Wrap Up

After an emotional and exciting win in week 5, the Eagles had the unenviable task of coming back in week 6 to play a surprisingly good New Orleans Saints team…in New Orleans. The Saints have been a feel good story this year after the turmoil that was their 2005 season both on the field and because of Hurricane Katrina. The Eagles had a history on their side winning the last few matchups against the Saints but today would not be the day. Almost instantly, the Saints outplayed the Eagles on every side of the ball. After a John Carney FG which saw Drew Brees be prefect on all passes and some great rushing plays by the duo of RBs Deuce McAllister and Reggie Bush. After a futile series on offense by the Eagles, the Saints went down the field again as Brees connected with Joe Horn to make the score 10-0. The Eagles would finally get on the board courtesy of a David Akers FG in the second quarter, but a botched punt return by Dexter Wynn gave the Saints perfect field position for the Saints to tack on another 7 points making the score 17-3 at halftime. The Eagles would show their resolve in the 2^nd half however. Donovan McNabb, after a shaky 1^st half that saw his first INT in over 100 attempts found Reggie Brown for a 60 yard catch-and-run. Following that, a Darwin Walker interception would help the Eagles tie the game at 17. Early in the 4^th quarter, the Eagles pulled out a little trickery as Reggie Brown rushed in for a TD to give the Eagles a 24-17 lead. These fireworks would be short lived as the Eagles from there on out were outplayed and outcoached. Following a botched play, Brees surprised the Eagles D by going into a hurry up and hitting a wide-open Joe Horn for a TD to tie the game at 24. With the Saints driving down the field again in the final minutes, the Eagles were suckered into using their time outs. After Trent Cole was finally able to get pressure and sack Brees, the sack was negated by an Eagles penalty for 12 men on the field. As a result, the Saints got the field position and ran the clock down to 3 seconds where John Carney sealed the deal to propel the Saints to victory, 27-24. The Saints improved to 5-1 and once again showed they are for real. For the Eagles, all week there were questions of whether this could be a let-down game for them and this was clearly the case as the Eagles, despite rolling off 21 unanswered points, came out flat against a better prepared Saints team.

 

Post Game Positives

Reggie Brown

All year long, Reggie Brown has been consistently good for the Birds. Reggie has not only been making the catches, he is making the plays when given the opportunity. Reggie’s 60 yard touchdown today was not only a good throw by McNabb, but it was also great work by Reggie as he made four Saints miss him on the run after. Reggie has stepped it up considerably in the absence of Donte Stallworth who really seems to be struggling with this nagging hamstring. Reggie had 6 catches for 121 yards and 1 TD paired with his 15 yard rushing TD. In a day that saw the Eagles receivers drop passes constantly, Reggie was a one bright spot.

 

Resiliency

The Eagles have been a Jekyll and Hyde team so far this year as far as their play in the 1^st half. The good news is that they have been in every single game they have played in and not panicked no matter what the circumstance. The Eagles came out flat in the first half of this game with the Saints offense, defense, and special teams running all over them and forcing mistakes. Whatever McNabb and the coaches are telling these guys at halftime seems to be working as the Eagles have consistently come out swinging on offense when down at halftime. Their problems have been playing a full 60 minutes at that intensity.

 

Lito Sheppard/Brian Dawkins

The Eagles secondary has been plagued by inconsistency this year and today was no exception. Only two guys have stepped up and played well each game they were active in: Lito Sheppard and Brian Dawkins. Fans are used to B-Dawk having good games and coming to play week in and week out, but Lito has been a nice surprise this year given the injury problems he had last year and early this year. Lito had his third INT in two games after winning NFC Defensive Player of the Week honors in Week 5 and is providing a boost to a secondary that is having a lot of issues.

 

Post Game Negatives

Offensive/Defensive Lines

Andy Reid is a coach who firmly believes with every bone in his body that a football game is won in the trenches. The Eagles’ lines usually do a great job, but they looked horrible today as once again Brian Westbrook was unable to get it done on the ground. The Eagles were unable to get anything going on the ground and their tackles were beat quite a few times as McNabb was sacked three times. On the other side of the ball, the Eagles were dissected by Brees as a result of not being able to get pressure on him. The Eagles offensive and defensive lines are too good not to rebound at some point, but they have to do it as soon as possible if the Eagles are going to win games.

 

Jeremiah Trotter and Michael Lewis

Two guys who are very important on this Eagles defense had dreadful games in week 6. Trotter was coming off what was a pretty good game for him against Dallas. However, Trotter was turned around several times and exploited all day for his inability to defend the pass. Jeremiah Trotter is a great and explosive player, who may have just had an off day, but he is the keystone of the defense and in order for the defense to play well, Trotter needs to produce. As far as Lewis goes, he has been a subject of constant criticism from The Eagle Report and week 6 just adds to it. On plays where every other member of the secondary knows what is going on, Lewis is constantly getting fooled and leaving receivers wide open for an easy 6 points. Michael Lewis is in a contract year and he’s got to be worried right now given the way he’s played.

 

Andy Reid’s Gameplan

The real question here is, did Andy Reid even have a game plan? If he did, it was executed poorly. The Eagles played an all around sloppy game. They let the noisy superdome get inside their heads with several false starts and also the dagger in the heart: a 12 men on the field penalty that negated a clutch sack by Trent Cole that would keep the drive alive and lead to the game winning FG. Andy Reid’s playcalling to say the least was poor as the Saints appeared to see right through some of the screen passes. Reid and the Eagles did not appear ready for this game or have a plan for the weapons that the Saints have like they did against the Cowboys. Reid was outcoached by first year coach Sean Payton in every aspect of the game; and Reid and his coordinators will have to go back to the drawing board to get the Eagles back on track for week 7.

 

Closing Remarks

If you are an Eagles fan, you cannot be too happy with how this game went. The 27-24 score does not do much justice to how well the Saints actually played and how poorly the Eagles played. The Eagles offense got hot at the right time, but could not produce when it really counted as they went 3-10 on 3^rd downs. The Eagles defense that has looked so good this year came out flat against an energetic and efficient Saints offense. The loss dropped the Eagles to 4-2. Even though they are still in first place, the Eagles have to regroup and put this loss behind them. The aftershocks of this game to be most concerned about is how well the Eagles bounce back from this loss. It is tough not to have mixed emotions as the Eagles did come back and did pick their play up, but still got dominated and outcoached when it really counted. The Eagles have a lot of kinks to work out as they prepare for their next game against the 1-4 Tampa Bay Buccaneers.