Tag: Eagles

Hall of Fame QB stunned by Saints’ second straight late-game collapse

Hall of Fame quarterback Kurt Warner was stunned by the Saints’ second straight late-game collapse: ‘They should be sitting at 4-0 right now!’

It takes a lot to surprise a Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback, but the New Orleans Saints found a way. Kurt Warner was stunned to see the Saints lose two games the same way in as many weeks — blowing late leads to the Atlanta Falcons and Philadelphia Eagles, dropping their record to 2-2 on the season so far.

“They should be sitting at 4-0 right now!” Warner wrote from his official Twitter/X account, pointing out that both losses came down to similar situations. Just like Saints fans in the stadium seats and at home, he’s seen too many big plays given up in man-to-man coverage in the game’s final minute.

Unfortunately, this has been a trend for the Saints under Dennis Allen. The team hasn’t closed many tight games over the last few years. They’re 0-4 when holding onto a narrow lead late in regulation since 2022. It’s something they must figure out, and quickly, or else it’ll bring Allen’s tenure to an end.

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Devin White to miss Eagles game vs. Buccaneers due to personal reasons

Devin White to miss Eagles game vs. Buccaneers due to personal reasons

Devin White has been a healthy scratch for the first three games of Philadelphia’s season, and with the Eagles heading to Tampa Bay for a Week 4 matchup, the veteran linebacker won’t be making the trip.

White will again be a healthy scratch, this time for personal reasons.

With White not even making the trip, Philadelphia could be exploring a potential trade or outright release of the linebacker.

The Eagles have had Nakobe Dean and Zach Baun starting the first three games, and Baun has been one of the most impressive linebackers in the NFL through the first three weeks.

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C.J. Gardner-Johnson lost half his Saints game check in fines to the NFL

C.J. Gardner-Johnson lost half of his game check from Week 3’s win over the Saints in fines to the NFL. That’s some expensive trash talk:

You don’t see this very often. Philadelphia Eagles safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson was fined three times by the NFL for his actions in Week 3’s win over the New Orleans Saints, losing half his game check for an illegal hit and two taunting infractions. He was a little too eager to get after his old team for his own good.

It had previously been reported that Gardner-Johnson was being fined for unnecessary roughness; he made a late hit on Saints running back Alvin Kamara after the play went out of bounds, and that came up to $11,255. But a league review found two instances of Gardner-Johnson crossing the line in taunting his opponents, which cost him two charges of $16,883 each.

Add that up and it’s $45,021 coming out of Gardner-Johnson’s paycheck. He has a base salary of $1,375,000 this year, per Over The Cap, which comes up to 17 weekly game checks of about $80,882 each (before taxes). So Gardner-Johnson really lost a little more than half of his game check because he was too hot under the collar. That’s some expensive trash talk. For his sake, it’s a good thing the late touchdown he gave up to Chris Olave didn’t cost Philly the game on top of it.

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Derek Carr and Klint Kubiak must bounce back in Week 4 vs. Falcons

Derek Carr and Klint Kubiak must bounce back in Week 4. They’ve had a week to work on the problems that plagued them against the Eagles:

Derek Carr and Klint Kubiak are looking for bounce-back performances versus the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday. The New Orleans Saints’ offense was one of the biggest stories through the first two weeks of the season, but they fell flat against the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 3.

Rashid Shaheed was catching career-long touchdowns. Alvin Kamara was rejuvenated. The offense looked better than it ever had in the Dennis Allen era. But all of that stopped against the Eagles. Many of the Saints’ struggles could be tied to Pro Bowl center Erik McCoy leaving with an injury. Pressure from the interior disrupted the Saints’ entire plan, and they had a tough time making adjustments at the line without him.

That’s where Kubiak comes into focus. His play calling felt stagnant, and he didn’t appear to adjust to the Eagles’ defensive strategy. Philly took advantage of their unique personnel to match up with the Saints at the line of scrimmage, effectively fielding a 6-1 front that didn’t allow New Orleans’ blockers to get to their spots on run plays. When Carr dropped back to pass there were too many unblocked rushers.

It wouldn’t be shocking to see Atlanta attempt to implement a similar strategy. If the offense is stopped by it again, Kubiak has to display the ability to alter his play calling. That Eagles game is going to give every opponent on their schedule some valuable tape to study. The Saints had a ton  of success off working off play-action early on but they can’t rely on plays that take so long to develop with so many backups starting along the offensive line.

And Carr just needs to get the ball out faster. The pressure clearly affected him. He was well-protected the first two weeks, but he also remained unphased by closing defenders. He lost that cool in Week 3.

