Philadelphia's Quintin Demps, left, celebrates his touchdown with Lorenzo Booker, center, and Michael Gasperson. The Eagles defeated the Patriots, 27-17, on Friday night in Foxborough, Mass.

Eagles 27, Patriots 17

Foxborough, Mass. – The New England Patriots need a lot more than the return of Tom Brady.

The team that was nearly perfect needs a defense that doesn’t give up three drives of 70 yards or more and special teams that don’t allow two kick returns for touchdowns – all in the first half.

The Philadelphia Eagles did all that Friday night and won 27-17, a score that was closer than their domination of a team that was 18-0 before losing last season’s Super Bowl but is 0-3 in exhibition games.

“I’ve only been here two games and things haven’t been good,” said Patriots safety John Lynch, who signed after being released by Denver. “I don’t think you put too much stock on results, but we’ve still got to regroup.”

Brady has yet to play in a game while nursing a right foot injury. Coach Bill Belichick wasn’t asked about his condition, but it doesn’t appear to be serious, and the NFL MVP could be back for the season opener Sept. 7 against Kansas City.

The Eagles returned two kicks for touchdowns in the last 1:35 of the first half, Donovan McNabb led three long drives, and backup Kevin Kolb directed a 90-yard march to David Akers’ second field goal on their opening series of the third quarter.

“My confidence comes from how the team feels, and I think the team is really on a high right now,” McNabb said.

After Akers’ 24-yard field goal made it 27-3, Matt Cassel was done for the night after failing for the third straight game to show he deserved to remain as backup to Brady.

Cassel completed 8 of 14 passes for 60 yards and hasn’t led a touchdown drive on any of his 15 series, although starting linemen Matt Light and Stephen Neal have been sidelined all three games. Cassel hobbled off after being sacked on his last play with about 10 minutes left in the third quarter.

Cassel did “some good things, some could have been done better,” Belichick said. “Protection at times was a problem.”

He gave Matt Gutierrez a better review after the second-year pro threw fourth-quarter touchdown passes of 1 yard to Chad Jackson and 6 yards to C.J. Jones against backups.

“Matt did a good job of leading the team,” Belichick said of Gutierrez. “He hung in there well.”

Packers 27, Broncos 24

Denver – Aaron Rodgers went from pathetic one week to just about perfect the next. Brett Favre’s replacement as Green Bay quarterback bounced back from a bad game at San Francisco to complete 18 of 22 passes for 193 yards and a touchdown.

Rodgers led four scoring drives in his five possessions and was 16-for-19 for 178 yards against the Broncos’ starters, including a 10-yard touchdown to Donald Driver on the game’s opening drive.

He added a 1-yard sneak for a score against the Broncos’ reserves to open the second half before giving way to rookie Brian Brohm.

The Packers (1-2) sorely needed this kind of night from Rodgers in the last true tuneup for the regular season. He was 9-for-18 for 58 yards last week against San Francisco and failed to get the Packers into the end zone in one half of action.

Cowboys 23, Texans 22

Irving, Texas – Tony Romo made up for overthrowing Terrell Owens on a certain touchdown and later getting intercepted in the end zone, completing 15 of 19 passes for 166 yards and a TD in Dallas’ victory over Houston.

Houston backup quarterback Sage Rosenfels ran 8 yards for a touchdown with 2:05 left. Instead of a tying extra point, the Texans went for a two-point conversion. But Jacoby Jones couldn’t handle the pass in the end zone.

Falcons 17, Titans 3

Atlanta – Matt Ryan, making his first preseason start, opened the second half with a touchdown pass to give Atlanta the lead.

Ryan, the third pick in the draft, continued his bid to start as a rookie. Ryan completed 15 of 21 passes for 102 yards.