Mistakes Bite Birds In Week 6 Loss To Saints

Week 5 of the NFL season put the Philadelphia Eagles in a tough spot on the road.  They had only five wins and five losses the week after they play the Dallas Cowboys. The past five seasons have shown the Eagles tend to get emotionally drained the week after the big divisional battle with big “D”. This week also gave a chance for the New Orleans Saints to prove they deserve to be one of the elite teams of the NFC. 

The first half of the game was marred with mistakes from the Eagles who went down early 10-0, but managed to grind out a drive and grab three points.  A muffed punt, by Dexter Wynn and Ryan Moats, gave the Saints an easy touchdown minutes before the half.  Trailing 17-3 at the half, the Eagles came out soaring in the second half, scoring 21 unanswered points and looking dominant.  Being up 24-17 the Eagles began to get sloppy again and let the Saints crawl back into the game, tying it 24-24.  The Saints eventually drove down the field, chewing up the clock and buried a short field goal with seconds left to win it 27-24.

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Donovan McNabb
Donovan McNabb was the only consistent factor in the Eagles uniform on Sunday.  His statistics are misleading, and do not tell the story of the loss.  He only completed 19 for 32 for 247 yards, 2 touchdowns and one junk interception from a hail mary at the end of the half. Yet in the first half, many of McNabb’s passes were touched by receivers but dropped.  Some passes were overthrown going deep, but many were catch able.  These drops killed the Eagles’ offensive momentum on many drives, but still McNabb continued to make huge plays to keep the Eagles in the game.

Halftime Adjustments
During Andy Reid’s press conference, he did not specifically state any adjustments the coaching staff made to contribute to a 21-0 run in the second half.  He said it was more so a result of the players finally performing that led to the success.  But whatever was said or planned, it made a difference.  The Eagles suddenly were forcing the Saints into 3rd and longs, and the offense was finding gaping holes in the New Orleans secondary for giant gains.

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Mental Mistakes
The Eagles are undoubtedly a better team than the New Orleans Saints, but what lost them the game were their mental mistakes.  Call it the let down week or call it mere circumstance, but on many occasions the Eagles’ heads were not completely in the game on Sunday.  Four mistakes stand out the most.  Ryan Moats being blocked into Dexter Wynn, who called for the fair catch but was bumped to the ground.  This created a fumble which gave the Saints 7 free points before the half.  Moats needs to pay attention to where he is at compared to the punt returner, and under no circumstances should he be near the vicinity of Wynn during a fair catch.  The Eagles do not make many special teams mistakes, but this one was crucial.  Another mistake is the bumbling of time outs taken in the second half.  The Eagles were forced to use timeouts because of confusion, and this left them watching helplessly as the Saints ran the clock out and won the game.  The most inexcusable mistake the Eagles made was on defense during the Saints final drive.  The defense had stuffed them, leaving the Saints in improbable field goal range.   It was 3rd and 10 and Trent Cole came around the end unblocked and got the first sack of the game.  But instead of a 4th and 15, The Eagles were called with 12 men on the field and it flipped to 3rd and 5, a replay of downs.  This short third down was gained by the Saints on the next play and eventually scored.

Michael Lewis
After the game Lewis was questioned about the coaches confidence in him and why he was taken out of the game in the 4th quarter.  The Eagles were up by seven and needed a big stop on defense to leave momentum in their favor.  Lewis committed on a deke by Saints receiver Joe Horn, who ran by Lewis and caught a 48 yard touchdown pass that tied the game.  Lewis was taken out of the game immediately after that poor play and was replaced by Eagles young safety, Sean Considine.  Normally coaches will let a player stay in the game to make up for a bad play and regain their confidence.  Yet Lewis had been beaten badly a week prior by Dallas Cowboys receiver Terry Glenn at the end of the game in a similar fashion, so the coaches felt it was necessary.   The pulling of Lewis speaks volumes about Andy Reid and the coaching staff’s lack of confidence in him covering anyone.  Lewis is in his final year of his contract and is not proving that he deserves a big contract.

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Next week the Eagles try to regroup against a team that just gathered their first win of the season, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.  The game is in Tampa Bay which has not been particularly friendly for the Eagles, who have suffered against the Bucs in general ever since the Championship game loss in 2002.  The Eagles should be the favorites to win, and coming off a loss in New Orleans, they should be well prepared and ready to get back on the winning track.

Photo by AP Photo/Alex Brandon