He will see more pressure than first pair of games but hopefully less than last week. Will he continue to step into throws or loft them? The latter got him in trouble versus the Eagles. If that happens again with the Falcons the Saints will fall to 2-2.

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C.J. Gardner-Johnson fined for late hit out of bounds on Alvin Kamara

C.J. Gardner-Johnson blasted the Saints for playing dirty. Well, he was the recipient of a fine from the NFL for a late hit on Alvin Kamara:

Philadelphia Eagles safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson had a lot to say about the New Orleans Saints after the Week 3 game. This was to be expected. The Saints drafted Gardner-Johnson in 2019, and fans became accustomed to his propensity to talk trash.

After their victory, Gardner-Johnson called the Saints pretenders, but the biggest thing he did was criticize Khristian Boyd’s hit on DeVonta Smith, for which the rookie defensive tackle was fined. He called the play and the Saints, as a whole, dirty.

Dennis Allen denied that earlier this week. Funny enough, Gardner-Johnson had his own play that was late. He slung Alvin Kamara to the ground early in the game while both players were out of bounds.

Just like Boyd’s play, there was no penalty in the game. Just like Boyd’s play, there was a fine after the game, per NBC Sports’ Mike Florio.

Gardner-Johnson’s hit wasn’t as vicious but it was clearly late. It’s pretty ironic that he had so much to say only to be fined playing beyond the whistle.

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Saints PFF grades: Best, worst performances from loss to Eagles in Week 3

Saints PFF grades: Best, worst performances from Week 3 loss to Eagles

The latest round of Pro Football Focus player grades are in after Week 3’s New Orleans Saints game with the Philadelphia Eagles. So who stood out — for good and bad? Let’s break it down by highlighting the top five — and bottom five — performances on both offense and defense from Sunday, as well as the special teams and quarterback play:

  1. WR Chris Olave: 90.3
  2. QB Derek Carr: 67.5
  3. LT Taliese Fuaga: 64.9
  4. RB Alvin Kamara: 63.8
  5. C Erik McCoy: 60

Backup left guard Nick Saldiveri gets an honorable mention here for grading out with a 71.0 on his only snap of the game (in pass protection), and it would be great to see him climb the depth and earn a shot in the starting lineup now that McCoy is out of action. Olave should’ve had more targets. He caught all 6 passes that Carr threw to him for 86 yards and what would have been a game-winning touchdown.

  1. DE Carl Granderson: 88.9
  2. LB Willie Gay Jr.: 85.9
  3. CB Paulson Adebo: 79.9
  4. CB Marshon Lattimore: 72.7
  5. FS Tyrann Mathieu: 68.5

Granderson was incredible this week, leading the team with seven pressures and twice sacking the quarterback. As we expected, Gay played a key role in spying Jalen Hurts to prevent the quarterback from running amok; he only had 3 tackles but Hurts managed just 25 rushing yards off of 8 attempts, 21 of them on one play. They went after Adebo often in coverage but he yielded just 36 yards and 3 first downs on 9 targets.

  1. TE Juwan Johnson: 29.6
  2. RT Trevor Penning: 40.1
  3. LG Olisaemeka Udoh: 43.3
  4. RG Cesar Ruiz: 45.5
  5. WR Mason Tipton: 46.4

We’re past the point where Johnson’s offseason injury can explain his lack of production. He’s someone who should’ve stepped up with Taysom Hill out this week, but instead he was a liability as a blocker and he couldn’t get open enough for Derek Carr to even try throwing to him. The offensive line was a disaster without Erik McCoy in the middle. All three of these blockers allowed multiple pressures (4 for Udoh, 3 for Ruiz, and 2 for Penning) and they failed to consistently open running lanes against the Eagles front.

  1. S Jordan Howden: 32.8
  2. DT Bryan Bresee: 40.7
  3. LB Deemario Davis: 44.5
  4. DE Chase Young: 56.8
  5. DT Nathan Shepherd: 59.1

Those aren’t the names you want at the bottom of the list. Davis suffered an injury in this game and played an uncharacteristically low number of snaps because of it (only 63 out of 71), and he struggled to defend tight ends crossing through his zone in the middle of the field. Howden only played 11 snaps but was one of the key defenders at fault on a coverage bust that set up Dallas Goedert’s 61-yard catch late in regulation. Bresee didn’t generate many pressures but he did bag a pair of sacks. Conversely, Young had six pressures but he’s still struggling to finish plays, and too often he rushed too deep which created a lane for Jalen Hurts to escape into.

Blake Grupe looked sloppy on a couple of mid-range field goals, which may have kept the coaches from trusting him at greater distances later in the game. At least Matthew Hayball placed his punts better this week with two falling inside the 20 and only one being returned. Isaiah Foskey had two assists in coverage and J.T. Gray blocked a punt, but the offense couldn’t capitalize on that opportunity.

