Julio Jones scorches Eagles as Falcons win Dan Quinn's debut

ATLANTA (AP) — In his first game with that big contract, Julio Jones was worth every penny.

Jones hauled in nine passes for 141 yards, including a pair of touchdowns, and the Atlanta Falcons came back after squandering a 17-point halftime lead to beat the Philadelphia Eagles 26-24 Monday night in the coaching debut of Dan Quinn.

“You just trust the preparation, let it rip and have fun,” Quinn said. “That’s what we did.”

He sure enjoyed watching Jones, who was rewarded for the best season of his career with a new $71.25 million contract during the preseason. Showing no signs of complacency, Jones dominated the Eagles’ revamped secondary as the Falcons raced to a 20-3 halftime lead.

The Eagles rallied behind new quarterback Sam Bradford, taking the lead for the first time at 24-23 on Ryan Mathews’ 1-yard run with 8:37 remaining.

Atlanta bounced back, driving into position for Matt Bryant’s fourth field goal of the game, a 47-yarder with 6:27 to go that turned out to be the winner.

Cody Parkey was wide right on a 44-yard field goal that could have restored Philadelphia’s lead. The Eagles had one more chance, but cornerback-turned-safety Ricardo Allen intercepted a pass that went through the hands of Jordan Matthews, sealing the victory with 1:11 left.

“They didn’t want to throw it at my corners so they threw it in the middle of the field,” Allen said. “They tipped the ball and it landed in my lap.”

Matt Ryan shook off a pair of interceptions, including one on the first possession of the second half that turned the momentum in Philadelphia’s favor. He was 23 of 34 for 298 yards.

Bradford, in his first regular-season game in nearly two years and making his debut for the Eagles, was 36 of 52 for 336 yards. But Philadelphia’s much-hyped running game, led by newcomer DeMarco Murray, was largely a bust.

After leading the NFL with more than 1,800 yards rushing in Dallas last season, Murray was held to 9 yards on eight carries. Ryan Mathews had only 4 yards, while Darren Sproles led the way with 50 yards on the ground.

Coach Chip Kelly’s up-tempo offense looked unstoppable in the preseason but bogged down in the first half against the fired-up Falcons, who hope the energetic Quinn can turn things around from a 10-22 showing the last two seasons under Mike Smith.

Other than a 69-yard drive that led to a field goal, the Eagles generated just 56 yards on their other seven first-half possessions — three of which went three-and-out, and another ended quickly when Bradford was intercepted. The deficit would have been even bigger if not for Kiko Alonso’s dazzling one-handed interception while falling backward in the end zone.

“We couldn’t get anything going in the first half,” Bradford said.

Jones was unstoppable in the early going, repeatedly burning new Eagles cornerback Byron Maxwell. The Falcons receiver hauled in eight passes for 97 yards over the first two quarters, including touchdowns of 4 and 22 yards.

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Carlos Hyde, 49ers overshadow Adrian Peterson's return in 20-3 victory

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Adrian Peterson showed flashes of his former MVP self in Monday night's opener. But there weren't nearly enough to save the Minnesota Vikings.

The San Francisco 49ers spoiled Peterson's return with a 20-3 triumph in which Carlos Hyde, not Peterson, was by far the most productive running back on the field at Levi's Stadium.

Peterson left an impression. Just look at the short pass he caught around his own 40-yard line in the second quarter before juking one Niners defender and then carrying three more for about 8 yards before another jumped on his back to bring him down after a gain of 17.

But Peterson's final stat line — 10 carries for 31 yards, plus three catches for 21 yards, no scores — reflected how badly he and the Vikings struggled to get anything going offensively behind an injury-depleted line.

Meanwhile, Hyde ran wild, scoring both San Francisco touchdowns and finishing with 168 yards on 26 carries (plus two catches for 14 yards). After one game, that puts the second-year pro from Ohio State on pace for almost 2,700 rushing yards — beyond the record-shattering goal of 2,500 that Peterson has set for himself publicly.

