Eagles Score 7th Return Touchdown of Season in Game No. 5

The Philadelphia Eagles scored their sixth and seventh return touchdowns of the season during Sunday's 34-28 win over the St. Louis Rams, becoming the first team since at least 1970 with seven or more non-offensive touchdowns through the first five games of a season, per Mike Jurecki of Fox Sports 910.

Now sitting at 4-1 and in first place in the NFC East, the Eagles haven't been all that effective on offense or defense, instead relying largely on their league-best special teams units.

Philadelphia has gotten a touchdown apiece from punt returner Darren Sproles and kick returner Chris Polk, both of whom play running back on offense.

More surprisingly, the Eagles have a pair of blocked punts for touchdowns, with safety Chris Maragos finding the end zone Sunday, after wide receiver Brad Smith did the same in a 26-21 loss to the San Francisco 49ers last week.

The Eagles scored all of their points from returns in that Week 4 loss, meaning they have a two-game total of five non-offensive touchdowns.

In addition to the four scores from special teams this season, a Philadelphia defense that hasn't done much else right has found the end zone twice off fumbles and once on a pick-six by safety Malcolm Jenkins, who has accounted for all three of the team's interceptions. During Sunday's game, defensive tackle Cedric Thornton recovered a fumble in the end zone in the third quarter to give the Eagles a 27-7 lead.

The Eagles are respectably tied for 13th in the NFL with eight takeaways, but they rank 29th in passing defense (274.2 yards per game) and 24th in rushing defense (132 yards per game).

Even more concerning, Philadelphia has an NFL-high 12 giveaways, as quarterback Nick Foles and running back LeSean McCoy have struggled behind an injury-marred offensive line that was dominant last season.

With the occurrence of defensive and special teams touchdowns so difficult to predict, the Eagles will need better play on both offense and defense to beat the New York Giants in a huge divisional matchup next Sunday night.

Having already scored on a pass, rush, blocked punt, kick return and punt return, the only thing left for the Eagles this season is a blocked field goal.