Two touchdowns from Jay Ajayi and the return of their 'Philly Special' trick play helped Super Bowl champions Philadelphia Eagles start the new season with an 18-12 victory over the Atlanta Falcons.
The first half was delayed by 45 minutes due to the weather but the heavy rain could not dampen the Super Bowl party for Philadelphia's fans.
In a game that had a similar feel to their play-off clash back in January that ended 15-10, it was another tight affair that could have gone either way at the end.
As with the play-off game, Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan could not find receiver Julio Jones for a touchdown from close range in the dying stages of the match on a play that could have won it for the Falcons.
A sloppy game containing 26 penalties was settled by two touchdown runs from British-born running back Ajayi followed by another defensive stop from the Eagles - just as in January.
"It was deja vu," said cornerback Ronald Darby. "Jones is one of the best but we got the stop."
The Eagles are second favourites to win the Super Bowl this season at 10/1 with Sky Bet.
The Philly Special returns
As in Philadelphia's Super Bowl win over New England, back-up quarterback Nick Foles was on the receiving end of a pass from their 'Philly Special' trick play - this time catching a 15-yard pass from receiver Nelson Agholor.
That play finally sparked something out of a laboured Eagles offence and Ajayi's first touchdown followed soon after, but a Tevin Coleman run put the Falcons ahead in the fourth quarter.
The Eagles responded with Ajayi's second score but the win was down to their defence who had to produce another goal line stand to keep out Ryan and Jones, who connected for 169 yards on ten receptions but were unable to punch it in.
Ryan threw four straight incompletions from the ten-yard line before a penalty gavce him one last chance from the five. Again he opted to try and find the commanding presence of Jones in the corner of the endzone but the receiver could not bring the ball down in bounds as the game ended exactly as the play-off match had.
Ryan finished the game with 251 yards, no touchdowns and one interception as he was sacked four times, while Foles was quiet to say the least with just 19 completions for 117 yards with his best moment being that 15-yard catch.
The Eagles will fancy themselves to kick-on after a scratchy opening as they face the Tampa Bay Buccaneers next, while the tough games keep on coming for Atlanta as they face a divisional slog against Carolina next up.
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