Eagles Defense, a sometimes brilliant Jalen Hurts and late heroics from Saquon Barkley help Birds pull out comeback win over New Orleans. Eagles lose five players to injury during the game.
NEW ORLEANS: There is no doubt that there were Eagles fans in the Philadelphia area and throughout Eagles Nations were throwing things at there TV set when the Birds trotted off the field down 0-3 to the New Orleans Saints.
If you were just looking at the score you might think it's just a defensive battle. It was anything but that for the offense run by the visitors.
The Eagle had a drives in Saints territory end with an interception, a fumble by QB1 Jalen Hurts and a 14-play drive that was turned over to the Saints after Head Coach Nick Sirianni decided to go for it on fourth and one from the Saints 15-yard line with 14 seconds to go.
The faked Tush Push failed and Eagles looked clueless.
But with a sometimes brilliant Hurts, an obsessed defense and late heroics by Saquon Barkley, the Eagles pulled out a 15-12 triumph and moved into first place in the NFC East with a 2-1 record.
“Yeah, I get it. Shoot...if I was a fan looking at the TV, I'd probably being throwing my stuff too," said Eagles safety Reed Blankenship at his locker after the game. "But at end of the day, you've got to believe in us, you've got to believe in our locker room. You've just got to believe in everybody that's involved with us.
“We were poised, we were physical, we were calm...we go the job done
IT WAS LOUD FOR BOTH TEAMS
The Superdome in New Orleans is loud...really loud. Even with the thousands of Eagles fans who made their way to the the Big Easy, it was hard for both teams hear anything.
It took 15 plays for Derek Carr and the Saints 15 plays to go 54 yards, settling for a Blake Groupe 34-yard field goal
The play of the Philadelphia defense towards the end of the Saints first drive turned out to a preview of what was in store for Carr and all-purpose back Alvin Kamara the rest of the afternoon.
The Birds offense struggled mightily on its first drive – a three-out that lost nine yards and were forced to punt.
Then it got strange. A terrific drive by Eagles that started at the end of first quarter and features 20-plus throws to DeVonta Smith and tight end Dallas Goedert was thrown in the Superdome dumpster on Sugar Bowl Drive when Hurts threw a dart intended for Smith that in the middle of the end zone that ended up with the wrong guy coming up with the ball.
Tyrann "the Honey Badger" Mathieu intercepted Jalen Hurts, and returned it 23 yards
Jalen Carter and Vic Vangio's defense stopped the Saints that time and every time until 9:49 was left in the fourth quarter.
The Eagles needed every stop.
The Birds third drive ended at the Saints 40-yard line when defensive end Carl Granderson strip sacked Hurts and recovered by by Granderson.
Another drive ended with a blocked punt.
Two consecutive drives – the Eagles fourth and fifth of the game were turned over on downs.
The score remained 3-0 Saints after three quarters.
WILD FOURTH QUARTER
To be fair, the Eagles started the game without their No. 1 receiver A.J. Brown.
They lost All Pro tackle Lane Johnson to a concussion, wide receiver/punt returner Brian Covey with shoulder injury, right guard Mekhi Becton from a finger injury plus Pro Bowl cornerback Darius Slay to a leg injury.
Then worse...Smith was helped off the field after suffering from a concussion incurred early in the fourth quarter from a what appeared to be a late hit by Saints defensive tackle Khristian Boyd.
With Johnson and Becton out, Tyler Steen played right guard and Fred Johnson jumped in at right tackle.
After the game Sirianni talked about Smith.
"DeVonta Smith, he is one of the toughest dudes I know," said Sirianni, now in his fourth season as head coach. "He's one of the toughest dudes I know. I'll get an update on how he's doing, obviously he didn't come back in the game, but if he would've been able to, he would've because DeVonta Smith is tough... DeVonta Smith is a warrior, he's tough and he puts his body on the line. These guys put their bodies on the line, play in and play out and he's one guy that does that all the time. I hope he's OK."
The scoring drought ended when, right after the late hit on Smith.
At the13:27 mark of the fourth quarter, Barkley took a hand off from Hurts at the Birds 35-yard line, maneuvered into the secondary, then switched into a gear only he knows, racing untouched to the end zone and 7-3 lead.
The Saints offense got it rolling a bit with a 50-yard drive that ended with a Grupe 38-yard field goal to make it 7-6.
After a missed 60-yard field goal attempt by Jake Elliott, the home team finally got into the end zone.
The Saints would make it 12-7 when Carr led the Saints on a nine-play drive, 50-yard drive that ended with a 13-yard pass from Carr to a wide open Chris Olave.
With 2:03 left in the fourth, Hurts led the Birds on a five-play, 69-yard drive that ended with
Barkley barreling into the end zone from the four. Barkley added a two point lead with 1:01 left.
Blankenship picked off Carr's desperation heave with 48 seconds left that ended the game.
QUOTES AND STATS
The Eagles defense played its best game in years. And the offense kept letting them down until the fourth quarter.
Safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson was a standout all afternoon finishing with eight tackles (five solo), a batted pass. He was questionable going into the game with a foot injury.
When Gardner-Johnson was asked about having so much success against what was the top-rated offense in the league going into the game, the sixth-year safety stopped the questioner from finishing...
