Foles catches TD pass, Eagles lead 22-12 at half
MINNEAPOLIS >> Nick Foles caught a 1-yard touchdown pass from tight end Trey Burton on a fourth-down trick play, and the Philadelphia Eagles have a 22-12 halftime lead over the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl.
The Foles score came after Tom Brady dropped an over-the-shoulder catch on a trick play for New England on an earlier drive that ended in a failed fourth-down play.
With 34 seconds left in the half, Foles lined up at quarterback before shifting behind the right side of the offensive line as Corey Clement took the snap. Foles paused at the line of scrimmage before running to the end zone as Burton took a reverse pitch from Clement. Burton was recruited as a quarterback at Florida.
Foles and Tennessee’s Marcus Mariota, a Saint Louis alum, are the only quarterbacks to throw and catch a touchdown in the playoffs since at least 1950.
The Eagles answered a 26-yard scoring run by James White that pulled the Patriots within three. Stephen Gostowski missed the PAT kick. Earlier, the Eagles’ Jake Elliott missed and the Eagles failed on a 2-point conversion.
White, who had three touchdowns and a 2-point conversion in last year’s Super Bowl win over Atlanta, has 26 career points in the Super Bowl. That’s fourth all time behind Jerry Rice (48), Adam Vinatieri (34) and Emmitt Smith (30).
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New England Patriots wide receiver Brandin Cooks is out for the rest of the Super Bowl with a concussion.
Cooks was wide open early in the second quarter underneath the Philadelphia zone, when he caught Brady’s pass, pivoted and danced back and forth to try to extend the play. He didn’t see Eagles safety Michael Jenkins coming, though, and was knocked to the turf with a legal-but-jarring hit by Jenkins.
Cooks was barely moving for several seconds, before sitting up and slowly walking off the field. The Patriots soon announced he was out for the remainder of the game with a head injury.
This leaves Brady without one of his most important targets. Cooks was second on the team during the regular season with 1,082 yards and seven touchdowns, a critical contribution amid the absence of wide receiver Julian Edelman.
The first Super Bowl of Cooks’ career was a short but rough one.
He took a jet-sweep handoff in the first quarter and tried to hurdle Eagles safety Rodney McLeod hit him in the groin area and slammed him backward to the turf at the 8-yard line after only a 1-yard gain on third-and-2. Then Gronkowski had a 26-yard field goal try bounce off the left upright after a mishandled snap.