Cory Puffett
New Orleans Saints at
Philadelphia Eagles
January 4 – 8:10pm
(NBC)
This is the only wild card game that is not a rematch from
the regular season. It is also the only game this weekend that does not feature
at least one team that made the postseason last year.
The Saints’ road struggles have been well documented this
season. In fact, most of you know that New Orleans is 0-3 in road playoff games
under Sean Payton. Perhaps you don’t know that they have lost all five playoff
games away from home in franchise history. They say “the sixth time is the
charm.”
Philly has been on fire of late. They had one big hiccup in
Minnesota a few weeks ago, but with the way they rebounded against Chicago the
following week, I don’t think that loss to Matt Cassel should be a major
concern.
The Eagles have won 7 of their last 8 games. The thing that does
have me concerned is that the only good team they played in that stretch was
Arizona, who they only beat 24-21 despite playing at home. Sure they beat the
Packers in that stretch, but those were the Scott Tolzien Packers, they don’t
count as a “good team.”
The good news for the Saints is that clear skies are
expected for Saturday night in Philly. It will be cold, but no one is calling
for rain or snow yet.
Aside from the home field factor, the two teams are pretty
evenly matched on paper. The Saints have the better defense, even if they do
struggle a little more against the run than Philadelphia. The Eagles are a much
better run team on offense and have been just about on par with New Orleans in
the pass game since Nick Foles took over.
But there are a couple of statistical categories that New
Orleans is clearly the better team in. The Saints have given up the fewest
first downs in the league while the Eagles are the worst of the playoff teams
in that category. New Orleans is also one of the better teams in the league in
getting off the field on third down. Of this year’s playoff crop, only New England
is worse than Philly in terms of opponents’ third down percentage.
As I mentioned in my earlier preview, I will be making my
official predictions for the wild card games later in the week. I really don’t
know who I’m leaning toward for this one, so wish me luck.
Puff's Pick:
Puff's Pick:
Will be added after
the Football Freaks podcast is published on Friday.
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