Paul Domowitch: Eagles' defense not the same without Bradley

Stewart Bradley was back and then he was gone again.

After missing all of last season with a torn ACL, the Eagles' playmaking middle linebacker returned to the field yesterday, helping his unit put the clamps on Aaron Rodgers and the Packers' lethal offense.

With Bradley again stalking the middle, the Eagles held the Packers to 54 yards on their first 23 offensive plays. Held them to six first downs and just three points on their first four possessions.

And then, with a little more than 5 minutes left in second quarter of a 3-3 game, Bradley collided with teammate Ernie Sims as the two were converging on Packers wide receiver Greg Jennings.

Sims got up. Bradley got up, too, but then staggered and fell down again. It was pretty apparent that he had suffered a concussion. He left the game, returned a couple of plays later, then quickly exited for good when the Eagles' medical and training staffs finally realized that he wasn't right.

Without Bradley, the Eagles' defense lost its air of invincibility. After he left the game, the Packers drove down and scored the go-ahead touchdown on a 6-yard pass from Rodgers to Donald Driver. They added a Mason Crosby field goal on their next possession to take a 13-3 halftime lead.

It would be well into the third quarter before the Eagles' defense finally was able to stop the bleeding. By that time, the Packers scored on their first two possessions of the second half to take a 27-10 lead.

"It was big losing somebody like Stew," rookie free safety Nate Allen said. "But you gotta keep playing."

"That was tough," cornerback Joselio Hanson said of losing Bradley. "Especially in the run game. Any time you lose a starter, it hurts. Because they've been taking all the reps all week and they know what to look for. But when you get in the game, you've gotta play like a starter."

Bradley was replaced by Omar Gaither, but Gaither isn't Bradley. The Packers, who had been held to 66 rushing yards on 14 carries in the first half, started having success on the ground, rushing for 57 yards on 10 carries in the third quarter. The Eagles couldn't stop running back Ryan Grant or Brandon Jackson or even fullback John Kuhn, who scored on a 3-yard run on the Packers' first possession of the third quarter.

"We came out all fired up, but then we hit a lull in that third quarter," strong safety Quintin Mikell said. "We stepped it back up. But you just can't do that against a good team. And they're a very good team.

"When Stew went down, they kind of changed up some of their schemes ... They got us a little bit off balance. But then we started to stop it. Not having Stew, having a backup who didn't get as many snaps during the week, hurt. But at the same time, we adjusted off their adjustments and ended up doing pretty well against them."

All things considered, the Eagles did a pretty good job against one of the league's top quarterbacks. They intercepted him twice and sacked him three times, mainly with a four-man rush. Held him to 6.06 yards per attempt, which is more than 2.14 yards per attempt less than he averaged last season.

"We had two picks, but we gave up some big plays," Mikell said. "We gave up a big bomb for a touchdown [a 32-yard scoring pass to Jennings]. And we couldn't stop them in the third quarter. It's frustrating."

Much like last year, the defense had trouble closing the deal after getting their opponent in third-and-long situations. The Packers converted a third-and-9 on their second-quarter touchdown drive when Jennings made an acrobatic, one-handed catch for a 16-yard gain.

On the first of their two third-quarter scoring drives, they converted a third-and-9 when Rodgers hit tight end Jermichael Finley down the middle for 21 yards. Four plays later, Kuhn scored.

"We did a heckuva job executing the game plan," said cornerback Ellis Hobbs, who gave up the long touchdown to Jennings. "They hurt us a few times. They're not who they are by chance. They're a good offense. But we did a good job of executing the defense. We just gotta tighten up in a few areas on the back end and up front."

JUST WONDERING

-- Why Stewart Bradley and Kevin Kolb were allowed to re-enter the game after suffering concussions. Andy Reid said they were "fine" and "all of the questions that they answered with the doctors registered well." But Bradley came back for just three plays and then was taken out for good, and Kolb played just one more series before he was benched.

-- How the Eagles will deal with the loss of fullback Leonard Weaver, who likely is out for the year with a torn ACL. They replaced him with backup Eldra Buckley in the few two-back sets they used the rest of the game. But Buckley isn't big enough to hold up in that role. Not sure if former Eagle Jason Davis has landed with anybody since being released by the Jets, but he could be an option.

