FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — No one saw this one coming.

The previously reeling Philadelphia Eagles went into Gillette Stadium and held off a late comeback bid to beat the New England Patriots 35-28 Sunday evening.

New England, which has lost two in a row for only the fifth time since 2003, led 14-0 in the second quarter.

The Eagles (5-7) then scored 35 consecutive points to take control before Tom Brady nearly directed a comeback, falling short when his fourth-down pass from the Patriots 37 fell incomplete with 20 seconds remaining.

Sam Bradford threw two touchdown passes, but it was the Eagles’ defense and special teams that keyed this victory.

The Patriots dropped to 10-2, tied with Denver and Cincinnati for the best record in the AFC. But the Broncos hold the tiebreaker because of their overtime victory over New England a week ago.

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The Eagles seized control in the third quarter, suddenly and stunningly.

With New England 5 yards away from a go-ahead touchdown, Philadelphia’s Malcolm Jenkins intercepted a pass that was deflected by teammate Walter Thurmond and returned it 99 yards for a touchdown, giving the Eagles a 21-14 lead.

On the New England’s next series, Philadelphia forced a punt, which was returned 83 yards by Darren Sproles down the left sideline for a touchdown that made it 28-14.

Sam Bradford threw a 10-yard touchdown pass to Jordan Matthews with 11:09 remaining.

Tom Brady threw a 14-yard touchdown pass to Scott Chandler with 5:27 left, then New England’s Rashaan Melvin recovered an onside kick. That led to a 1-yard sneak by Brady that cut it to 35-28.

New England got one last chance when Jamie Collins forced a fumble and Malcom Brown recovered it as the Eagles were trying to run out the clock with about 1 minute remaining. But the Patriots were only able to get one first down.

The Patriots appeared to have control of the game when they a 14-0 lead on touchdown passes from Brady to James White (4 yards) and Danny Amendola (11 yards).

Then the game changed. The Patriots curiously attempted a drop-kick kickoff by Nate Ebner instead of having Stephen Gostkowski kick deep. The Eagles recovered at their 41 and quickly drove down the field for a 5-yard touchdown pass from Sam Bradford to Zach Ertz.

New England got the ball back with 1:32 left in the half. Instead of running a no-huddle offense, the Patriots were conservative and were forced to punt. Philadelphia’s Chris Maragos blocked the punt and it was returned 24 yards by Najee Goode for a touchdown with eight seconds left in the half.


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