After suffering a shocking loss to the Falcons in week 2, the Philadelphia Eagles are on the road this weekend to face the red-hot New Orleans Saints. Of all the teams to face after such a defeat, the Saints might be among the least optimal in the league, but that’s what makes this game so important.
Early-season struggles for the Eagles
The Eagles, on paper, have a championship-caliber roster. After 2 weeks, it’s safe to say they’ve struggled to play to that level as a complete group. The pass-rush has been non-existent, the run defense porus, and the offense has lacked diversity in terms of target-share, despite such a flurry of playmakers. All of that is bad news when you look at the team on the horizon.
The Saints dominated the Panthers in week 1, but many were quick to downplay that victory due to Carolina’s ever-growing woes. However those naysayers were soon proven wrong after the Saints mowed through the Cowboys with relative ease.
Derek Carr has been slicing secondaries for fun and Alvin Kamara has 4 touchdowns in 2 weeks. They will face an Eagles defense that has allowed the most yards on the ground of any Philly roster through 2 games since 1986.
Is history repeating itself?
When you look back at the collapse in 2023, the signs were very clear early on. The Eagles were scraping through games but amassing some huge victories in the process. The win tally kept rising and it made up for the wobbly road they traveled down to get them. But one big loss knocked the wind out of the team, the confidence turned into confusion, and the confusion into desperation. Before you know it, one of the most confounding implosions in recent memory had come to an end, and the Birds were bounced out of the playoffs in the opening round.
There was a lot of reflection from the team in the months that followed. The front office made abrupt coaching changes, the offseason conducted by Howie Roseman was aggressive, and the team rejuvenated. But after a win against the Packers was made to look far more difficult than it should’ve been, the eyes turned back to the one man whose status remained unchanged through a year of change – Nick Sirianni.
While he’s not calling offensive plays, there is something to be said for the consistently questionable game management and conflicting bouts of aggressive/conservative decisions. There’s no apparent balance or visible reason behind each call. Each 4th down feels like a coin flip, each 3rd and long feels like a roulette spin. And when the defense is filled with young players yet to hit their ceiling, it’s that star-studded offense that needs to become the constant as opposed to a volatile unit that could score 28 in a quarter or 2.
This is a crucial game for the Eagles. With the similarly-hot Tampa Bay Buccaneers on the horizon (the team who decimated the Birds in the postseason last year), a loss to the Saints could have some worrying implications. The result might not be as important as the way the dominoes fall though.
There needs to be a sense of awareness here to eradicate the woes of week 2. If RPO’s aren’t working because the offensive line are confused when it comes to their assignment, either iron out the kinks or scrap them from the playbook. If missed tackles are haunting the defense, hone in during practice. Go back to the film and understand what’s causing this team to blow leads in the final 2:00 of games so often.
Sure, you can question the Saquon Barkley drop, the defense on that final drive, and the coaching decisions that led to that moment. But all of it compounds in a team that refuses to get out of its own way. A roster this stacked is being carried by individual excellence and not the cumulative efforts of an entire team in-sync with its staff. If that doesn’t change in week 3, the Eagles are in for a rude awakening…and they know that.
This is why Sunday’s clash against New Orleans is so much more than ‘just a game’ and a chance to ‘get right’. It’s a must-win matchup to prove that things will be different in 2024. To show that lessons have been learned and the team can live up to its potential. A failure to do so is only going to further ignite the fires, and it won’t take long for the whole Forest to begin burning.
This is Nick Sirianni’s chance to prove that he does have the mettle to rally this team out the holes he’s dug, and to put them back on the right path without having to deal with questions his actions are raising. This isn’t Just a must-win, it’s a must-prove.
Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-Imagn Images
