Instant Replay: Eagles 33, Colts 23

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INDIANAPOLIS – Stop us if you’ve heard this before: the Eagles looked really good in the all-important third preseason game.

The offense hummed, the defense stuffed, and the team took down Andrew Luck and the Colts, 33-23, at Lucas Oil Stadium on Saturday night to improve to 3-0 this preseason.

Now, take that with a grain of salt. Heck, take it with a shaker of salt. The fan base was fooled last year when Sam Bradford and the Eagles looked Super Bowl-bound with a Preseason Week 3 win over the Packers. Cue up The Who’s “We Won’t Get Fooled Again.”

Still, the Eagles’ starters were impressive against the Colts on Saturday night on both sides of the ball.

Sam the man
Just like he did in this game last year, Bradford was extremely efficient. He completed 17 of 20 pass for 167 yards, 2 touchdowns and 1 interception – and the interception wasn’t his fault.

Give credit to the first-team offensive line too. Despite the shuffling on the line, Bradford was kept pretty clean most of the night, was sacked just once.

Wideouts look like wideouts
The Eagles’ wide receivers caught footballs on Saturday night, an important check mark on the “are we a real team yet?” list. Josh Huff came to play on Saturday night and had an impressive game; he had a 38-yard catch in the first half. Huff is still dangerous when the Eagles can get the ball in his hands.

Perhaps the one play that will have Eagles fans most excited was a fade from Bradford to newcomer Dorial Green-Beckham for a four-yard touchdown. The Eagles tried a fade to DGB earlier in the game, but it looked like he weirdly stopped on the route.

One negative was Nelson Agholor’s drop in the first half. Bradford hit him in the hands and the second-year wideout popped it in the air for an interception. Rueben Randle didn’t get much work with the first team.

We also saw plenty of three-tight end sets, a sign of things to come. Trey Burton continues to catch everything, which included a touchdown pass on Saturday night.

Doug gets creative
The Eagles’ first touchdown came on a 9-yard jet sweep carry to Huff. We’ve seen the Eagles work these plays in during practice, but it finally happened in a game. While many fans have been rightfully frustrated by Huff, his versatility remains the big reason why he’s probably on the 53-man roster.

Dominant D-line
The Eagles need their defensive line to be the catalyst for the defense and it was on Saturday night. Connor Barwin, Beau Allen and Bennie Logan had first-half sacks. And they weren’t the only ones causing pressure. Fletcher Cox, Brandon Graham, Vinny Curry and Taylor Hart also caused trouble.

A couple times, Jim Schwartz lined Cox up as a defensive end and Curry inside at tackle. Cox crushed Luck on one of those plays.

Keeping Luck in check
The Eagles held Luck to 134 yards and no touchdowns, while the Colts first-team offense had just 129 total net yards and was 2 for 7 on third downs. Luck made a few solid throws, but didn’t do too much damage.

Rest of the D
The rest of the defense certainly benefitted from the strong play up front. Mychal Kendricks didn’t stand out good or bad in his first game of the preseason. The team worked in undrafted rookie C.J. Smith with the first team to get an extended look at the youngster.

Nolan Carroll missed a tackle in the second half that led to a big gain. Carroll did start the game with Leodis McKelvin, completing his ascension to starter over Ron Brooks. A little later on that same drive, Carroll picked off a pass to end a long drive from the Colts. It was the Eagles’ eighth interception of the preseason and third in the red zone.

Kicker battle
Caleb Sturgis already appeared ahead of Cody Parkey for the kicker job and Saturday certainly didn’t do anything to change that. Sturgis hit a 32-yarder and a 47-yarder, while Parkey missed an extra point.

Injuries
Curry left early with a knee injury and didn’t return – although he wasn’t expected to continue to play anyway. Wendell Smallwood and Chris Pantale left the game early to be evaluated for head injuries. Pantale did not have a concussion and returned. Hart left the game with a knee sprain and didn’t return.

Several Eagles were ruled out earlier in the week and didn’t play: Carson Wentz, Jordan Matthews, Aaron Grymes, Mike Martin, Alex McCalister, Hunter Sharp, Joe Walker and Isaac Seumalo.

Up next
The Eagles wrap up the preseason next week, when they host the Jets on Sept. 1. After that, they’ll have a little over a week to prepare for the season opener at home against the Browns on Sept. 11.

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