The Sports Xchange

PHILADELPHIA – After Philadelphia gave up 30 touchdown passes and a league-high 72 pass plays of 20-plus yards last season, Chip Kelly knew he had to do something drastic to improve his defensive secondary in the offseason.

He replaced three of the four starters in the secondary and went out and signed the top-rated cornerback on the free-agent market in Byron Maxwell.

Kelly and the Eagles gave Maxwell a six-year, $63 million deal with a whopping $22 million in guaranteed money, even though he had just 17 career starts on his resume.

In his 18th start Monday night and first one with the Eagles, Maxwell went out and laid an egg. He got taken to the cleaners by Atlanta Falcons wide receivers Julio Jones and Roddy White.

Jones had nine receptions for 141 yards and two touchdowns in the 26-24 Falcons win. The 34-year-old White had four catches for 84 yards.

According to Pro Football Focus, Maxwell was targeted 11 times and gave up nine completions for 154 yards and one of Jones’ two touchdown catches.

“I didn’t play up to par,” Maxwell said Wednesday. “I gave up a couple of big plays. Definitely could’ve done better.

“But it’s over now. The more I hang on it, the more I can’t get prepared for Dallas. We’ve got to get on to the next game. We’re trying to go for a championship. That’s the next goal.”

The Eagles will play the 1-0 Dallas Cowboys on Sunday in an important early-season NFC East battle. Maxwell is getting a considerable break in that Cowboys wide receiver Dez Bryant injured his foot in Week 1 and is out for four to six weeks.

Still, the Cowboys have plenty of pass-catching weapons, and they have quarterback Tony Romo, who led the league in passing last season and threw three touchdown passes in the Cowboys’ division-clinching Week 15 win over the Eagles.

“Obviously, Dez is as talented a receiver as there is in the league,” Kelly said. “Anytime you lose a player like that it’s difficult. But it’s not like they don’t have other weapons. And they have one of the best quarterbacks in the league running the show. The key to that offense is the quarterback, and he’s playing at a really high level right now.”

Romo obviously has scrutinized the film of the Eagles loss to the Falcons. He’s seen the problems Maxwell had and no doubt has made a mental note to go after him early and often on Sunday.

“Just inconsistencies in techniques,” Kelly said when asked why his $63 million corner struggled. “I think Byron would be the first one to tell you that. When he was locked up in technique, he did a really good job. When he got beat, you can look at where he was from a technical standpoint, and that’s where he got beat.”

SERIES HISTORY: It is the 109th regular-season meeting and the Cowboys lead the series, 60-48. The teams split their two games last season, with the Eagles beating the Cowboys in Arlington, Texas, on Thanksgiving, 33-10, then losing to them at home two weeks later, 38-27, when wide receiver Dez Bryant caught three touchdown passes from Tony Romo, all against cornerback Bradley Fletcher.

NOTES, QUOTES

–Running back DeMarco Murray will face his former team for the first time Sunday. Murray won the league rushing title last season with the Cowboys. He had a league-high 392 carries, which were the seventh most in NFL history. In his first game with the Eagles on Monday night, Murray had just eight carries for nine yards. The Eagles ran the ball just 16 times against the Falcons, which was the second fewest rushing attempts in a game in Chip Kelly’s two-plus seasons in Philly. “There are going to be times when we run the ball 60 times and there are going to be times when we have to pass the ball 60 times,” he said. “It’s how the game expresses itself in where you are. You don’t know if you’re going to be up 20-3 or down 20-3. I think a lot of that is you’ve got to let the game play itself out, so that’s always been our approach.”

–Making his first regular-season start in nearly two years, Sam Bradford overcame a shaky first half to complete 21 of his final 24 passes in the two-point loss to the Falcons. Asked what it felt like to finally get back on the field, he said, “It’s felt about as enjoyable as I remember it being. I’ll probably spend some extra time in the tub and extra time getting treatment in order to make sure to get the body back to where it needs to be for Sunday.” While Chip Kelly wouldn’t confirm it, Bradford admitted that he tweaked his ankle in the game and the team’s medical staff made him get an X-ray, which he said was negative.

–The Eagles lost backup center-guard David Molk for the season. He tore his bicep in Monday’s loss to the Falcons. He was placed on injured reserve and the team signed Julian Vandervelde to replace him.

–The Eagles’ offensive line didn’t play very well against Atlanta, particularly in the first half. The best Kelly could say about his two tackles, Jason Peters and Lane Johnson, was that they “did a decent job.”

GAMEPLAN: The Eagles only ran the ball 16 times in their 26-24 loss to the Falcons on Monday night. They’ll likely run it considerably more than that on Sunday against the Cowboys. In their 33-10 Thanksgiving Day win over Dallas last season, they had 45 rushing attempts.

MATCHUPS TO WATCH

Eagles ILB Kiko Alonso vs. Cowboys TE Jason Witten. Witten is 33, but still a very dangerous receiver. He had eight catches and two TDs in Week 1. Alonso had an end zone interception against the Falcons.

Eagles NT Bennie Logan vs. Cowboys C Travis Frederick. Frederick made the Pro Bowl in just his second season. But the 6-2, 309-pound Logan has been a key to the Eagles’ success against the run.

Eagles WR Jordan Matthews vs. CB Tyler Patmon. The 6-3, 212-pound Matthews has a significant size advantage over the 5-10, 179-pound Patmon, who is replacing injured Orlando Scandrick as the nickel corner.