If the New England Patriots needed any motivation for their second preseason game, it might have come from the words of Cary Williams, who retracted his ‘cheaters’ statement after the Philadelphia Eagles lost 42-35, as Tom Brady appeared for the first time heading into the new NFL season, looking sharp and accurate most of the time, just like Nick Foles.

Brady completed 8-of-10 passes for 81 yards, a touchdown and an interception. He found Kenbrell Thompkins on a 15-yard pass in the first quarter before coming off, allowing Jimmy Garoppolo to come on for him and also throw a touchdown pass two minutes later, finding James Develin to give the Patriots a touchdown lead by the end of the first quarter.

The Pats never fell behind again, although the game was tied at 21 and 28 before the Patriots ran away with it in the final quarter. Roy Finch ran for a touchdown to break the final deadlock with 6:@3 to go in the game, followed by Ryan Mallett finding Bryant Tims for a 17-yard touchdown pass, ensuring the Patriots pick up their first win of the preseason.

The most impressive part of their performance happened to be the running game, gaining 250 yards on 46 carries. Only one carry led to a touchdown, but the Patriots got through the Eagles front seven any time they liked. Jonas Gray ran for 98 yards on 12 carries, while Stevan Ridley, the team’s number one running back, had a solid performance with 45 yards on nine carries.

The Eagles weren’t happy with their defense, although they intercepted a Brady pass and got two sacks in on Mallett. Nick Foles was 8-of-10 for 81 yards and a touchdown, finding Zach Ertz for the score in the second quarter. Cary Williams opened the game with a 77-yard touchdown, returning an interception off of Brady. Williams hurt his hamstring on the play and didn’t come back. Mark Sanchez and Matt Barkley combined complete 83.3% of their passes, coming with three touchdowns, but they were each intercepted once.

LeSean McCory had a quiet performance with 19 yards on six carries, but if there’s anything that should worry Chip Kelly carrying on with the preparations for the new season, it has to be his defense, starters and backups, looking very slow and generally bad when trying to close gaps created by the Patriots offensive line, allowing them a very easy and productive day on the ground.

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