Eagles’ Boston Scott keeps churning, through both good and bad moments

Boston Scott does not have the ball from his first NFL touchdown, scored Sunday at Buffalo, and no, it isn’t because he fumbled it away on a punt return a few minutes later. He just forgot to ask, the Eagles’ running back/returner said Tuesday.

Scott came up from the practice squad after Darren Sproles suffered a quadriceps injury Oct. 6 against the Jets. His 11 carries before Sunday didn’t include any at the goal line, and he wouldn’t have gotten this third-quarter shot from 4 yards out if Miles Sanders hadn’t left with a shoulder injury and Jordan Howard wasn’t getting checked out on the sideline after a hard hit.

“The line did a great job of blocking it up. I just went in there and finished,” Scott said Tuesday. “I wasn’t surprised; I was the only one left.”

The explanation of the fumbled punt a minute and 29 seconds later was more extensive. Scott caught the Corey Bojorquez boot on a dead run, stumbled, and ran head-on into the Bills’ Siran Neal, who jarred the ball loose. Scott was trying to retain it in his midsection when he hit the ground, but it bounced free and Buffalo recovered.

“With wind conditions, I felt like it was a returnable ball when it came off his foot,” Scott said. “I already had it in my mind that I was going to get it. I don’t know if maybe the wind caught the ball up or blew the ball back, but it instantly just dropped. I was able to get under it, but I stumbled, and whenever I hit the ground, the ball came out.”

The Eagles want Scott to be aggressive, within reason. After watching the tape, he said he still feels “had I not stumbled, there was still green grass there, for the ball to be returned.”

Scott is an interesting player, at a listed 5-foot-6 and 203 pounds. He is small only in height; he has a thick, muscular physique and a bowling-ball style.

“Boston is a guy that ever since he’s been here, he’s been a man on a mission,” center Jason Kelce said Tuesday. “You’ve seen it throughout the preseason, you see it every time he touches the ball. He really seems like somebody who wants to make something happen. He’s quick, he’s fast, he’s strong -- a lot stronger than people probably realize, because of how short he is. ... I think everybody really respects Boston and the way he goes about his business, the way he plays. He’s going to give it everything he has.”