News / Sports
NFC Playoffs Preview; Philadelphia Eagles at New Orleans Saints
It’s hard to figure out which of the two NFC teams playing on Saturday is more of a miracle. The New Orleans Saints are coming off of a 2005 campaign that landed them last in the NFC South with a 3-13 record and little hope for a successful 2006. The Philadelphia Eagles were dead in the water at 5-6 this season and forced to play without starting quarterback Donovan McNabb. Now both teams are one win away from playing for the NFC title.
The story of the year has been the New Orleans Saints and its hard not to be impressed with their almost unbelievable turnaround from one year ago. New Orleans was 1-5 in the NFC South last year and finished with the worst record in the NFC. Their one victory in the NFC South represented their only win in the NFC. In 2006 the Saints won nine games including a Week 6, 27-24 last second home victory against the Philadelphia Eagles.
Philadelphia’s season seemed over the minute Donovan McNabb went down with an injury. After Week 12 they were 5-6 and coming off a 45-21 pounding by the Indianapolis Colts. They had lost five of six games and the question wasn’t whether or not they would make the playoffs but rather would they win again. They answered by not losing again. In a brutal stretch to end the season the Eagles won three consecutive road games against NFC East opponents to clinch the East title and earn a playoff birth. They have now won six games in a row after beating the NY Giants in the opening round of the NFC playoffs last week.
Saturday’s game will feature the NFC’s two most proficient offenses. The Saints finished the year averaging 391.5 yards per game and put up an average of 25.8 points each contest. The Eagles finished just behind the Saints with 381.4 yards per game, averaging 24.9 points each time they played. Both teams totaled over 6,000 yards of offense for the season; the only other NFL team to accomplish that feat is the Indianapolis Colts. Defensively the Saints feature the number four ranked unit in the NFC while the Eagles landed at number seven.
It’s almost scary how evenly matched these two teams are, both finished the season at 10-6 but the similarities run much deeper than their record. The Saints had the NFC’s 13th ranked rushing defense, the Eagles had the 14th, the Saints had the NFC’s number one ranked passing defense, the Eagles were number four.
What the game could come down to is turnovers, and that favors the Eagles. New Orleans was minus 2 in the giveaway/takeaway category for the season while Philadelphia finished with a plus 5. In their match-up earlier this year each team turned the ball over twice.
It will be interesting to see if the Saints allow Drew Brees to air it out on Saturday. Eight times this year Brees has thrown for over 300-yards in a game, including a 510-yard performance against the Cincinnati Bengals. If they do let Brees loose they may not want him to throw for more than 300 yards, four of their six losses have come when he accomplished that mark.
More than likely the Saints will look to balance their attack with Deuce McAllister and Reggie Bush providing the offense out of the backfield while Brees locates Marques Colston on passing routes.
The Eagles will use a lot of Brian Westbrook out of the backfield while allowing Jeff Garcia to continue his almost mythical rise from the NFL scrap yard into a proven leader at the quarterback position. Philadelphia feels comfortable with his decision making ability and his 10 touchdowns compared to 2 interceptions as well as his ability to elude the rush has given them all the more reason to believe Saturday could be their ticket to the NFC title game.
The New Orleans Saints will be hosting the Philadelphia Eagles, game time is 8:00 p.m. EST.