It’s tough to evaluate Carr’s performance given how many times he was under pressure. He did make a couple of big-time throws this week, but he also twice put the ball in harm’s way; he’s very lucky he had an interception dropped on the worst pass he’s thrown all season, but he didn’t get lucky on a forced throw in the offense’s final play. The Eagles did a great job not biting on play action and that really limited his options to get the ball out under pressure.

Dennis Allen explains his decisions on critical fourth downs vs. Eagles

Dennis Allen shared his thought process on three critical fourth downs against the Eagles. Whether to punt, attempt a long field goal, or go for it:

The New Orleans Saints only attempted one fourth down conversion on Sunday against the Philadelphia Eagles. It was an Alvin Kamara run that was stopped short of the line of scrimmage. The other two situations Dennis Allen referenced were punts, and he doesn’t regret any of the three decisions.

What about the other two decisions? Those would have asked Blake Grupe to attempt a career-long field goal. Allen chose to not take the gamble of the Eagles receiving good field position due to a miss.

The first attempt would have been a 58-yard field goal, as the Saints were faced with a 4th-and-8. Allen said he “doesn’t know if that’s the down and distance to we’re looking for to potentially go for it.”

That left punting or kicking the field goal as the only viable options. Allen went with the former because of the flow of the game suggested pinning the Eagles in their own territory was the best bet.

On the next drive, Grupe would have been tasked with a 60-yard field goal  try, which Allen said “You certainly aren’t trying to kick.” He just didn’t see the success as consistent enough to risk giving the Eagles great field position. New Orleans considered going for it because they were only 4 yards from the first down. Ultimately, they chose to punt that one as well.

Allen kept it simple on the decision to go for it on 4th-and-1. He called it a “no brainer.”

Allen sees the two punts as plays that worked out for the team and the attempt as a play he’d do every time. It doesn’t seem like he’d change how he handled the situation, but you have to wonder whether Grupe banging his  first field goal in off the uprights played a part in how he approached this phase of the game on Sunday.

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Dennis Allen responds to C.J. Gardner-Johnson’s claim the Saints are a dirty team

C.J. Gardner Johnson called out the Saints for having a culture of cheap hits and playing dirty. Dennis Allen denied that notion:

Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver DeVonta Smith took a hit from Khristian Boyd that led to him suffering the concussion. In that play, Smith was being pushed back by New Orleans Saints defenders before the hit. There didn’t seem to be ill intent involved.

After the game, Smith’s teammates C.J. Gardner-Johnson and Jordan Mailata called the play dirty. Mailata kept it at that, but Gardner-Johnson went further and connected the play to the culture of the team.

Dennis Allen responded to a question about the play, but his answer leans towards a response to Gardner-Johnson’s culture point. Allen was straightforward on Monday, saying, “I don’t think we play dirty. I don’t think we ever have played dirty. It’s not the way we coach it, not the way we teach it.”

Allen instead said his team plays hard, and honestly, that’s what the play looked like. Boyd appeared to just be playing through the whistle. You wish he would have let up in hindsight, but this doesn’t look dirty.

Allen made sure to dispel the notion that the Saints are a dirty team by reiterating “dirty” is an inaccurate description of how they play or coach.

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Tyrann Mathieu perfectly summarized the Saints’ defensive performance

The Saints allowed two plays for 60-plus yards at the worst moments. Tyrann Mathieu perfectly summarized how that wiped out an otherwise solid game from his defense:

The New Orleans Saints defense held strong until the final minutes of their Week 3 game with the Philadelphia Eagles. There are two explosive plays that stand out with Saquon Barkley and Dallas Goedert both delivering gains of over 60 yards.

Each of these plays happened in the fourth quarter. These big gains also stripped away the Saints’ best defensive trait on the day. The Eagles drove down the field consistently, but the Saints played bend-but-don’t-break defense, conceding shorter pickups while guarding the deeper reaches of the field. There wasn’t a chance for that strategy after Barkley scored and Goedert took the ball inside the 5-yard line.

Tyrann Mathieu perfectly summarized the sense of disappointment in that collapse: “You can play great defense for 55 minutes and in 5 minutes’ time will get away from you.”

Goedert’s catch and run was the true death blow. Not only did it lead to the game winning score, the moment was easily avoidable. It was terrible execution and felt like the defense fell apart.

The defense stood tall many times, but when they were needed the most they couldn’t stop the Eagles. Despite this moment, Mathieu maintains the defense hasn’t lost their confidence.

Confident or not, the team has to do a better job closing out games than they did Sunday.

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