Eagles Win First Game, Vault into First Place in NFC East

Travis Fulgham?

Alex Singleton?

Are you kidding me?

The Eagles beat the San Francisco 49ers, 25-20, in a game in which nobody gave them a chance to win. Vegas installed them as nine-point underdogs.

There is no kidding about Singleton, a reserve linebacker playing something other than special teams because T.J. Edwards went out with a hamstring injury, getting a pick-six touchdown, and Fulgham, a practice squad call-up playing only because of all the injuries at the receiver position, snared a 42-yard touchdown pass.

And here’s something else that seems like a joke but isn’t: The Eagles are now in first place in the NFC East at 1-2-1 as October opens. All it took was for them to win their first game; the division is that bad.

Nobody in the Eagles locker room will apologize though, not after beating the defending NFC champs, especially Carson Wentz.

The QB didn’t put all his early-season struggles behind him – he threw another interception and now has seven, the same number he had in 16 games last year – but he played a gutty game, scoring his third rushing touchdown of the season, which is a new career-high.

The TD came on a well-executed RPO, completely fooling the 49ers’ defense and allowing him to pretty much coast into the end zone from 11 yards out to open the scoring with 3:51 to play in the first quarter.

Wentz finished 18-for-28 and 193 yards, one touchdown, and his best passer rating of the season at 81.4. He also made plays with his legs for a second straight week, running for 37 yards.

“Very gutty,” said head coach Doug Pederson. “He played very well. He played inspired. He led the football team for the win. Quite frankly, it might not have been perfect, but he gutted out several plays.

“My hat’s off to him for just continuing to battle and continuing to stand int here and make some tough throws and some tough decisions. He did a nice job. This was really, more importantly, a team effort, a team win.”

Neither team was fully healthy.

The Eagles played with an offensive line for most of the first half with only one projected offseason starter and that was center Jason Kelce.

Right tackle Lane Johnson fought hard to play on a bad ankle, but he spent most of the first half on the sideline with rookie Jack Driscoll stepping in, though Johnson did tough out the second half.

Jordan Mailata had played just 20 snaps of football in his life. Not NFL football, but his entire life. He learned Saturday he would have to start for Jason Peters at left tackle and will probably continue to do so until when/if Peters ever returns from IR.

“Of course, first game starting, I had a little bit of jitters,” said Mailata. “But once that first drive was over, I felt like it was gone. I felt like I was at home. It was great to get this ‘dub’ (win).”

San Francisco played with backup Nick Mullens, who the Eagles chased from the game after Singleton recorded a pick-six on the first play after the Eagles had taken an 18-14 lead on a 42-yard touchdown toss to Fulgham with 5 minutes, 50 seconds to play.

“After we broke the huddle, Carson said get ready,” said Fulgham, who made his first NFL catch late in the first half for 15 yards. “I knew it was a good shot he was going to throw the ball to me. I came off the line, kind of beat the corner, just do what I do every day in practice.

“You just execute it. At first, I actually lost the ball, but since Carson gave me a great throw, I was able to locate it and it was right in the breadbasket.”

Eight seconds later, Singleton stepped in front of a Mullens pass and raced 30 yards into the end zone and suddenly it was 25-14.

“Obviously, he kind of threw the ball right to me, so my heart kind of skipped a beat,” said Singleton. “I just caught it and went with it. I knew I had to get into the end zone. We talk about it all week, score on defense. So that was the only thing going through our mind.”

The pick was one of three turnovers the Eagles defense forced after entering the game with zero.

Eagles safety Rodney McLeod had an interception with the 49ers on the march late in the first half and after entering the Eagles red zone.

The other turnover was after Cre’Von LeBlanc blitzed from his slot position and was able to knock the ball from Mullens’ hands with his helmet as he dove into the QB. Malik Jackson recovered at SF’s 42 and that eventually set up the Fulgham go-ahead TD.

C.J. Beathard came on for Mullens after Singleton’s INT and led a touchdown drive that cut the Eagles’ lead to 25-20 with 2:02 to play in the final quarter, but McLeod did a good job covering tight end George Kittle on the two-point conversion, so the lead stayed at five, meaning a field goal would do SF no good.

Kittle was a handful all night, scoring a touchdown and finishing with 15 catches for 183 yards.

He was in the end zone on a Hail Mary try from the Eagles’ 33-yard line at the end of the game, but the ball fell incomplete.

And just like that, the Eagles had their first win and vaulted into first place in their division.

“Having played four games, first place sounds really good right now,” said Pederson. “But we’ve got a long season ahead of us. Only the first quarter of the season is done. We have a long road ahead. One game at a time mentality.

“These guys don’t quit. It’s a resilient group. I’m so happy to coach and lead them. It doesn’t matter what the adversity is, what they’re faced with. These guys really around each other.

“This was a tough road game, to come out here on the road, traveling east coast to west coast, play on a Sunday is tough. It’s tough on the guys. They seem to find a way…I’m excited for those guys in the locker room.”

Get the latest Eagles news by joining the community. Click “Follow” at the top right of the EagleMaven page. Mobile users click the notification bell. And please follow me on Twitter @kracze.