Halftime: Eagles 31 Panthers 7
By Ray Boyd
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The first half is in the books as the Eagles take on the Panthers on Monday Night Football. Mark Sanchez was tasked with taking over the reins for the Eagles following the injury to Nick Foles.
Sanchez had to be pleased in the first half as the rest of his team took the time to make sure the burden was not all on his shoulders.
The Eagles clicked in every facet of the game as they overwhelmed the Panthers early and often. An opening drive fumble forced by Casey Matthews was recovered by Cedric Thornton. The Eagles capitalized with a 39 yard field goal.
Cam Newton opened the next drive with an interception to Cary Williams. This time the Eagles capitalized fully as Darren Sproles tacked on an eight yard touchdown run.
The defense did their part with the two early turnovers and had multiple opportune sacks by Connor Barwin and Trent Cole.
The Panthers managed to orchestrate an 80 yard drive that was finished off by a Jonathan Stewart touchdown to get the score to 10-7.
The Eagles managed to snatch back momentum with just over three minutes to go in the quarter when the Panthers punted the ball down the middle of the field to Sproles. The transgression proved costly as Sproles made a few men miss and then turned on the jets to take it back for a 65 yard touchdown, the Eagles 8th of the season by the defense or special teams.
The offensive unit joined the party as the second quarter got underway. Sanchez shined as the quarter began leading the Eagles down the field 91 yards for another seven points. He synced up with Jordan Matthews for a 13 yard touchdown pass to give the Eagles a commanding 24-7 lead.
Not to be outdone by the offense, the defense added insult to injury as Bradley Fletcher got into the act. Fletcher picked off Newton for the quarterback's second of the night and managed to return it for his first career touchdown (the Eagles 9th return touchdown of the season) with just over two minutes until the half.
Barwin ended the first half with 3 sacks to take him to ten on the season and Nate Allen ended the half with an interception to send Newton to the locker room with three.
The Eagles massive halftime lead was a complete three phase effort.
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