The story appears on

Page A15

September 21, 2016

GET this page in PDF

Free for subscribers

View shopping cart

Related News

Home » Sports » American Football

Eagles clip Bears, stay unbeaten

RYAN Matthews scored two touchdowns as the Philadelphia Eagles maintained their unbeaten start to the National Football League season with a 29-14 victory over the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field.

Matthews barreled over from close range twice while rookie quarterback Carson Wentz connected with Trey Burton for a two-yard TD pass as the Eagles made Chicago pay for two costly turnovers.

Wentz showed plenty of poise, just as he did on debut against Cleveland.

Playing in the city where he was drafted by the Eagles with the No. 2 overall pick, he completed 21 of 34 passes and played turnover-free ball in his second straight game despite absorbing several big hits.

“Throughout the week, I just realized I’m going back to kind of where my life changed,” Wentz said. “It was cool to be back here, especially to come out here with the win.”

The victory leaves the Eagles level with the New York Giants at the top of the NFC East with both sides winning their opening two games.

A miserable night for Chicago, which fell to 0-2, was compounded by an injury to quarterback Jay Cutler, who left the game nursing his hand after throwing an interception to Nigel Bradham who returned 28 yards back to Chicago’s two-yard line.

The game was effectively settled after a disastrous start to the second half which saw the Bears concede turnovers on three of their first four possessions after the half-time break.

Cutler made 12 of 17 passes for 157 yards but was sacked three times.

The high point for Philadelphia came in its only long-range touchdown drive, when Wentz led his team 68 yards up the field. Matthews appeared to have been halted in his tracks by Chicago’s cover but somehow bounced clear of his tackler and wriggled over the line for 16-7.

Bradham’s interception followed on the first play after Philadelphia kicked off, leaving Wentz to gift Burton a simple touchdown.

A fumble from Chicago’s Jeremy Langford soon afterwards led to a recovery from Ron Brooks to help set up Matthews for his second score to put the visitors out of sight at 29-7.

Eddie Royal scored a consolation touchdown with a 65-yard punt return with five minutes left, but Chicago never looked capable of a comeback.

The pre-match national anthem ritual meanwhile saw three Eagles players — Brooks, Malcolm Jenkins and Steven Means — raise clenched fists in solidarity with San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who has attracted criticism for his protest this season during “The Star-Spangled Banner.”




 

Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.

沪公网安备 31010602000204号

Email this to your friend