-- Did Ellis Hobbs mean to give Greg Jennings inside position on Jennings' 32-yard touchdown catch late in the third quarter that put the Packers up 27-10? Asked about it after the game, all Hobbs would say is, "We had something going and it didn't work out." Which could mean he was expecting safety help inside, but didn't get it.

-- Why Michael Vick didn't opt to run on that third-and-goal play from the 5 with about 6 minutes left in the game. With an interstate-wide running lane into the end zone, he picked a lousy time to make like Peyton Manning. His pass to a covered DeSean Jackson fell incomplete and the Eagles settled for a David Akers field goal.

DID YOU NOTICE?

-- The smart decision by Andy Reid to put Michael Vick back in the game in the first quarter after an offensive pass-interference penalty on Brent Celek took the Eagles out of field-goal range. Reid had Vick run on third-and-21, and he picked up 13 yards, which moved the Eagles close enough for a 45-yard field goal by David Akers.

-- Juqua Parker had two first-half sacks of Aaron Rodgers. Parker lost his starting job in the preseason to rookie Brandon Graham.

-- Trent Cole blew by Packers left tackle Chad Clifton on the outside for the third sack of Rodgers in the first half.

-- Center Jamaal Jackson was to blame for the second-quarter sack of Kevin Kolb by nose tackle B.J. Raji. Jackson, who later tore his right biceps and likely is lost for the season, let him slip through the gap to his left.

-- Andy Reid won his first replay challenge of the year. He successfully challenged a Charles Woodson interception in the second quarter. The play was reversed.

-- Stewart Bradley was punch-drunk after colliding with linebacker Ernie Sims in the second quarter as both tried to make a tackle on Greg Jennings. Bradley had to be helped off the field. He returned three plays later, but quickly went out again, this time for good.

-- The acrobatic, one-handed catch by Greg Jennings for a 13-yard gain and first down on a second-and-10 at the Philadelphia 20 on the Packers' late-second-quarter scoring drive.

-- The Eagles' defense played well, but had same problem getting off the field when it had the Packers in third-and-long. It allowed the Packers to convert a third-and-9 on a second-quarter scoring drive that gave them a 10-3 lead, and later allowed another third-and-9 conversion on a third-quarter scoring drive that made it 20-3.

-- The ground ball Mike Vick threw to DeSean Jackson on the Eagles' second possession.

-- DeSean Jackson didn't catch his first pass until there were 71/2 minutes left in the third quarter. He finished with just four receptions for 30 yards.

-- Right tackle Winston Justice got beat on an inside move by linebacker Clay Matthews that set in motion Vick's 31-yard run in the third quarter.

-- The horrendous kickoff coverage by the Eagles. The Packers averaged 31.2 yards per return on five returns.

-- Left tackle Jason Peters left the game with a knee sprain right before the Eagles closed the gap to 10 points in the third quarter. He later returned.

-- The terrific block by Todd Herremans on linebacker Brad Jones on a 27-yard, Michael Vick-to-LeSean McCoy screen pass in the fourth quarter.

BY THE NUMBERS

-- Mike Vick, who rushed for 103 yards on 11 carries against the Packers, became the third quarterback in history to rush for 4,000 yards, joining former Eagle Randall Cunningham and Steve Young.

-- Vick's 103-yard rushing effort was the 10th 100-yard rushing performance of his career.

-- DeSean Jackson had just four catches for 30 yards. In his last four games, including the playoff loss to the Cowboys, he's got just 13 receptions for 115 yards.

-- Jackson had 14 yards on two punt returns against the Packers. In his last five games, he's got just 55 yards on 10 return attempts.

-- The Eagles had just 21 rushing attempts in 60 offensive plays yesterday, and only eight of those were by running backs.

-- David Akers, who had two field goals, has made 25 of his last 27 field goal attempts dating back to last season.

-- The Eagles have given up 112 points in their last four games dating back to Week 16 of last season.

-- LeSean McCoy hasn't rushed for more than 48 yards since Nov. 29 of last season.

-- The Eagles, who gave up two touchdown passes to Aaron Rodgers, have given up multiple TD passes in 11 of their last 18 games.