Eagles Blown Away By Strong Brees

The score (Saints 48, Eagles 22) was more lopsided than expected but today's game went sort of how I figured it would.

There was a lot of concern about how the Eagles would fare with Kevin Kolb at quarterback due to the cracked rib suffered by Donovan McNabb last week. I felt the bigger problem would be the New Orleans Saints' offense, led by Drew Brees. Let's face it, Carolina didn't offer much of a challenge last week. Today would be a much tougher test, and the Eagles weren't up to the challenge. Brees threw for 311 yards and 3 touchdowns, and the Saints' offense rolled up 421 yards against the Eagles' defense.

A telling moment came late in the second quarter with the score tied at 10. It took the Saints two plays to go 54 yards and take a 17-10 lead with 0:43 left in the half. Still, the Eagles got a field goal of their own to make it a 17-13 game, and received the second-half kickoff...briefly. Ellis Hobbs fumbled the ball, it was recovered by the Saints and Brees threw his third TD pass. On the next possession Kolb threw an interception that led to another TD, making it 31-13. After that the Eagles never got closer than 14.

Kolb wasn't that bad. In the first half the Eagles moved the ball decently. Kolb's first-half numbers: 14-for-22, 196 yards, 1 touchdown. On their first possession, already trailing 7-0, Kolb hit DeSean Jackson for a 71-yard score, Kolb's first TD pass of his career. The game plan wasn't dominated by pass plays -- if anything, it was dominated by the Wildcat formation as much as anything. (I guess we can expect more of that next week when Michael Vick is activated.)

Kolb's final numbers reflect the way the Saints opened up the lead early in the second half, making it necessary to abandon the run: 31 for 51, 391 yards, 2 TDs, 3 interceptions (the last two in the last minute of the game really didn't mean much at that point).

The loss today is on the hands of the defense, and especially the hideous special teams; between the Hobbs fumble, the poor punting and the penalties, the special teams need to be put on the short bus and driven far, far away.