As hard as he tried, Sam Bradford couldn't give this divisional game away.
The Eagles dominated the Giants, 27-7, on Monday Night Football to improve to 3-3 and move into first place in the NFC East (see Instant Replay), but the lopsided score was not a result of strong quarterback play.
Really, the Eagles won in spite of Bradford (see 10 observations).
Bradford threw three interceptions against a bad Giants secondary missing its top cornerback, Prince Amukamara. It was the first time since Week 1 of the 2012 season in Cleveland that the Eagles won a game despite their QB throwing three picks.
All three of Bradford's interceptions came on awful throws downfield. His final pick came in the end zone, Bradford's fourth interception in the end zone already this season. That is a staggering number. No other NFL quarterback has more than one interception in the end zone in 2015.
"It's something that I've never had a problem with in my career," Bradford said after the game. "I've never really thrown a lot of interceptions. But we're gonna get it fixed. I'm gonna get it fixed."
Bradford has thrown nine interceptions this season, tied with Matthew Stafford for second-most in the NFL to Peyton Manning's 10.
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Bradford has thrown interceptions on 3.9 percent of his passes this season, way up from his career rate of 2.2 percent entering the season. To put into context how massive that gap is, Bradford would have had exactly 30 more career interceptions had he previously thrown picks at the rate he has in 2015.
On his first INT, Bradford missed an open Zach Ertz in Giants territory with the Eagles looking to take a two-score lead. "Just a terrible throw," he said.
His second interception came on a downfield heave to Riley Cooper in double coverage. "I just wasn't on the same page with Coop," he said.
(Recounting the win, Cooper accepted blame on that one.)
On Bradford's third interception, which took place in the end zone with the Eagles leading 24-7 in the closing seconds of the third quarter, Chip Kelly said the Eagles liked the matchup they had with Ertz but the ball was just "a little bit behind him," (more from Kelly here).
"We were just taking shots, taking shots," Cooper added. "Mistakes are gonna happen, but we're gonna keep our foot on the gas."
That's fine, but if so, the Eagles should have absolutely annihilated this stagnant, mistake-prone Giants team. The score realistically could have been 45-7, and while a win is a win, it didn't do much to inspire confidence in Bradford moving forward.
He did some things well. He completed a 43-yarder to Cooper, a 32-yard TD to Cooper (albeit on an underthrown ball) and a 37-yard heave to Miles Austin. The Eagles even unleashed some play action from under center, adding a wrinkle to the offense. Previously, a defense could see Bradford under center and know a run was coming.
But there was more bad than good from the QB in a game truly won by the Eagles' defense (see story).
"No. No. That's not even a question," Bradford said when asked if he was satisfied with his night. "Just inconsistent, missed some throws. There was some good, there was some bad. But I know for us to be where we want to be I've got to play much better."
There are a couple ways to digest this win. On the one hand, the Eagles put up 425 yards of offense a week after totaling 519. Cooper said he thinks that once the Eagles clean up their mistakes, they'll be "an excellent team."
On the other, they still left points on the board. The offensive line is improving, the running game is improving, but volatile would be the best word to describe the quarterback's performance to date.
"We had some miscommunication today on a couple routes where the quarterback and the receiver weren't on the same page," Kelly said. "We have to clean that up. We've talked about that.
"[Bradford's] getting more familiar in terms of what we're doing, but we can't continue to do that against really good football teams. We were fortunate that we did it and got away with it today, but in this league you can't do that and sustain winning."