Eagles' Darby earns praise, game ball in debut vs. Bills

It's only been one week since the Buffalo Bills traded Ronald Darby to the Philadelphia Eagles, but he's already looking like a steal for his new club.

The cornerback didn't have to wait long to exact revenge on his former team, as he hauled in an interception and narrowly missed another in Philadelphia's 20-16 preseason victory Thursday night.

The performance landed him the game ball and earned him universal praise from his teammates and coaching staff.

"We welcomed him with open arms and you see he's making his mark here in Philly already," teammate Rodney McLeod told David George of the team's official website after the contest.

Despite whiffing on an early tackle attempt against LeSean McCoy, Darby didn't lose his composure, and the quality he showed in limited preseason reps had head coach Doug Pederson raving about his secondary's prospects for the upcoming season.

"Yeah, it's very impressive. Very exciting. Encouraging, obviously," Pederson said about Darby's performance. "He's definitely going to help us there in the back end."

A strong first showing is exciting for any player who has joined a new roster, but the fact it came against his former club was that much sweeter for Darby.

"It's a great feeling to do well against a team you were just at," Darby said.