PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia Eagles had another chance to wrap up the NFC’s #1 seed and the NFC East division championship Sunday against New Orleans.
Despite second half adjustments and a near comeback, the team failed to clinch for the second straight week, falling to the Saints 20-10.
The offensive and defensive adjustments were too little, too late, as the Eagles have now suffered their first losing streak of the 2022 season at the worst possible time.
Both sides of the football came into the game beat up.
On offense, quarterback Jalen Hurts missed his second straight game, right tackle Lane Johnson was ruled out until the playoffs, and running back Miles Sanders was limited all week with a knee injury. The defense was already missing safety Chauncey Gardner-Johnson and slot cornerback Avonte Maddox. Defensive end Josh Sweat was then carted off the field in the first half with a neck injury.
Looking at the game plan from offensive coordinator Shane Steichen and defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon, it seemed as if they thought their entire team was healthy. It was as if they could do everything they’ve been doing all year the exact same way without any adjustments, despite the changes in personnel.
Gannon’s zone-heavy defense was gashed by Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb in last week’s loss to the Dallas Cowboys, but he decided to run it back with the same strategy in the first half against New Orleans.
The same result followed.
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The Saints got their best, and only legitimate passing target in WR Chris Olave lined up with backup slot CB Josiah Scott, linebackers, and even EDGE rusher Haason Reddick over and over again.
Saints QB Andy Dalton was 13 of 14 in completions in the first half, taking the easy passing lanes, and off coverage the Eagles gave him regardless of the down and distance. It seemed like Gannon was planning for a star QB like Patrick Mahomes or Josh Allen let alone a journeyman backup in Dalton.
The defense adjusted to a more aggressive, man coverage base in the second half and with a seven-sack performance to go along with it, the unit bounced back to shut out the New Orleans offense.
However, the offense was already down 13 points after a slow first half of their own.
Backup QB Gardner Minshew was able to move the sticks just once as the play-calling had him trying to do many of the same things that made Hurts an MVP candidate: RPO’s and pass-heavy stretches with plays that called for Minshew to go through full-field reads.
Minshew was too limited to carry the load against the second ranked passing defense in the league, but the coaches didn’t take that weight off his shoulders until the second half. When they finally did by running the ball more and giving Minshew easier, quick reads, then the penalties and turnovers took their shot at bringing the Eagles down.
Obviously, the execution wasn’t even close to being good enough considering the superior talent the Eagles had compared to the Saints, but this loss was a massive failure by the coaching staff.
It felt like the team didn’t think they needed to change anything or plan for New Orleans specifically. It was as if the team thought they could walk into Lincoln Financial Field with a vanilla, base heavy plan and win with ease.
That didn’t happen.
Maybe it was the humbling reality check they needed as the Eagles now face a do or die Week 18 matchup against the New York Giants.
It's now win or there is a very good chance that Philadelphia will go from the #1 seed that needed just two home wins to get to the Super Bowl to a wild card team that may need three road wins to get to Arizona.