Flipping The Bird: A Weekly Look At the Soon To Be Led To The Slaughter Philadelphia Eagles

Ugh. Let's just get to the prediction I made in April about this game...

 

Week 9: Eagles at New Orleans Saints

Talk about another coin flip game. By this point, the Saints' assistant coach Vitt will be back to resume his role as interim head coach. I think the saints may be struggling by this point if player suspensions are handed down in a harsh way. However, New Orleans loves their team and hate Vick. I think that if the Saints have struggled by this point (hard to imagine a team with Drew Brees struggling) then they will have nothing to lose by going guns a blazing on the Eagles. The Eagles will need to show all their heart to beat what I feel will be a desperate team. Unfortunately, this is around the time of the season that the Eagles tend to lose their heart. If Demeco Ryans cannot help control Jimmy Graham, then the Eagles have no chance. HOWEVER, I have a feeling the Saints' season will not go the way their fans would hope and I think everybody will have forgotten what they have said about Drew Brees practically being a coach on the field as even this scenario will be too much for him. Hmmmmm. I cannot imagine Drew Brees losing to Juan Castillo though. However, I never imagined Alex Smith out-dueling Brees, either. I say this could go either way, but because I am a homer, Eagles 30, Saints 27 in OT (6-2)

 

 If I have to stay up all night for overtime to watch the Eagles lose, I will punch a baby. Key points to the thoughts above: "...this is the time of the season that the Eagles tend to lose their heart." Yup. Did you see the way slow moving Eagles Defense? How about the look of defeat after every single dropped pass, short yardage gain, punt, long gain by the Falcons that I saw last week.

I also said that I don't think Juan Castillo could match wits with Drew Brees and the high octane offense of the Saints. Fortunately he doesn't have to. Unfortunately, a dude who just ran a defense that looked worse than LAST YEAR'S horrible defense, is in charge now. In my opinion, the Falcons offense is NOTHING compared to the abilities of the Saints offense. Last week the Saints hit a speed bump known as the now dominant Denver Brocnos. However, even back when Castillo was running the defense, the Eagles really have not shown a defense to be afraid either. And last week, when the Falcons decided they could score every way possible on offense. It looked like they were scrimmaging the Eagles. It was bad.

 

I really saw the Eagles being 5-2 at this point. I predicted they could go 12-4 for the season. They already got the 4 losses out of the way, right? Can they really go on a 9 game tear? Let's see, the next 9 opponents, in this order, are: Cowboys, at Redskins, Panthers, at Cowboys, at Buccaneers, Bengals, Redskins, at New York. The games I would be worried about the most here are the Saints (tonight), at the Buccaneers and at the Giants at the end of the season. These teams' current combined record: 23 Wins, 34 losses. These teams have won only 40 percent of their games. Comparatively, the Eagles have only won 42 percent of their games. Hmmmm...and people are saying the Eagles schedule is soft to finish the season. I don't think so, especially when other teams' schedules that are considered "soft" involve the Eagles.

 

So, the Saints at home were already beaten by the Redskins and Chiefs at home, certainly not the epitome of successful franchises recently. They did however defeat the Chargers at home. The Saints then went on to battle it out for a win against the Buccaneers, only to fall hard to the Broncos. The Broncos have improved, but can be had. Their last two opponents are the ones who have been had, including New Orleans. The Saints have been on the road for two straight weeks, and their last game at home was actually almost four weeks ago, on October 7, where they eeked out their first victory over the Chargers. So the New Orleans fans have not seen their team play at home in a month and the last memory they have at the Superdome is a win. This energy will be huge for them.

 

We have seen the Eagles struggle with getting plays together AT HOME when the crowd has already emptied out of the stands. I do not see the Eagles with a timeout remaining after the first 10 minutes of the game. I rememer the last time the Eagles played in New Orleans was several years ago when Jeff Garcia led the team to the playoffs. The Eagles practiced in a loud environment to recreate the real life working conditions. They did well, but the Saints were too much. So the question then for tonight is are the Eagles going to play the "Oh I'm so confused" game or will they jack up their big boy pants and play as if there is nobody watching? I don't know. Maybe half of them will play one way, the other half play the latter.

 

You know who shines, or at least thinks he does, in games like this? I don't just mean prime time, Monday night games. I mean a raucus crowd, against his team...a guy who likes to just cut out the heart of the opposing fans. Desean Jackson is great for this.

 

 

 

I know he has done other stuff like this. In fact, his first ever "touchdown catch" was actually ruled a fumble lost because he decided to pump the ball behind him while he leaped into the endzone. Unfortunately, he let go at the 1 yard line, rather than the goal line. They took his fumble away and then Brian Westbrook lept over the pile into the endzone, landing on his back, hurting himself for the rest of the season. But Desean Jackson is an asshole, and I like assholes.

 

While watching the game I will often say, "run you asshole!" or "don't be an asshole!" I do feel that this game can give us some special Desean Jackson moments. I hope so, so that coverage may roll to him and my fantasy man Maclin can do well.

 

Honestly, looking at this game as a whole, we are not a stellar defense. We wish we had one, but we don't. We have more disposable weapons on our offense, as the Saints have just a passing game. I don't know, I think the Eagles just need to focus on their defense staying fresh, slowing the game down, and the Eagles offense actually slowing the game down with an occassional offensive outburst. It would only benefit the Eagles to keep the ball out of Drew Brees' hands as long as possible. When he has the ball, it is inevitable that the Saints will score.

 

So, do I still think it is a coin flip game? Yes. The Eagles as a team, as a record, as a defense, are better. As an offense they are not. If they can hang with the Saints in a tough loss, they can be fine the rest of the season. However, the crowd is going to be nuts. They may have a 12th and 13th man out there tonight. Still, I think the Eagles HAVE to be tired of losing, right? RIGHT??? I am a homer, and it is very, very hard for me to write this. I predict the Saints win, 35-30. Yuck. I hate myself for writing that. Perhaps since I have predicted wrong for 4 of the past 5 games, I can drop to wrong in 5 of th 6 games. So, let's root for reverse psychology.