New England Patriots: 5 standout performances from blowout over Eagles

The New England Patriots absolutely dominated the Philadelphia Eagles in their second preseason game, winning by a final score of 35-0. It was an absolute wash from the start, as the Eagles rested most of their starters. That certainly didn’t stop the Pats from putting the pedal to the metal here however.

Originally, we were going to take a look at three winners and three losers from the game, but aside from Quinn Nordin, who had a horrible night kicking, there weren’t really any losers from this contest. It’s hard to find many negatives when you blow a team out this badly.

It’s always nice to focus on the positive side of things, and that’s what this game allows us to do. Let’s take a look at five standout performances from the New England Patriots demolition of the Philadelphia Eagles.

New England Patriots standout No. 5: Matthew Judon

Similar to the opening contest against the Washington Football Team, Matthew Judon didn’t see much action considering his status as a lock to be a starter. But similar to that game as well, Judon managed to make a large impact in a limited amount of time last night.

On just the third play of the game, Eagles center Nate Herbig launched the snap a couple of feet over quarterback Joe Flacco‘s head. Flacco was eventually able to catch back up to the ball, but Judon never gave up on the play, and was able to chase down his former Baltimore Ravens teammate, forcing a strip sack. Jalen Mills recovered, and Damien Harris punched in New England’s first touchdown of the night two plays later.

There’s nobody else on the field that could have made this play for the Pats other than Judon. Brought in to be a disruptive force off the edge that New England has been missing for a few seasons now, Judon has been just that so far. Imagine what he’s capable of doing over the course of a full game.

Judon’s performance has been indicative of the play of the revamped Pats defense. Judon has been an absolute force so far for the defense, which has looked great overall throughout training camp and the first two preseason games. If Judon and the defense can translate this performance to the regular season, there’s no question this unit will see substantial improvement compared to last season.