11/6/12
The Eagles have yet again never ceased to amaze me. They
traveled down to New Orleans to play the Saints on Monday Night Football, a
game the whole nation would be able to watch. The Saints came in this game with
one of the best offenses in the NFL, and with the worst defense in the NFL. The
Eagles came in with one of the lowest scoring offenses in the NFL, and turn the
ball over the most in the NFL. Could Michael Vick and the Eagles have an
explosive night on offense and exploit the Saints defense? Could the Saints
defense disguise their blitzing schemes and catch the Eagles off guard?
In the first quarter, both teams had their chances on
offense to strike first. The Eagles were in field goal range on their first
drive and drove methodically down the field. The only problem was that Vick
fumbled the ball at the Saints 30 yard line and lost 12 yards on the play. That
kicked them out of field goal range. The Saints marched down the field on their
first drive. The big play in this drive was a Drew Brees 38 yard pass to Lance
Moore. That play was moot when Garrett Hartley hooked a field goal wide left
from 52 yards. In the final drive of the quarter for the Eagles, they wanted to
execute some offense on that missed field goal. The big play in this drive was
a 40 yard run by backup running back Bryce Brown. That drive was halted when
Vick threw an interception to Patrick Robinson and ran 99 yards the other way
for a touchdown to make it a 7-0 game. This was surprising given the fact at
how horrible the Saints defense looked on paper.
On the Eagles first drive in the second quarter, it was
another methodical drive like they had in the first quarter. The big play in
this drive was a 34 yard run by LeSean McCoy that put the Eagles in a first and
goal situation. Instead of scoring a touchdown, they had Alex Henery kick a 22
yard field goal to put the Eagles on the board to make it a 7-3 game. The
Saints answered that Eagles field goal with a touchdown of their own. They had
two runs over 20 yards, one by Mark Ingram, and the other one that resulted in
a touchdown by Chris Ivory to make it a 14-3 game. The Eagles could not answer
back with points on the board on their next drive and didn’t stop the bleeding,
which was the Saints offense. The Saints got another touchdown on a one yard
pass by Brees to Marquis Colston to make it a 21-3 game. Jimmy Graham and
Pierre Thomas helped set up that touchdown. Graham caught a 17 yard pass while
Thomas exploded with a 19 yard run in which he got tackled at the Eagles 10
yard line.
In the start of the third quarter, the Saints methodically
drove into Eagles territory only for Brees to fumble the ball in which the
Eagles recovered. After the fumble the Eagles ripped an 83 yard drive on two
plays that resulted in a touchdown on a 77 yard pass thrown by Vick to DeSean
Jackson to make it a 21-10 game. After the Eagles kicked off to the Saints,
Travaris Cadet received the kickoff and fumbled the ball on his own 22 yard
line in which the Eagles recovered. They didn’t do too much on this drive and
ended up kicking a 37 yard field goal in which Henery split the uprights and
made it a 21-13 game. The Saints responded on their next drive and moved the
ball again down the field methodically only this time they scored one final
touchdown. This time Graham caught the six yard touchdown pass thrown by Brees
and did a slam dunk celebration over the goal crossbar. That made the score,
which turned out to be the final score 28-13. At the end of the third quarter,
the Eagles tried a trick play on a kickoff return and it worked when Brandon
Boykin received the kickoff, threw a pass across the field to Riley Cooper, and
ran 94 yards for a touchdown only for it to be called back because of an
illegal forward pass penalty.
The fourth quarter was mostly a dull quarter. The Eagles had
one last chance to put more points on the board, but Brent Celek fumbled a
catch at the Saints 8 yard line and the Saints recovered the fumble.
Overall, the Eagles did not design plays quickly because the
Saints defense blitzed heavily on Vick and sacked him a career high seven
times. Although the Eagles had 447 yards of offense in the game, they were 0-5
in the red zone. That’s unacceptable for a supposed good football team.
Is the Eagles season
over? Sound off and stay tuned for my next entry when the Eagles host the
Dallas Cowboys next Sunday.
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