As the New England Patriots enter halftime of their home game against the Philadelphia Eagles tied at 14 a piece, here are some thoughts on the first half.

Slow Start- The Patriots got off to a slow start offensively, as their first two drives ended with little doing for quarterback Tom Brady and company. A lack of top targets and quality blocking from the line seemed to leave Brady in the middle of nowhere, as the team compiled just 13 yards in their first nine plays.

Getting Into The Groove- While the first two drives looked ugly for New England, the last couple of offensive series have been the complete opposite. Brady has been able to utilize his second and third tier options in the passing game. The addition of a healthy Danny Amendola has paid dividends so far as well, as the receiver has 3 catches for 32 yards and a score so far.

Moving Up The Leader Board- Brady took another step up the all-time passing touchdowns list in the second quarter, as the All-Pro hit running back James White for the team's first score of the game. The touchdown was Brady's 421st career passing score moving him one ahead of Dan Marino for sole possession of third place on the list. He added another score to his total, as he hit Amendola later on in  the second quarter.

Doing His Best With What He's Got- With the exception of Amendola, Brady is without any of his top options from the start of the season for toady's game. Brady has completed nine of 16 passes for just 94 yards but two scores.

Better Than They Look- In their last two games coming into today, the Eagles had given up 90 points combined and 10 passing touchdowns. Aside from the two TD passes by Brady and the seven accepted penalties for a whopping 92 yards, Philadelphia is playing well. The decision to feature running backs Darren Sproles and Kenyon Barner has payed off as the two have combined for 10 carries and 69 yards on the ground. Sproles has also added 34 receiving yards as he's got 78 total yards on 11 first half touches.

Special Teams Failure- New England, who usually plays better than the oposition on special teams, is losing that battle so far today. After going up 14-0 the Pats tried some trickery with a Nat Ebner (yeah the safety) pouch kickoff. While it appears they tried the move to throw the Eagles into a spiral it didn't work out as Philly covered the ball, got great starting field position and went down the field for an easy score. Then, of course, came the blocked punt by safety Chris Maragos that was scooped up by linebacker Najee Goode, who walked into the end zone with the tying touchdown just eight seconds before the end of the half.

Need More- The Pats had some good looking plays on offense in the second quarter, but they need much more than the 157 first half yards they put up in the first half to put Philly away. Also, this New England defense, who is without Dont'a Hightower, needs to figure out how to stop Sproles and the Philly run game in the second half.

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