PHILADELPHIA – Despite all the smart aleck talk about the new sweatsuits, the New Orleans Saints finally got their first road playoff victory. But Chip Kelly and his we’re-from-Philly Eagles made them earn it Sunday night as they came within four minutes of advancing to the divisional round in a 26-24 defeat at Lincoln Financial Field. The Eagles simply ran out of juice down the homestretch. Shayne Graham kicked a 32-yard field goal, his fourth of the game, to lead the Saints into the next round of the postseason against the Carolina Panthers. Nick Foles’ 3-yard scoring pass to Zach Ertz with 4:54 left gave the Eagles a 24-23 lead. But Drew Brees marched the Saints 34 yards and 10 plays to set up Graham for the winner. Brees converted a QB sneak on third-and-1 to give the Saints a first down at the 24-yard line of the Eagles. The tally was set up by Darren Sproles’s 39-yard kickoff return along with a 15-yard penalty on Cary Williams for a horse-collar tackle. Williams won the battle as he saved a touchdown, but the Eagles lost the game. The Eagles were spinning their wheels in the second half, particularly DeSean Jackson, when they got a break. Saints cornerback Kennan Lewis suffered a head injury with a hard tackle of Jason Avant, knocking himself out of the game. It was clear how valuable Lewis was when Foles, who threw for 195 yards and two touchdowns, promptly fired a 40-yard pass to Jackson to ignite a 66-yard scoring drive capped by LeSean McCoy’s one-yard run with 32 seconds left in the third quarter. It cut the deficit to 20-14. Alex Henery, whose string of nine straight field goals ended on a 48-yard attempt in the first half, banged in a 31-yard field goal three minutes into the final frame to get the Eagles to 20-17. But Brees wasn’t finished as he drove the Saints into range for Graham to drill a 35-yard field goal for a 23-17 lead. Brees threw for 250 yards and a touchdown, but threw two ugly interceptions in the first half. Yet, he managed to get Graham close enough to kick 36- and 46-yard field goals to pull the Saints within 7-6 at halftime. And Brees took over the third quarter, sparking the Saints to a couple of touchdown drives that put the Eagles in a 20-7 hole with 3:54 left. The genius of Brees was obvious on the second march, one capped by Mark Ingram’s 4-yard run up the gut. Meanwhile, Foles looked like he was second-guessing himself. Though Foles completed 8 of 11 attempts for 55 yards in the first quarter, he took a sack and made some dubious decisions not to hand the ball to McCoy. Never was it a bigger issue than on back-to-back plays late in the first quarter. First Foles dumped a check-down pass to Celek, who lost eight yards and then he took an 11-yard sack, holding the ball forever. McCoy rushed for 77 yards for the Eagles and Ingram ran for 97 of the Saints’ 185 rushing yards. Bob Grotz covers the Philadelphia Eagles and the NFL for Digital First Media. Follow him on Twitter @BobGrotz.
