Eagles QB Sam Bradford has leading edge

SAM BRADFORD brought the Eagles back from the depths.

That fact might get lost in all the talk about how the Eagles couldn't complete a deep pass Monday night against the Falcons, or how if you balance Bradford's really shaky first half against his excellent second half, what you get is an unexceptional game - overall stats (36-for-52, 336 yards, a touchdown, two interceptions, 77.1 passer rating) similar to what he put together pretty often in his days quarterbacking the Rams, before Bradford sat out the last season-and-a-half with ACL injuries.

Stat sheet aside, the man played real, regular-season football for the first time since Oct. 20, 2013, and, after a horrible first half, he led the team to three touchdowns in three possessions. The fourth drive should have resulted in a go-ahead field goal, but Cody Parkey missed it. Had the Eagles won, which Bradford helped put them in position to do, his comeback story would be a leaguewide sensation this week.

Though they've shifted their focus to Sunday's visit from the Cowboys now, Bradford's teammates understand what he did, and they say they admire the way he did it.

"Poise and trust," wideout Jordan Matthews said, when asked what he saw from his quarterback in the opener. "There were a couple of situations early on where we weren't making the plays for him, and that was on us. But it wasn't one time he came to the sideline, he was frustrated with us, or didn't trust us to keep coming back to us. He trusts us. When you have a quarterback that has that type of trust in you, then you want to go out there and make plays for him.

"And then, just poise. He was never shaken, never rattled. He got us back into that game the best way he could, and next time he's going to be able to finish . . . We're very fortunate to have him back there."

Matthews, who caught 10 passes for 102 yards, took the blame for the second interception, the team in late-game desperation mode, Matthews mishandling a third-and-8 rocket that bounced off him and was retrieved by Falcons safety Ricardo Allen with 1 minute, 11 seconds left.

One thing to keep an eye on against Dallas is that there were indeed times when you could tell Bradford and his receivers got only four series together in the preseason. The very first series in Atlanta, which lasted less than a minute, Bradford tried a deep throw to tight end Zach Ertz, who turned outside when Bradford was expecting inside.

"It was just a misunderstanding, going back to the game plan, it was just something we changed," Ertz said yesterday. "I saw it one way, he saw it a different way. It was just a miscommunication."

Ertz, who missed the preseason after abdominal surgery, was asked about Bradford needing a half to settle in. Ertz said it was the whole offense that was out of whack early, and Bradford who got things moving.

"He was calm and collected, just like I expected him to be. He's been through so much as a person, not only as a football player, but all the adversity he's faced off the field," Ertz said. "Him seeing a blitz is not really going to faze him.

"He's not going to get out there and be like, 'Dang, what is everyone doing?' and curse everyone out. He's calm and collected, and that's what we need from the quarterback position."

Bradford said the dink-and-dunk passing approach was dictated by being down, 20-3, before halftime; Atlanta wanted to avoid giving up quick strikes.

"After you go down, 20-3, they're not going to let you get by 'em . . . They were playing soft underneath," he said.

Monday night wasn't a template for what the Eagles' offense will look like this season, unless they're going to be down 17 points early a lot, and the offensive line can't figure out how to run-block or do much of anything without being penalized, long-term.

"We called a ton of passes in the second half, but you're down, 20-3, so it's a three-score game at that point in time, and you're trying to get back into the game," Eagles coach Chip Kelly said. "We also felt our [passing] matchups inside, whether it be our tight end, our running back or our inside receivers, were a really good way for us to move the football."

Kelly repeated his point about not caring whether the yards and points come from the ground game or through the air, that getting the ball into Darren Sproles' hands in space is good, however it gets there. Which is true to a point - we all know Kelly's offense works best when the running game is working.

Asked whether he thought Monday's first-half problems would recur against Dallas, Bradford said: "Hopefully, we'll pick up right where we left off in the second half. I think the second half was great. We got things rolling . . . we pushed the tempo, we played fast, we put a lot of pressure on them.

"I think we just kind of shot ourselves in the foot in the first half. We missed some opportunities, had some penalties, some negative plays. I just felt like we were playing from behind the whole first half."

Bradford is experiencing a strange feeling this week, the aftermath of having played 74 snaps. He understandably downplayed this, given his injury history, but Bradford's right ankle was wrapped yesterday, after being X-rayed following Monday night's game. He seemed to move just fine during the early part of practice that reporters are allowed to watch. He wasn't on the injury report, which is not unusual for a player who practices fully, though, in theory, everyone receiving treatment is supposed to be listed.

"I think you just have to be a little more aware of [monitoring aches and pains], probably spend some extra time in the tub, getting treatment, making sure you can get your body back to where it needs to be," he said.

After taking eight hits Monday night, the feeling the next day was "about as enjoyable as I remember it being," he said.

Bradford said the thinking behind team doctors X-raying his ankle before heading to the airport was a mystery to him, because, "I knew everything was fine. They just wanted to check it out. It didn't hurt, wasn't sore. I think it was just taking a precaution."

Blog: ph.ly/Eagletarian