A huge NFC matchup takes place on Sunday in the Big Easy as the Philadelphia Eagles (4-5) clash with the New Orleans Saints (8-1) at the Mercedes Benz Superdome.
The Eagles are a struggling and desperate team, who are coming off a tough home loss to the Dallas Cowboys. Things don’t get any easier this week as they must now face a Saints team that is playing arguably the best football in the entire NFL.
What began as a season full of hope has quickly come undone as the Eagles are already on the brink of missing the playoffs, and a loss here could be the knockout blow for the defending Super Bowl champion.
If the Eagles are looking to even compete in this game, they must focus on stopping Drew Brees, who currently is among the hottest quarterbacks in football and a top candidate for this year’s MVP award.
It will be vital for the Eagles defensive line to get pressure on Brees all game long, and for that, all of them will have to bring their A-game to this meeting. Of course, even though this must be a concerted effort by the whole defensive line, two players must stand above the rest if the Eagles are to even have a shot of containing Brees.
Michael Bennett will need to step up and try to come off the edge to harass Bress and get him off his rhythm with knockdowns, and if possible, sacks. Also, Fletcher Cox needs to be atop his game to create pass pressure in the pocket to disrupt Brees’ game with batted balls, sacks and hurried throws that could lead to turnovers.
The problem with that approach is that, although the Eagles are not a bad team getting sacks (they rank tenth in the league with 28), the Saints offensive line is among the best in the league as they rarely concede sacks. In fact, the Saints rank first in the NFL in sacks allowed as they have given up nine through their first nine games.
Having a quarterback as efficient as Brees in the pocket also allows the Saints to run many different schemes to slow down the pass rush. To make matters even more difficult Brees is surrounded with several explosive players such as Alvin Kamara, Michael Thomas, and Mark Ingram, which allows New Orleans to use deception and misdirection to come up with big plays and score tons of points.
Expect the Saints to do that once again on Sunday as they dismantle a reeling Eagles team that quite simply doesn’t have the resources to slow down Brees and company.
Prediction: Eagles 20 – Saints 34
