The NFL 2014 Preseason game on Thursday the 21st of August, between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Philadelphia Eagles was won 31-21 by the Eagles.
The Eagles QB Foles threw one TD pass and led the Eagles to 3 first-half scores. Amazingly the Steelers RBs Bell and Blount played in the game a day after they were cited for marijuana possession. Neither of the players would answer any questions from the media.
The All-Pro RB for Philadelphia McCoy had to leave the game after catching a 22 yard TD pass; he suffered a thumb injury, and later X-rays proved negative, with the injury a result of a helmet hit. That catch put the Eagles up with a 7-0 lead. Also, McCoy had a toe injury earlier in the week that appeared to have no negative effect in this game.
In the first six possessions, the Eagles first team offense was only able to score 1 TD in their previous road losses to the Bears and the Patriots. However, in this game with the Steelers the Eagles played more like the 2013 season when the set several franchise records. Eagles QB Foles was 19 for 29 with 179 yards and an interception. During his tenure in this game, he led the offense to 251 total yards and 17 points and then was replaced by Mark Sanchez during the 3rd quarter. Their WRs Cooper and Maclin had nine combined receptions for 68 yards.
Pittsburgh could not seem to make any offensive progress against the Eagles first team defense, but in the third quarter Steelers QB Roethlisberger was able to connect on a 27 yard pass for a TD to Miller against the backup defense of the Eagles.
For the game, QB Roethlisberger threw for 1 TD on 154 yards with 15 of 24 completions while RB Bell had ran for 23 yards on 9 carries. Their rookie LB Shazier had six tackles and he was also impressive in their game with Buffalo.
The Steelers players and management were not at all happy with their defensive unit’s efforts in the game. Offensively their QB Gradkowski connected on a pass of 33 yards for A TD to Bey and also a TD pass of 3 yards to Bryant in the fourth quarter of the game.
The Eagles QB Foles was intercepted for the 3rd time this preseason in the game as Steelers Polamalu intercepted him in the 2nd quarter of the game. Remember Foles was the MVP of last year’s Pro Bowl and during the 2013 season he completed 350 passes with only two interceptions for the season and 27 TDs that set an NFL record for the best ratio for TD to Interception.