Marino’s single-season record of 5,084 yards.
ABOUT THE EAGLES (4-6): Despite the absence of Vick and WR Jeremy Maclin, Philadelphia eked out a gritty 17-10 win at the New York Giants last week. Young filled in admirably for Vick despite throwing three interceptions. He had two scoring passes and led an 18-play, 80-yard drive for the winning TD with under three minutes to play, converting five third downs on the march. NFL leading rusher LeSean McCoy ran for 113 yards to eclipse the 1,000-yard mark for the second straight season. The defense came up big, holding the Giants to a season-low 10 points and limited them to 29 yards rushing.
EXTRA POINTS:
1. Patriots coach Bill Belichick is 3-0 against the Eagles, including a 24-21 win in Super Bowl XXXIX.
2. Young, the No. 3 overall pick in the 2006 draft, improved to 31-17 as a starter.
3. Eagles CB Asante Samuel will face his former teammates for the first time since leaving via free agency in 2008. He has an NFL-high 38 interceptions since 2006.