Saturday night’s Eagles-Saints game may have been decided by a last-second field goal, but it shouldn’t have even been that close.
The Saints marched into Philadelphia on Saturday and manhandled the Eagles for nearly all 60 minutes, possessing the ball for almost 10 more minutes and managing close to 200 more yards of total offense than Philly. Apparently the lopsided stat sheet wasn’t enough to convince some Eagles players that the better team won, though. A few Eagles players even called out New Orleans for getting “lucky” with the win.
“They got lucky and beat us,” offensive tackle Jason Peters said, via CSNPhilly.com. “We beat ourselves in the first half and they came out with a win.”
The Saints trailed 7-6 at halftime but managed two quick touchdowns to start the second half, taking a commanding 20-7 lead. Philly fought all the way back to take a 24-23 lead in the final minutes. Their porous defense couldn’t hold Mark Ingram, who rushed for 97 yards and a touchdown, and Drew Brees, who threw for 250 yards and a score, on the final drive, though, as the Saints drove down the field to set up the 32-yard game-winner. Still the Eagles weren’t willing to fully accept reality, though.
“We lost to a team that wasn’t necessarily better than us,” cornerback Cary Williams said. “They weren’t better than us. Period. But [they were] better tonight. They got the job done.”
While the Eagles head home for the offseason, the Saints will head to Seattle next weekend for a meeting with the top-seeded Seahawks, who routed New Orleans 34-7 in Week 13.
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