The Philadelphia Eagles opened the season with a loss against the Falcons and both DeMarco Murray and Ryan Mathews struggled in the matchup behind Sam Bradford. Bradford had a strong start for fantasy football owners along with Jordan Matthews, but the team lost 26-24 to start 0-1 this season.
The Eagles were down 20-3 at halftime and part of that was set up by a bad interception from Bradford at the end of the first half. The Eagles came into the game with some high expectations after all the moves they made this offseason and while some things worked well, the rushing game was not one of them. Ryan Mathews and DeMarco Murray were bottled up by the Falcons defense and fantasy owners will be hoping that next week is not a repeat of that.
Bradford finished the game with 336 yards and a touchdown and that was a solid start for the QB after being out of action for so long. Bradford had not played in an NFL regular season game since 2013 and he made it through this one without any major incident. Bradford was much more efficient in the second half and that came as the Eagles had to make a comeback. Bradford's first pick was ugly and the second one was just unlucky, as the ball went through the hands of Jordan Matthews, and was picked off.
Matthews had a great game for fantasy owners, as he made 10 catches on 12 targets for 102 yards for the Eagles. Matthews is the top wideout with Jeremy Maclin gone and he is strong starter option in PPR leagues for fantasy owners. Matthews nearly had a TD in the game and he is a player to keep pushing, even against the Cowboys next week. Nelson Agholor had a slow start in his debut, as he had just one catch for five yards on two targets in the game. Agholor likely will get into the mix moving forward, but for now he is not a reliable option with how much Bradford targeted other players.
Murray did not have a great start for the Eagles, as he only had eight rushes for nine yards in the game, although he did score two touchdowns overall. Murray had one rushing and on receiving score on four catches for 11 yards and that likely gave fantasy owners a boost. Murray led the league in rushing last season and while he likely will bounce back moving forward, he did not do much overall in the game against the Falcons. Mathews had three rushes for four yards and a TD in the game and he also added three catches for 24 yards.
Bradford had a solid game overall apart from the turnovers and after the game he had x-rays, but said they were only "precautionary" and that he did not suffer any serious injuries. Bradford's health is one of the biggest concerns for the Eagles and he is coming into the season after two knee surgeries. Bradford looked solid all through the preseason and he put up good numbers on Monday night, but the Eagles will have to play better overall moving forward to overtake the Cowboys in the division.
