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New Orleans Saints lack timely play-making in loss to Eagles on Sunday

Offense stalled, defense allowed two big plays

Check out the game action shots from the New Orleans Saints game against the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 3 of the 2024 NFL Season on Sept. 22, 2024 in the Caesars Superdome.

Of the plays that were available to be made by the New Orleans Saints on Sunday, they simply didn't make enough of them against Philadelphia.

That's not to suggest they didn't make any during a 15-12 loss in the Caesars Superdome, their first in the opening three games; the Saints probably did enough good things to have won on many Sundays against most opponents.

But there wasn't enough good to cover for a critical injury (center Erik McCoy left on the third play of the game with a groin injury), a couple of defensive mishaps and an offense that only scored once in three trips to the red zone.

OFFENSE: The Saints scored on the opening possession of the game – a 34-yard Blake Grupe field goal – and scuffled to find any offensive rhythm after that. McCoy's absence absolutely was a factor; Philly wreaked havoc defensively on the interior, holding New Orleans to 89 rushing yards on 29 carries and routinely stuffing runs up the middle. Quarterback Derek Carr (14 of 25 for 142 yards and a touchdown, with an interception) was under constant pressure, and the result of a smothered run game and harassed quarterback was 219 yards of offense and no touchdown until the fourth quarter. New Orleans had some third-down success (6 for 13), but one of non-successful attempts preceded an unsuccessful fourth-down attempt in the red zone in the fourth quarter. That empty possession was damaging.

DEFENSE: Two chunk plays. Really, in the 64 snaps the defense truly defended (Philly finished with 67 offensive plays, including three kneel downs at the end) the defense gave up two chunk plays. But those two plays – a 65-yard touchdown run by Saquon Barkley to give the Eagles a 7-3 lead with 13:17 left, and a 61-yard completion from Jalen Hurts to Dallas Goedert, on third-and-16 with 1:16 remaining – were enough for the Eagles. Those 126 yards accounted for 27 percent of Philadelphia's 460 yards and helped the Eagles overcome two turnovers (an interception by safety Tyrann Mathieu and fumble recovery by linebacker Willie Gay), a blocked punt by J.T. Gray that was recovered by fellow safety Jordan Howden, four sacks (two from defensive tackle Bryan Bresee, 1.5 by defensive end Carl Granderson and a half-sack from cornerback Alontae Taylor), and two fourth-down stops, including one in the red zone. Barkley finished with 147 yards on 17 carries and Hurts passed for 311 yards on 29 completions, but those numbers would have been tolerable if the Saints had been able to continue keeping Philadelphia out of the end zone.

SPECIAL TEAMS: Blocking a punt is a significant sudden-change play in the NFL most of the time. But the Saints couldn't make good on a short field drive following Gray's block and Howden's recovery; they turned it over on downs after coming up short on third-and-1 and fourth-and-1. Grupe's two field goals raised his total to seven for seven this season but, unfortunately, the Saints couldn't capitalize on the biggest play made by a special team unit.

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