Going Back To The Big Easy - Saints Talk

[SunMo]

AC joint sprain

[hunt]

this was spewed on pe.com 

Lito Sheppard is likely out for Saturday night's game, so the Eagles have a challenge at cornerback. Fortunately, they have some depth here, maybe as much as at any position on the team. Roderick Hood is probable to start against New Orleans, and the rapidly-improving Joselio Hanson and William James will have their roles increased. James was a healthy scratch on Sunday against the Giants. He has missed time with the calf injury, and in the meantime both Hood and Hanson have played well. There was simply no room on the game-day roster for James.

since sheldon wasn't mentioned, i'm assuming he's okay.

[Sgt PSN]

this was spewed on pe.com 

Lito Sheppard is likely out for Saturday night's game, so the Eagles have a challenge at cornerback. Fortunately, they have some depth here, maybe as much as at any position on the team. Roderick Hood is probable to start against New Orleans, and the rapidly-improving Joselio Hanson and William James will have their roles increased. James was a healthy scratch on Sunday against the Giants. He has missed time with the calf injury, and in the meantime both Hood and Hanson have played well. There was simply no room on the game-day roster for James.

since sheldon wasn't mentioned, i'm assuming he's okay.

Sounds like a reasonable assumption.  Of course, we all know what happens when you assume......

[hunt]

i accept without verification or proof?

[PoopyfaceMcGee]

James may have to match up on Colston much of the game.  Yuck.

[SunMo]

i think two things have to happen for the Eagles to have a shot to win...

they need to win the turnover battle by at least 2 turnovers
and they need to have at least 40 minutes TOP

[SD_Eagle5]

40 minutes? That's a shteinload of TOP. Win the TO battle, run the ball effective, and put 6 instead of 3 in the redzone and that should be enough.

[SunMo]

yeah, maybe 40 minutes is a bit much, but they need to have a distinct TOP advantage.  and yeah, any Red Zone visit needs to be a TD.

[mussa]

They needed to score quick and early to get the crowd out of the game.

They need to control the clock better than they did yesterday.  The Saints will methodically put on long scoring drives, we need to keep the ball out of the offenses hands.

A HEAVY HEAVY DOSE of Westbrook.  Buckhalter needs to get more carries.  What yesterday he had like 3? Come on guys! They need to ground and pound and take it to the Saints front 7, which in my opinon is not that good.

Put as little as much possible pressure on Garcia. Let him throw some short passes, but don't go throwing deep on 1st and 10 when we havn't established the run yet. 

The D-line IMO was awful yesterday.  Jaqua had the lone sack.  Where was Killa, Howard, Patterson, Walker, Bunkley, Runyan? They need to get to Brees, they need to pressure and hit him.  This concerns me because he had a MVP season, and I think he could carve our DB's all day long if given the time.  Plus he's more mobile than an Eli. 

So in a nutshell, go up early, shut up the crowd, control the clock, run the ball, ground and pound it out and then take some deep shots. D needs to step it up on all aspects. The Saints offense is the best in the business.  As long as we can keep them off the field and sustain long scoring drives, I feel we have a great shot of beating them.  Yesterday' play calling was pretty bad, almost pre-McNabb injury bad.  Not only the offense, but not putting 2 defenders on Plaxico was just dumb. We will not get away with it in New Orleans.

[Tomahawk]

Runyan probably shouldn't be sacking people, mussa, but he did knock some people down...even if the play was already over.

[shorebird]

Runyan was laid out, doing a Superman!

[mussa]

Runyan probably shouldn't be sacking people, mussa, but he did knock some people down...even if the play was already over.

Runyan and Killa have my permission to hurt anyone they like, flagrant or not. Just don't do it when the game is on the line. 

[Feva]

This game IMO... is what separates the Eagles from the Super Bowl.  To win it... they need to be on their shtein.  The Saints worry me more than any other team in the NFC.

I don't expect the D to shut down the Saints offense, but they'll need to make some big, timely plays/turnovers and then Garcia and the offense has to capitalize with TOUCHDOWNS.  I hate not having Lito, but the secondary has shown the ability to handle injuries and keep playing well.  Wrong game to not be full strength with Brees, Colston, Horn, Henderson and Copper on the other side though. 

If the defense can keep either McAllister or Bush from going wild... that would be a really good thing.  If they both have an impact... we're in trouble.  For real.

Offensively... Westbrook, Westbrook, Westbrook.  He can not get the ball enough in this game.  Like Munson said... we've got to do a better job of disguising screens and passes to him to get him in space.  The Saints ate us up on that last time.  The o-line needs to keep knocking people in the mouth (before the whistle) to give Westbrook and Buck some room... which I think they can do against the Saints' front seven.

Stallworth & Brown have to come up as big or bigger as they did yesterday.  Brown had a big game against the Saints the last time... hopefully he can repeat that performance.  I'm sure Stallworth will be motivated to have a big play or two against his former team to let them know what they gave up.  Btw... it'd be nice to see Darren Howard make an impact for that same reason.

If we get off to a slow start again like we did against the Giants... we might as well turn off the TV's after the 1st quarter because the Eagles will get blown out.  They need to keep this game within a score or two throughout or better yet... jump ahead early and control the clock (crazy that I can even realistically say that.)

Tough game... and I'm not sure I expect the Eagles to win... but they are definitely capable of pulling this thing off.  Just got to play well start to finish... which if they hadn't waited 'til the 3rd quarter the last time they played, this could have been a home game.

[shorebird]

Bree's had a fantastic year. 554 attmps. with 356 comps. for a percentage of 64.3%. 26 TD's and 11 int's. A 96.2 passer rating. He leads the NFL in yards with 4.418. His 26 TD's are third behind Manning and Palmer. He's third in Passer rating. He's without a doubt the best qb in the NFC, and is on the best team also.

And if thier passing game isn't good enough, as a team they rushed for 1761 yds. Deuce had 1057 with a 4.3 avg. and 10 TD's.


Screw the Bears 13-3 record, the Saints are the best team in the NFC.

[shorebird]

The Eagles will need to play the perfect game to win this one.