Saints seeking to halt the magical ride of St. Nick

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When the Philadelphia Eagles come flying into New Orleans today for their Divisional Playoff game against the Saints, they will be hoping to show that the 48-7 beat down given to them by the New Orleans in week 11 was just a speed bump on their way to back-to-back Super Bowl titles.
The Eagles, 16-15 winners over Chicago in last week’s wild card game, are on a mini win streak, having defeated their last four opponents. One of the main reasons Philadelphia is so confident coming into the Superdome is the play of quarterback Nick Foles.
Foles, as he did last season, was called into action after starting signal caller Carson Wentz went down with an injury. Last year, Foles led the Eagles to their first ever Super Bowl championship, going 5-1 as a starter.
This year Foles began the season in the starting line-up while Wentz continued to mend, playing in Philadelphia’s first two games. He gave way to Wentz until week 15 when he was called back into duty due to a back injury to Wentz. Foles is 5-1 this season including last week’s win.
Because of Foles’ play the last two seasons and the confidence that the Eagles seem to have with him at the helm, a number of “experts” across the country are drinking the Kool-aid and predicting a Philadelphia win over New Orleans. It seems that the Saints have lost their darlings of the gridiron title that was bestowed upon them earlier in the year when they were raking everyone over the coals.
Just a reminder to all the “experts” out there, New Orleans is 13-3 this season and are an eight point favorite heading into this game. On top of that, the Saints are 6-2 in the Dome this year and more importantly are 6-0 in the playoffs on their home turf since 2000.
So, then why is New Orleans not getting so much disrespect from the national sports personalities?
Two reasons. One, the national sports media have fallen in love once again with St. Nick and the Eagles. They are the hottest ticket in the NFC right now. Secondly, the Saints did not blast opponents off of the field down the stretch as they did in the first half of the year.
The word coming out of Philadelphia’s team camp is that they are not the same team they were in Week 11 and they are coming for revenge. That maybe so, but the Saints are not the same team they were the last five games of 2018.
During that time, all five starting New Orleans offensive lineman missed at least part of a game. The word is that those guys will be ready to go, with the exception of Terron Armstead, who will be a game day decision.
Not only that but wide out Ted Ginn, Jr. had knee surgery and just recently returned to the field. Ginn is a vital part of the Saint passing game, using his speed to take the top off of defenses.
With all of this said, it will not be easy for the Saints, especially having to beat a team twice in one season. But here are some keys for New Orleans to get the win and stay on their quest for another Super Bowl ring.
1. Offensive line play- Obviously, when the Saints have their full line on the field they are virtually unstoppable offensively. With the big men up front healthy, New Orleans averaged 31.5 points and 379.2 yards per game.
In the games that one or more lineman were down, the Saints only averaged 19 points and 296.8 yards per game. Not only do these guys help protect future Hall of Famer Drew Brees, but they allow Mark Ingram and Alvin Kamara to control the ball on the ground.
Owning time of possession by running the football will be huge to keeping Foles and the Eagle offense off of the field.
2. Speaking of running games, New Orleans must establish theirs early on. Not only will getting Ingram and Kamara going put pressure on the Philadelphia defensive front, it also opens the play-action pass that has made the Saints and Brees so successful.
Another advantage to controlling the ground game is that the front half of the Eagles defense will begin to wear down a lot faster, giving the O-Line a chance to protect Brees even better. If New Orleans had a tough time running the ball, Philadelphia defensive linemen Michael Bennett, Brandon Graham, Fletcher Cox and Haloti Ngata will be able to pin their ears back knowing the pass is coming.
3. Just like the first time these to teams met, someone else besides Michael Thomas and Kamara must make a play in the passing game. In Week 11, the Eagles doubled the two best offensive players for the Saints and played man-to-man on the rest of the receiving corps.
However, in that game, Brees was able to find other targets and those targets were able to make the catches necessary. The biggest recipient of those passes in Week 11 was Tre’Quan Smith, who had 10 catches for 157 yards. Smith are someone else must be ready to do that again.
4. New Orleans must find a way to get to Foles. In the Philadelphia offensive scheme, Foles is more efficient when he is able to get the ball off quickly.
The Saints have to find a way to make Foles hold on to the ball longer than he wants. That may mean picking spots to blitz and playing the short to intermediate routes, which is an Eagle staple with Foles in the lineup.
5. New Orleans must come out on fire early on and get the Who Dat Nation crazy early on. Lord knows that when the Superdome is rocking, the opposing team does not stand a chance in Hades.