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Chip Kelly's field-goal indecision cost the Eagles a chance to win on 'Monday Night Football'

Chip Kelly’s decision to try for a 44-yard field goal with just under three minutes remaining in the Philadelphia Eagles 2015 debut wasn’t the problem. Yes, you’d think if there was one NFL coach who would might have gone for fourth-and-1 on his opponent’s 26-yard line while down two points, it’d be Kelly, particularly with how well his offense was moving in the second half. But there are certainly merits to keeping all your timeouts and going for a fairly easy field goal that would have given his Eagles a one-point lead. While not the wild-card move you’d expect from the freewheelin’ Chip Kelly, it was a perfectly reasonable play call.

No, the problem was that Kelly took far too long in deciding it. The indecision caused a rushed snap, hold and kick. It didn’t mean Cody Parkey’s boot was going to miss, but it didn’t help it.

Ryan Mathews was stuffed on third-and-1 with 3:08 left in the game. The 40-second play clock started immediately. Tick, tick. The offense lingered on the field. Sam Bradford looked toward Kelly, like he was expecting the “go for it” signal from the sideline. Tick, tick: Ten seconds had already elapsed. There were 30 seconds on the play clock.

Kelly conversed with special teams coach Dave Fipp and his kick unit. The coach moved his arms back and forth in an indecisive way, clearly unsure of what to do, even though it now appeared he’d kick the ball to take the lead. Tick, tick. At 27 seconds he seemed to make the decision to send on the field-goal unit, but he wasn’t sure about it. Confusion reigned. Tick, tick. At 23 seconds, the six-man unit finally starts its jog onto the field for the kick.

Tick, tick: The unit passed Bradford and his receivers, still quite close to the Eagles sideline with 19 seconds on the play clock. There wasn’t much rush. At 13 seconds, Parkey took his first warm-up kick, like a golfer stretching out with a waggle on the opening tee. At 10 seconds, he started marking off his distance while holder Donnie Jones got in position. Tick, tick.

It wasn’t until five seconds were left on the play clock that Parkey got fully set, though watching live it was clear he wasn’t comfortable. With three seconds left, the ball was snapped and it was wide-right immediately off the foot.

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Giants thrown for loop by Eli Manning telling Rashad Jennings not to score

Though New York Giants coach Tom Coughlincontinues to take responsibility for a catastrophic collapse in Sunday night’s 27-26 loss against the division-rival Dallas Cowboys, he made it clear that someone else was to blame: quarterback Eli Manning.

During a conference call with reporters, the Giants confirmed that running back Rashad Jennings had been instructed not to score late in the game when the Giants held the ball near Dallas’ goal line with a three-point lead.

“That was not instructed from the sidelines,” Coughlin said Monday during the call. “In talking with Eli today, I think he was confused by the number of timeouts that were remaining. His intention was, with one timeout, that we would milk the clock as best we could. However, they had two timeouts left.”

Coughlin later added: “My intent was to be up 10.”

With the ball on the 4-yard line and just fewer than two minutes to play, the Giants handed the ball off to Jennings on first and second down. Jennings told ESPN in an interview that on one of the plays, he “cut the wrong way [on purpose] and found somewhere soft to fall” in order to follow Manning’s directions.

“I thought they only had one timeout,” Manning said during the call. “I told Rashad, ‘If they let you score, go down at the 1-inch line.’ ”

Before the second down play just seconds later, Manning went to the sideline and informed the Giant coaches about what he told Jennings. When he returned to the huddle, the instructions were the same.

“I thought we were on the same page and I was wrong,” Manning said. “That was my mistake.”

That wasn’t Manning’s only one.

On the next play, a crucial third-and-goal from the 1-yard line, he took a play action snap and retreated to avoid Dallas’ pass rush, before eventually throwing the ball out of bounds. The clock stopped with 1:43 left in the game. Rather than to take a sack, Manning’s incompletion saved Dallas about 40 seconds.

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Bell: Without Dez and DeMarco, Cowboys' Tony Romo can finally prove MVP worth

For a split second, it looked like another dose of disaster to fuel the haters.

