Eagles Lose Second Straight, Fall To Saints 20-10
PHILADELPHIA – Pfft…the air is slowly leaking out of that comfortable three-game cushion the Eagles had after becoming the first team to clinch a playoff spot back in Week 14.
Needing only one win these past three weeks to clinch their first NFC East title since 2019 and, more importantly, earn a first-round bye and all home games in the conference playoffs, the Eagles have hit hard times.
They lost their second straight game, this one a 20-10 setback to the New Orleans Saints at Lincoln Financial Field on Sunday, their first home game in nearly a month.
"I don't get too high when we play a really good game; I don't get too low when we play a really bad game," said head coach Nick Sirianni. "We played a really bad game today offensively.
"We'll just have to look and get better from it. Again, I'm not ever going to be somebody that is going to hit a panic button. We're going to double down on the things we think are true and that we know are true, and we're going to get better from this."
Of all the records this Eagles team is breaking this season, the most elusive one is 14.
As in 14 wins. The most wins in franchise history in one year is 13, done twice, back in 2004 and 2017. Both years, the Eagles went to the Super Bowl.
Now 13-3, the Eagles need to win their final game of the season against the New York Giants at home in order to wrap up the top seed and win the division.
They can also do that with a Cowboys loss to the Commanders next week and the Vikings have to lose once, to either the Packers, who played later Sunday afternoon, or to the Bears next week.
"We’re going to be all right," said DE Brandon Graham. "I’m not panicking at all. I know were in postseason, let’s just get this one win so we can breathe a little bit and get some guys back."
Despite the loss, the Eagles set the franchise record for sacks in a season and became the first team in NFL history to have four players record double-digit sacks. Graham made it four after finally reaching the magic number of 10 for the first time in his 13-year career.
The Eagles suffered a frightening injury to one of their sack artists with Josh Sweat having to be taken off on a cart with 9:19 to play in the first quarter. Sweat, who has 11 sacks, was taken to a nearby hospital for precautionary reasons. The good news is he had movement in all his extremities.
He suffered a neck injury and, afterward, the Eagles said that he would be released from the hospital Sunday night and further tests are pending.
The Eagles' defense collected seven sacks and now has 68, which is six away from the league record of 72 set by the 1984 Chicago Bears.
It is their fifth straight game with at least six sacks.
Haason Reddick and Graham each had two and now have 16 and 11, respectively; Javon Hargrave had one to give him 11; Fletcher Cox notched his seventh of the year; and Milton Williams and Ndamukong Suh shared one.
The offense had a hard time against a New Orleans defense that hadn’t allowed more than 20 points since Nov. 7.
Making his second straight start, Gardner Minshew struggled early. He was inaccurate often and under pressure regularly.
He was sacked five times in the first half – six times in the game - and couldn’t lead the offense to its initial first down until 12 seconds remained in the second quarter. The Saints, who moved to 7-9, meanwhile, were busy building a 13-0 lead at the intermission.
The Eagles had just 11 first downs.
“We just played terrible," said DeVonta Smith, who went over 100 yards receiving for the third straight game, putting up 115 this time. "That’s that. We didn’t execute. We didn’t go out there and do the things we’re supposed to do. Had small penalties that set us back. Just played bad.”
Minshew did have his moments, like the 78-yard TD pass he uncorked to A.J. Brown down the right sideline. Brown hauled it in and outran three defenders for about 33 of those yards into the end zone to make the score 13-10 with 45 seconds left in the third quarter.
Brown needs 13 yards to surpass Mike Quick’s franchise record of yards in a season of 1,409 set in 1983.
“There’s still no pressure," said Brown. "We’ve got to go out and play ball. We’ve got to go out and execute. Today was just unacceptable.
"It’s definitely frustrating. That was definitely a winnable game. We didn’t make enough plays to win the game.”
Penalties hurt the Eagles, with four false starts, a holding call that took a 28-yard TD run away from Boston Scott, and a Jason Kelce ineligible man downfield penalty to wipe away a big gain on a short throw to Scott.
The holding on Dickerson looked like a well-executed pancake block.
The Eagles had a chance midway through the fourth quarter to keep a drive alive, but a fourth-and-one quarterback sneak try from Minshew at midfield was stuffed. It’s a first down that Jalen Hurts makes routinely.
The preceding play before Minshew was stopped was a third-and-four that netted just three yards on a Miles Sanders run.
The inability to secure a first down there left Philly with just two conversions on 10 third-down tries. They finished 3-for-12.
The Eagles' defense held the Saints to a three-and-out at midfield, but the game was sealed when Minshew threw a pick-six, with Marshawn Lattimore stepping in front of A.J. Brown for an easy 11-yard touchdown return to make the score 20-10 with 5:27 to play.
“We ran that same play earlier and it was the same coverage and they made a great adjustment to jump the route," he said. "I should have seen that leverage when we made the motion. I assumed since it was the same coverage, (Lattimore) was going to play it the same, but he made a great adjustment and made the play to beat us.”
It was Minshew’s third interception in his two starts.
He finished 18-for-32 with 274 yards and a passer rating of 82.0.
The running attack, without Hurts, struggled again, with Miles Sanders getting just 61 yards on 12 carries. As a team, they ran just 15 times for 67 yards.
Ed Kracz is the publisher of SI.com’s Fan Nation Eagles Today and co-host of the Eagles Unfiltered Podcast. Check out the latest Eagles news at www.SI.com/NFL/Eagles or www.eaglesmaven.com and please follow him on Twitter: @kracze.
