The Sports Xchange

PHILADELPHIA – Coach Chip Kelly, who often eschewed kicking points after touchdowns and went for two-pointers while on a college scoring spree at Oregon, is apparently more receptive to kicking the point-after in the NFL.

Or even with missing the kick.

Kicker Caleb Sturgis, who replaced injured Cody Parkey two weeks ago, missed a PAT for the second straight game Sunday against the New Orleans Saints.

But he also made all four of his field-goal attempts and had touchbacks on five of his nine kickoffs. Kelly said there are no plans to replace him.

“We’re going to roll with Caleb,” he said. “He did a nice job. I think he kind of got into a groove there, especially with the kickoffs.”

Although the Eagles had only six sacks in the first four games, they managed five against Drew Brees on Sunday, including three by defensive lineman Fletcher Cox.

The one defensive downside was they gave up a season-high seven “X” plays – pass plays of 20 or more yards.

“It’s a shame,” said defensive coordinator Bill Davis. “After giving up five of them in the first game, we finally went into the top five in the league in not giving up X plays. So we were excited about that. But it came back and stunned us. We played a little bit more man (coverage) than we usually do. And sometimes in man coverage, when one guy stumbles a little bit, the X plays can happen. But we’ll fix that. We’ll keep working on them.”

–The Eagles’ tackles are back to full-time work as both starters played all 84 snaps against the Saints.

Left tackle Jason Peters, who had knee and quad injuries previously, left the Redskins game a week earlier after just six plays.

Right tackle Lane Johnson also played all the snaps Sunday despite an MCL sprain and an ankle sprain. He likely won’t practice much this week, but is expected to play Monday against the New York Giants.

Also putting in a full day was wide receiver Josh Huff, who played a season-high 41 snaps against the Saints and had his best game with the Eagles, catching four passes for 78 yards, including a 41-yard touchdown catch and run, and returning a kickoff 40 yards.

Linebacker Mychal Kendricks missed the Saints game with a hamstring injury. Coaches hope he will be able to play Monday night against Giants.