The Saints are 1-3 as they travel to Philly today to face the Eagles. Can you imagine a win? That would be the Saints at 2-3 with a chance to get back to .500 facing the hated Falcons at home on Thursday night. How much fun would that be? Before we can imagine something that fun on the heels of starting 0-3, though, a very tough but not impossible win in Philadelphia will need to happen. By the way I hope you like the photo I picked for this post… good memories. Here’s five things I’m looking for.
1. How do Darren Sproles and Malcolm Jenkins play against their former team?
I half expecting both players to rip the Saints to shreds. Sproles I could see because he was a dominant player at times for the Saints. I would be much more bitter about Jenkins considering how poor he was for the Saints at times. But Jenkins is playing the best ball of his career since joining the Eagles. Jenkins has already forced 2 fumbles this year and leads the team in tackles with 31. Pro Football Focus has him graded at +5.6 through 4 games, good for the 4th best safety in football (!). Last year they graded Jenkins at +8.9 for the year which was 18th best in the NFL among all qualifying safeties. He did this in part thanks to a career high in interceptions (3) and defended passes (15). By comparison Jenkins ranked 88th out of 88 safeties in 2012 for the Saints, per PFF, with a -17.9 ranking. Sproles already has a punt return for a score this year and is second on the Eagles in receptions after having a career high in rushing touchdowns with 6 last year. Don’t buy into that “it’s just another game” cliche talk for one second… both of these players have an ax to grind with the Saints and they’ll want to even the score on the field. How they perform is of much interest to me.
2. How does the offensive line fare?
Terron Armstead looks to be out so there’s a possibility the Saints will roll with Andrus Peat, Tim Lelito, Max Unger, Senio Kelemete and Zach Strief. Yikes. Now Jahri Evans has a good chance to come back so hopefully he does and plays well, but this is a concern. A serious one. The Saints offensive line has been very poor this year. The Saints average 3.45 yards per carry (30th in the NFL) and they’ve given up 10 sacks (T-21st). At the current pace the Saints o-line would give up 40 sacks and since Drew Brees came to New Orleans in 2006 he’s never been sacked more than 37 times in a season (next highest is 29). Simply put, this might be the worst offensive line in the Sean Payton era when it’s all said and done. And it’s banged up which is not helping things. Worth noting Lelito missed some time with injury this week too. The good news is the Eagles have just 6 sacks through 4 games (21st) but they only give up 3.3 yards per carry (3rd). On paper there should be nowhere for the Saints to go on the ground. Fletcher Cox and Bennie Logan (of LSU) in particular have been very good in run support.
3. DeMarco Murray – does the beast awaken against the Saints?
One of the more curious storylines of this season is both the low usage and lack of success the Eagles have had with DeMarco Murray. The superstar back with a monster contract has 47 yards on 29 carries this season, playing in just 3 of the 4 games. That’s 1.6 yards per. The Eagles are even worse than the Saints at 3.1 yards per carry (31st) though they seem to pass block a little better (7 sacks so far compared to 10 for the Saints). The Saints give up 4.2 yards per carry (T- 20th) which isn’t awful but it’s slightly below average. So on paper you’d think the Saints should be able to stop the ground game of a team incapable of running, but we know it’s only a matter of time before Murray goes off and reminds the entire league just how special he is. At home against the Saints unfortunately feels like a dangerous time for that to happen.
4. Spiller the beans.
God that was an awful pun. ANYWAY… Can we PLEASE give the ball to C. J. Spiller, like every play? OK maybe not but Mark Ingram is getting the ball too much and he’s getting it not enough. The Dallas game pretty much cements that. I don’t think this needs much explanation. He needs to be involved.
5. First interception of 2015?
We’re still waiting for the Saints’ first interception of the season which didn’t come last year until week 5 as well. The Saints’ last interception came in December of 2014 when Keenan Lewis picked off Luke McCown’s brother in Tampa in week 17. The last pick six dates back to 2012 when Jonathan Vilma ran a Cam Newton screen pass back for a touchdown, also in week 17. Since Darren Sharper left (guh) those have just been hard to come by. Jairus Byrd is back so at some point he has to get one, right? I know we’re all dying with impatience for this to happen. Sam Bradford, hook us up!
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