Going Down the Bayou — Eagles at Saints Week 3 Preview

The most impressive team in the NFL through two weeks, just as everyone predicted, has been the New Orleans Saints. While no one predicted that, coming off a 44-19 blowout win of the Cowboys, and a 2-0 start, the Saints have surprised many people around the league.

The Eagles will be looking for a bounce-back win after blowing a 22-21 game last week against the Falcons.

The Eagles have not won against the Saints in New Orleans in 17 years, let’s hope that streak ends Sunday.

Containing Kamara

The biggest issue so far for this Eagles team has been their defensive line. While the defensive line has been horrible at rushing the passer, they have arguably been worse in the running game. In the two games this season, they have allowed a total of 315 yards on the ground. The Falcons were successful in running to the outside and taking advantage of a set of bad edge rushers on the Eagles line. This is a strategy I think the Saints will try and take as well.

With Alvin Kamara, who had 4 touchdowns last week in Dallas, the Saints will try and get him in space. Kamara is great in the running, and the passing game, and if the Eagles are going to have any chance in this game their game plan has to start with him. While Derek Carr has been playing well, their offense is run first, and then take advantage of the play action. Jordan Davis, Bryce Huff, Josh Sweat, Zack Baun, and Nakobe Dean all need to be exponentially better in the run game. In last week’s loss, the linebackers took a step back, and the defensive line yet again failed to set the edge, allowing Bijan Robinson to get to the outside and make plays from there. While I’m not confident that they can do it, if the Eagles want to have any hope of winning this game, it starts with containing Kamara, and seeing if Carr can beat you through the air.

No A.J. Brown Again

For the second straight week, the Eagles will be without their best player in A.J. Brown. Since Jalen Hurts became an established starter in the NFL he has played without A.J. for a full game just twice, losing both. Not only did they lose both games, but the offense did not play well in either. While some will say Hurts played well last week, his 183 yards passing and 1 TD left a lot to be desired through the air.

If the Eagles are going to win this game they need to get other players involved in the passing game besides Devonta Smith. While Smith is a great player, it’s pretty easy to take away one player when you are not using the others on offense. The Eagles traded a 3rd round pick for former Commander Jahan Dotson, yet he only has 1 catch for 6 yards in these first two games. The Eagles have to find ways to get him involved and spread the ball around more for this offense to be more successful through the air.

Swing Game

It is impossible to say that any game this early in the season is a “must win”, but this a very important game for the Eagles. After this game, the Eagles will head to Tampa Bay to take on the current 2-0 Buccaneers. Not only are the Bucs the team that knocked them out of the playoffs last season, but they are playing some really good football early in the season.

If the Eagles were to lose both of these next games heading into the bye week at 1-3, the city of Philadelphia would be sent into a panic. This would be a massive confidence boost for the team if they could go down and beat a hot Saints team, and maybe some momentum they could ride into next week as well.

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