“Top What?” Gardner-Johnson barked...then the questioner tried again...”Top what?” and again “Top what?” he continued to ask..”Top What?
“This ain't nothing getting over that 'top' thing...shout out to Slay, shout out Q (CB Quinyon Mitchell), Shout out to Avante (S Maddox), shout out to Reed (S Blankenship), shout out to (CB Kelee) Ringo, shout out Coach to CP (DBs Christian Parker), shout out to Coach JK (safeties, Joe Kasper)...hey man...best secondary in the league, if that's the case.”
Gardner-Johnson was asked what he had to play through today.
“I didn't play through nothin',” Gardner-Johnson quipped back. “I played for my teammates. I'm not worried about somebody...listen...we keep receipts.
“That's what I told you all in the locker room. See y'all Sunday.”
Gardner-Johnson would not speak on Friday...and that is exactly what he said while he was packing up his gear for the trip to New Orleans.
Gardner-Johnson was on a roll at his locker and seemed to embody the attitude of the whole defense. He was asked how were the Eagles able to bounce back on short week?
“Naaaah, we put our head down and wanted to get that taste out of our mouth,” Gardner-Johnson said. “I feel soooo relieved right now. At the end of the day, my team did this one. It wasn't me, it was our team, our team came together. Couple guys went down. Couple guys spoke up...couple guys understood what the task at hand was. We came through locked on, we through and kicked the door in.”
Gardner-Johnson was asked what it's like – confidence wise – to have a player, a weapon like Saquon Barkley on your side especially so many players going down.
“We can strike anytime,” Gardner-Johnson said. “We can strike from the outside, we can strike from the inside, we can strike at quarterback, we can strike at O-line, we can strike anywhere. When you have an offense like this and a defense that's powered up. We've got to give a chance.”
Blankenship was asked...With all the players going down ..how much does having Saquon help with confidence.
“It was huge,” Blankenship said. “It's big, it's big. I'm praying for the guys that went down today obviously. But at the end of the day, it's the 'next man up' mentality. We've got guys in the room that could start anywhere else. Even if they're a back up. You hust have faith, have truth that they're (backups) are going to get the job done. And they did.”
Blankenship has an almost instinctive way to gets his hand and arm under a ball he has picked off. Was he taught that anywhere?
“That technique? My dad taught me all that,” He said. “A big shout out to him. His birthday is coming up soon. He's probably enjoy that too.
"I remember when we were little, he take me out to the yard at halftime...at the time I was an Alabama fan...we're throw the football at each other...he taught me a lot of stuff..so shout out to him.”
Eagles Georgia first round picks Jalen Carter and Jordan Davis have been major disappointments going into the New Orleans game.
Carter was asked this week to evaluate his play over the first two weeks...he replied, “Trash.”
But both came through on Sunday.
Carter recorded four tackles (three solo). Davis came up with a sack and four tackles (two solo).
“We've been working together,” Carter said. 'We have no doubts about ourselves. What happened the first and second week, that's in the past. We knew we had to step up.”
Carter was asked about his thoughts in how well players who stepped in for injured players stepped up.
“It's different,” Carter said. “When some of our players went down, the defense, we all see it. We had a couple players stay on the ground, like DeVonte, we seen it. But with us, it's always next man up."
Carter could see Johnson was watching this conversation at the next locker.
“Give a little love to my friend Fred Johnson, he stood up,” Carter said. The whole time we watched him ..he's winning on the power rushes. He had a helluva game. Steen had a helluva game. Everybody who had to step up for somebody that got injured, they showed up and played a helluva game.”
Pro Bowl guard Landon Dickerson agreed.
“It's next man up mentality,” Dickerson said. “Just because guys get hurt, there's expectations that, regardless of position, when somebody comes out of the game and it's your turn to step up, you have to execute at that same level. I've got faith in all those guys to go in there...and even though they may not be starters, they still work hard everyday in practice, every week. I've got trust in them every time they go in there and execute their job.”
Saints backup tight end Juwan Johnson admitted the Saints thought the Eagles could not stop their rushing attack
“We knew coming into the game, they weren't a great run-stopping defense,” Johnson said at his locker after the game. “They played great run-stop defense today. That's one of the things I'm pretty sure they were talking about all week long and how we were running the ball and how they couldn't stop the run. They probably put a big emphasis on that...made an adjustment. They did a really good job, credit to them. Later on in the seawon, hopefully we'll see them again.”
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Eagles stats.
Barkley had 17 carries 147 yard (8.6 YPC) two TDs.
Hurts was 29 of 38 for 311 yards. He was sacked four times and threw an interception. Hurts also rushed eight times for 25 yards.
Goedert set single-game career highs in receptions (10) and receiving yards (170).
On defense LB Zack Braun led the Eagles once again with 13 tackles (nine solo). Fellow linebacker Nakobe Dean carded eight tackles (three solo). Blankenship had two solo tackles and a forced fumble.
Some Saints stats.
Carr was 14 of 25 for 142 yards and one touchdown. He was sacked once and threw the game-ending pass to Blankenship. Brandon Graham was credited with a QB hurry on the play.
Alvin Kamara 26 rushes for 87 yards 3.3 yards per carry.
Olave caught six passes for 86 yards and one TD *
Email Al Thompson at al.thompson@footballstories.com
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