Turning Point: Patriots pounce on Eagles late second-quarter brain cramps

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PHILADELPHIA -- The Patriots defense is too good. The Eagles offense is too depleted. Given the matchup, the self-inflicted wounds from Carson Wentz and his teammates at the end of the first were the kinds of wounds Philly couldn't withstand.

The Turning Point in this one came early. And it came during what Bill Belichick would call a critical "situational football" moment. 

At the end of the first half, following a Patriots field goal that brought the score to 10-6, the Eagles stumbled. Two plays into their drive, with just over two minutes remaining, Wentz was sacked by Danny Shelton and fumbled. It looked like Wentz, dealing with replacements throughout his receiving corps, hesitated for a moment, allowing the pass-rush to get into his space. As the ball squirted loose, Lawrence Guy was there to snatch it.

The Patriots did nothing offensively, gaining just one yard on four plays, but they kicked another field goal to make it a one-score game. Free points. 

The Eagles then had something going during their next drive, which started with just under two minutes left. They completed a pass to Nelson Agholor for 11 (which drew sarcastic cheers from the home crowd because of Agholor's reputation for having inconsistent hands). They completed a pass to Zach Ertz for 12. Ertz caught another for eight. 

Philadelphia was suddenly at the 44-yard line of the Patriots, right on the edge of field goal range. How did they capitalize? 

They allowed an Adam Butler sack for a loss of three, but remained within striking distance of field-goal range. All they needed was a positive play on third down.

What happened next for them was not positive. 

Center Jason Kelce snapped one past Wentz, who went scrambling after it like a toddler chasing a Super Ball. He was touched down by Kyle Van Noy for a loss of seven, and the Eagles were forced to punt from their own 46.

The Patriots dodged a bullet, went into the locker room facing a one-point deficit, and came out swinging in the third. 

Going to the hurry-up style attack that carried them at times in Baltimore in Week 9, the Patriots rattled off 10 plays that covered 84 yards and resulted in a Julian Edelman double-pass touchdown to Phillip Dorsett. 

A 30-yard screen pass to Rex Burkhead -- that required a deft pump-fake-shovel-toss from Tom Brady and a broken tackle from Burkhead -- was the key in getting the Patriots into double-pass territory. And it was a nicely-schemed pass that went from Brady to Edelman to Dorsett, with a fake screen designed away from the play to draw the defense. 

But without those Eagles mistakes going into the half, the game likely has an entirely different feel going into the locker room. The Patriots, inept as they were at times with the football -- they went one-for-three in the red zone and five-for-15 on third down -- capitalized.

Undermanned and overwhelmed offensively for the rest of the game, Wentz and the Eagles couldn't afford to open the door for the Patriots at the end of the second quarter. But they did. And they paid for it.

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