After a crazy ending against the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field, the defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles moved on to face the No. 1 seed New Orleans Saints at the Mercedes Benz Superdome in the NFC divisional round on Sunday.
Back in Week 11 the Saints defeated the Eagles handily 48-7 and the Philadelphia players and staff haven’t forgotten that 41-point defeat.
Philadelphia’s head coach Doug Pederson assured the press in a conference on Monday that this time around the Saints would play a very different Eagles team as they’re approaching this challenge with a very different mindset.
Not only the mindset will be different, but also the players on the field. Since Week 11 the Eagles went a couple of significant changes on offense. For one thing, wide receiver Golden Tate was in just his second game as a member of the Eagles, and now he’s already become a playoff hero. Also, back then Carson Wentz was the starting quarterback, but after he suffered a back injury in Week 14, Nick Foles is once again the guy in charge.
Since Week 11 the Eagles are 6-1 and are scoring 25.4 points per game, while their defense is allowing just 18.9 points per contest and a point differential of +46. In that same span, the Saints have gone 4-2 scoring 21 points per game and allowing 19 and a point differential of +12.
Although nobody will ignore the thrashing the Eagles suffered, it’s clear that statistically at least, the Eagles have been the better squad, but can they walk into the Superdome and beat the Saints?
That is highly unlikely because not only their defense would have to play a flawless game, but Nick Foles would also have to play a perfect game on the road.
Although Foles’ shown repeatedly that he can make big plays when it matters the most, the Eagles will not win in New Orleans if he plays the way he played at Soldier Field.
During the Sean Payton/Drew Brees era the Saints are a perfect 5-0 in postseason games played at the Superdome. In fact, the Saints have won 70.3 percent of all games played at the Superdome since 2008.
Unless the Eagles find a way to keep the score close until the last drive of the game and can depend on Foles to work his magic to bail them out once again, don’t expect the Eagles to advance past the Saints.
