Halftime: Eagles 17 Texans 14
HOUSTON, TX (CBS) — Turnovers continue to plague the Eagles, but despite that, they went into halftime ahead of the Houston Texans, 17-14, with Mark Sanchez replacing the injured Nick Foles at NRG Stadium on Sunday.
The Eagles and Texans were engaged in a shootout. Three of the four touchdowns were for over 50 yards.
Foles left after the first quarter. He came down hard on his left shoulder when he was sacked by Houston's Whitney Mercilus with :07 left in the opening quarter.
Sanchez came on and promptly hit Jeremy Maclin with a 52-yard completion with his first pass, and strung together three-straight completions in directing the Eagles on a six-play, 60-yard drive that resulted in a great throw from Sanchez to rookie receiver Jordan Matthews for an 11-yard touchdown.
Sanchez's first incompletion was a pass that should have been caught by Josh Huff, but bounced off his hands and right to Houston cornerback Jumal Rolle.
The turnover, the Eagles' second in the first half, wound up turning into a 56-yard TD pass from Ryan Fitzpatrick to Arian Foster, who beat Eagles' linebacker Connor Barwin.
Sanchez finished the half 7 of 9 for 111 yards. Foles was 10 of 13 for 124 yards, with a touchdown and an interception, which Texans' cornerback A.J. Bouye returned for a 51-yard touchdown. What was hard to take was it seemed no Eagle was around Bouye, as he zigged and zagged up the field, questioning the effort the Eagles made in tackling him.
By halftime, Maclin had three catches for 122 yards, including a 59-yard TD reception from Foles and the 52-yard strike from Sanchez.
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