The snap was low, in the turf. But with the game — and a miraculous comeback on the line in the waning seconds Sunday night — Tony Romo didn't flinch.

Instead, the most scrutinized quarterback in America calmly scooped up the football, regained his rhythm, set his feet and fired the game-winning touchdown pass over the middle to his most trusted target, tight end Jason Witten.

It was also a clear snapshot of how the Dallas Cowboys might survive in the coming weeks without their most dangerous weapon. Yes, Romo will have to get it done.

Dez Bryant's tweet later in the night said it all: "I'll be back soon but how about 9????????"

That would be Romo, No. 9, who suddenly has added layers of adversity and responsibility on his plate while Bryant rehabs from surgery for a broken bone in his foot.

What a sudden identity shift for the Cowboys. But that's the NFL — a fire here, a flood there. Adapt or else.

When the Cowboys head to Philadelphia this weekend for an early showdown to determine NFC East supremacy, the running back who took so much pressure off Romo by winning the rushing crown last season, DeMarco Murray, will be lining up for the hated Eagles. And the receiver who torched the since-overhauled Eagles secondary for three touchdowns in the December game at the Linc that essentially determined 2014 the division crown will be home with his foot in a cast.

So now it's on Romo to keep his team moving.

No doubt, he's well-equipped on multiple levels. Since he became a starter in 2006, no quarterback in the NFL has directed more game-winning touchdown drives. The march Sunday night, aided by New York Giants blunders (the Cowboys were out of timeouts) that left Romo extra time to work his magic, marked his 28th such victory drive.

He's also equipped to handle the upcoming grind mentally. Romo has had some last-minute mishaps over the years, which his detractors cite to suggest he can't win the big one. But in reality, he gets a bad rap. More often than not, as demonstrated against the Giants, Romo is clutch.

It's tough to imagine that he can be under the microscope any more than he has been while playing for arguably the most high-profile team in the NFL. But it's possible. Over the next few weeks, Dallas needs Romo to excel with the no-name targets flanking Witten. That's what the great ones can do for a team, and Romo has been there before.

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Carlos Hyde, 49ers overshadow Adrian Peterson's return in 20-3 victory

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Adrian Peterson showed flashes of his former MVP self in Monday night's opener. But there weren't nearly enough to save the Minnesota Vikings.

The San Francisco 49ers spoiled Peterson's return with a 20-3 triumph in which Carlos Hyde, not Peterson, was by far the most productive running back on the field at Levi's Stadium.

Peterson left an impression. Just look at the short pass he caught around his own 40-yard line in the second quarter before juking one Niners defender and then carrying three more for about 8 yards before another jumped on his back to bring him down after a gain of 17.

But Peterson's final stat line — 10 carries for 31 yards, plus three catches for 21 yards, no scores — reflected how badly he and the Vikings struggled to get anything going offensively behind an injury-depleted line.

Meanwhile, Hyde ran wild, scoring both San Francisco touchdowns and finishing with 168 yards on 26 carries (plus two catches for 14 yards). After one game, that puts the second-year pro from Ohio State on pace for almost 2,700 rushing yards — beyond the record-shattering goal of 2,500 that Peterson has set for himself publicly.

Peterson, 30, didn't play at all this preseason after missing all but one game in 2014 in the wake of a felony indictment for injuring his 4-year-old son with a wooden switch. He pled guilty to a reduced misdemeanor charge in November, but the NFL barred him from playing last season.

The Vikings passed all three plays on their opening possession Monday. So, Peterson's first carry in a game since Sept. 7, 2014, came on the first play of the Vikings' second drive. It went for 4 yards. He had four carries for 14 yards and two catches for 19 at halftime.

With hundreds of purple-clad fans amidst the early-arriving crowd, Peterson heard mostly cheers as he emerged from the tunnel, though one man in the crowd yelled "Child beater!" on multiple occasions.

The Vikings named Peterson one of their captains for the game, along with Teddy Bridgewater, Chad Greenway and Everson Griffen.

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