The Saints will take the field for another nationally televised prime time game this week, as they welcome the Philadelphia Eagles to the Superdome on Monday Night Football. Both teams are coming off of ugly losses last week in which each offense struggled mightily. The Saints fell to 2-5, while the Eagles fell to 3-4. Before the regular season started, this match-up was pegged by many as what should be a very important game for NFC seeding. In a sense, it’s still an important game, but really just for the two teams involved, rather than the entirety of the NFC. A win keeps small hopes of a playoff run alive for each team, while another loss could mean that winning out for the rest of the season is each team’s last prayer. A prayer that, for the way both of these squads have played, will most likely go unanswered.
The Saints are coming off of one of their worst losses in the Drew Brees era. The offense sputtered to a 14 point performance, which is just over half of their season average. Going in to last week’s game vs. Denver, they were ranked 1st in the NFL in total offense. They’ve fallen to 5th coming off of the loss. The Saints looked extremely out of sync all night. They usually make scoring points look much easier than what it is, but on Sunday night they managed to do just the opposite. Not to mention, they did so at a bad time, facing one of the league’s hottest quarterbacks in Peyton Manning. Fortunately, they’ll face another struggling offense that should be easier to keep up with, but the New Orleans defense has a knack for helping opposing offenses get going.
Philadelphia suffered a 30-17 loss at home to the undefeated Falcons last week. Even though they were 3-3 and Atlanta was 6-0, the loss came as a surprise to many. Not many had been giving the Falcons as much respect as a typical undefeated team. Andy Reid, the Eagles head coach, was an amazing 13-0 coming off of a bye week in his career. That streak ended on Sunday due to Philadelphia’s loss. The talks of benching Michael Vick heated up as much as they have all year, but Reid announced yesterday that Vick will remain the starter.
Philadelphia’s defense is ranked 12th in the NFL coming in to their Monday night match-up with Drew Brees.
Pass Offense
Drew Brees had one of his lease efficient games as a Saint last Sunday, as he completed 52% of his passes, going 22/42 for 213 yards with two touchdowns and one interception. His accuracy was off all night, as he consistently missed throws. His receivers didn’t help him out very much, as drops were a big problem as they have been for most of the year. Darren Sproles led the team in receptions with 7 for 56 yards and a touchdown. Jimmy Graham and Marques Colston both had 5 receptions for 63 yards, while Graham found the end zone late.
Philadelphia’s pass defense is ranked 14th in the NFL, giving up 229.1 yards per game. They gave up 3 first half passing touchdowns to Matt Ryan last week; as he went on to throw for 262 yards and 0 interceptions. The Eagles did a decent job limiting two of the three dangerous pass catchers in the Falcons offense. They limited Roddy White and Tony Gonzales to minimal damage through the air, but Julio Jones burnt them deep for a 63 yard touchdown catch, in route to his 5 catch 123 yard performance.
Philadelphia has not been as good at getting to the quarterback as they typically are. They have 9 sacks on the season, much lower than the usual for a typical Eagle defense. As a team, they have 7 interceptions on the season.
The Saints should have an easier time in the passing game this week. The offense almost always flies high when playing at home, so the comfort of the Superdome should help. Drew Brees rarely has bad games, much less two in a row. Expect a nice bounce back game from him, as he’ll come out focused on helping his team put up a much better performance. He’ll face a defense that has two very good, but underachieving corner backs in Nnamdi Asomugha and Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie. The entire Philadelphia defense catches a break this week, because the dynamic, impossible to cover Darren Sproles will be out with a broken hand for this week. Pierre Thomas is a good pass catcher out of the backfield, but not having Sproles is a big loss for the Saints offense.
Rush Offense
The rushing offense was yet again missing in action, largely due to the constant deficit. They only ran the ball 15 times for 49 yards. Even with the poor team effort, Pierre Thomas was very effective. He alone accounted for 43 yards rushing on 8 carries. Mark Ingram was lightly utilized once again, only receiving 3 carries. The poor rushing attack has become a solid trend so far this season and while the defense continues to give up lots of points, there is no end in sight.
Philadelphia has been so-so in run defense this season, after doing pretty well last year. They’re 17th in the league, giving up 110.4 yards per game on the ground.
It’s nearly impossible to predict anything but a lack of existence for the running game prior to games this season, so there’s not much to look at here. It’s possible that the Saints run the ball more this week, because Pierre Thomas, Mark Ingram, and even Chris Ivory will see extended snaps due to Sproles’ absence. With all three being better at running the ball than catching out of the backfield, the Saints may lean on them to help boost their time of possession, thus allowing the defense some much needed rest. If so, look for Chris Ivory to run with authority on any chance he gets, as he will be looking to prove that he deserves to be playing since he hasn’t had a carry all season. Hopefully for that matter, the high energy he will bring will result in chunks of yardage, rather than fumbles.
Players to Watch
Drew Brees
For the first time this season, Brees wasn’t listed as a player to watch last week. While the prediction was accurate, it wasn’t what anyone wanted to see. He may see himself on this list for the rest of the season based on two reasons. First, the Saints defense isn’t showing any signs of improvement, so Drew will need to help the offense keep up with the pace. The second reason he may stay here is just plain old superstition, because no one wants a repeat of last week.
Pierre Thomas
With Darren Sproles being out, Pierre will play a similar role to what he did between 2008-2010. He will see the field even more than usual and have his hands on the ball a good bit. He should receive at least 12-15 carries and be targeted at least 5 times out of the backfield. His extra efforts and yards after contact are phenomenal and they always seem to get Saints fans fired up. It will be a good idea to get the running game going early, as mentioned previously, and there’s no one better to rely on than Pierre.
Jimmy Graham
Graham had a very rough game last week, regardless of catching five balls and scoring a touchdown. He dropped at least three passes that were usually routine plays for him. He didn’t seem to be favoring his sprained ankle, but it’s possible that the pre-existing injury was in the back of his mind. He did not suffer any setbacks, so with another full week of healing he should be back to normal. The Eagles corner backs will do at least a decent job of locking down Saints wide receivers, so it will be important for Jimmy to step up and help Drew out.
Prediction
Saints – 31
Eagles – 26
