6 takeaways from the Saints' 20-14 playoff victory over the Eagles
 

The New Orleans Saints rallied from an early deficit to defeat the Philadelphia Eagles 20-14 in the NFC Divisional playoffs Sunday (Jan. 13) at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.
The victory advances the Saints to the NFC Championship Game against the Los Angeles Rams next Sunday (Jan. 20) at 2:05 p.m. It's only the third NFC Championship Game appearance in Saints club history.

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A look at my takeaways from the big win:

1. The game-winning drive was an all-timer
Drives don't get any better or more dominant than the one the Saints compiled midway through the second half. Trailing 14-10, the Saints marched 92 yards in 18 plays for the go-ahead touchdown, a 2-yard catch by Michael Thomas. The Saints actually gained 112 yards in the drive because they overcame three penalties, including a pair of holding calls that left them with two second-and-20 situations. The monster scoring march took the starch out of the Eagles' defense and surely will go down in Saints' lore if the team continues on its Super Bowl run.

2. Drew Brees was Drew Brees after a slow start
The Saints' All-Pro quarterback suffered an uncharacteristically slow start. But once he found his rhythm, there was no stopping him. After starting the game 0-for-3 with an interception, Brees completed 28 of 38 passes for 201 yards and two touchdowns. His final passer rating was an impressive 103.1. The Eagles had no answer for Brees in the final three quarters.

3. Give a game ball to Sean Payton
One of Sean Payton's greatest attributes as a head coach is his aggressiveness. Unlike many of his peers, he's not afraid to fail and he showed his riverboat gambler mentality in the second quarter by calling a trick play on fourth-and-short at his own 30-yard line. The call, which came with the Eagles leading 14-0, might just have saved the Saints' season. Payton took advantage of Eagles' coach Doug Pederson's decision to not accept a holding call on the previous play, a third-and-1 run by Mark Ingram that the Eagles stopped for no gain. Instead of setting up a third-and-11, Pederson declined the penalty and left the Saints with a fourth-and-1. The Saints sent out the punt team, then direct-snapped the ball to the powerful Hill, who blasted into the line for a 4-yard gain to convert the first down.

4. The first quarter was a nightmare
You could not have written a worse start for the Saints. Brees threw an interception on the first snap from scrimmage and Sheldon Rankins suffered a season-ending Achilles tendon tear on the second defensive series. The Eagles drove 75 and 76 yards for touchdowns on their first two drives to take a 14-0 lead, which they took into the second quarter. The Eagles outgained the Saints 8-2 in first downs and 153-21 in total yards in the first quarter. The quick start was allowed the Eagles to take the crowd out of the game early.

5. Marshon Lattimore's interception came at a critical time
The Saints trailed 14-0 and had just given up the ball again on offense. The defense desperately needed to make a play and Marshon Lattimore delivered with a terrific leaping interception on a pass intended for Zach Ertz. Nick Foles slightly underthrew the ball to Ertz, who had slipped behind the Saints' secondary but Lattimore showed excellent recovery speed and ball skills to make the leaping interception while tumbling to the turf. Interestingly, Lattimore had just re-entered the game after skipping the previous play after taking a low blow while making a tackle on Alshon Jeffrey.

6. Michael Thomas came up huge when it counted
What a game by the Saints' All-Pro receiver. He was all over the place, making critical catches in all of the key situations: third down, red zone, short yardage. The Eagles had no answer for him as he finished with 12 catches for a team postseason-record 171 yards and the go-ahead touchdown. Thomas was the best playmaker on the field and it wasn't close.

NOLA

Re: 6 takeaways from the Saints' 20-14 playoff victory over the Eagles
 

7. The refs were quite horrible and called a really uneven game.

Re: 6 takeaways from the Saints' 20-14 playoff victory over the Eagles
 

Only horrible call was the one against Unger.

Re: 6 takeaways from the Saints' 20-14 playoff victory over the Eagles
 

There was a no-call PI on a would be catch to M. Thomas that was egregious.

Re: 6 takeaways from the Saints' 20-14 playoff victory over the Eagles
 

My problem wasn't with what was called. I had a problem with all the stuff the eagles got away with. Cox hitting Brees in the head with his hand, same thing drew a penalty against us. Okafor getting wrestled to the ground by Peters. And so on.

Re: 6 takeaways from the Saints' 20-14 playoff victory over the Eagles
 

8. Charles Davis needs to be taken out to the woodshed. He is biased and just spews a bunch of nonsense. But most of all, any commentator that applauds flopping like he did yesterday should not be allowed on air. Its a scourge for all sports.
I don't like the other guy whateverhisface either.

Re: 6 takeaways from the Saints' 20-14 playoff victory over the Eagles
 

Yeah and here was the best line from the local Philly sports station:

"Yes I could tell it was a fairly well officiated game because I didn't have anything that really stood out to complain about"

Right because the ****ty calls were on us.

A fan actually called in and tried to complain there were missed PI calls on us.


Goes to show how full of **** some fans are. We had more than double the penalties...actually had like 4 on one drive and they missed more calls on us. They actually called back a TD on us...

Re: 6 takeaways from the Saints' 20-14 playoff victory over the Eagles
 

This 1000x.

Unger pushed a guy to the floor, flag thrown.
Andrus Peat falls over - flagged because Eagle landed on him, called holding on us.

Screen to Sproles and Okafor gets tackled and choked by Peters, not a damn bean.

Re: 6 takeaways from the Saints' 20-14 playoff victory over the Eagles
 

Re: 6 takeaways from the Saints' 20-14 playoff victory over the Eagles
 

I hated how late some of the flags were, at least from the TV broadcast standpoint they seemed late. And we sure seemed to get nailed with more ticky tack calls than the Eagles did.

Re: 6 takeaways from the Saints' 20-14 playoff victory over the Eagles
 

--Saints Broadcast
--Eagles Broadcast
--National Broadcast
--Spanish Broadcast

Re: 6 takeaways from the Saints' 20-14 playoff victory over the Eagles
 

NSFW

Profanity laced Iggles Fan Reaction

Re: 6 takeaways from the Saints' 20-14 playoff victory over the Eagles
 

Re: 6 takeaways from the Saints' 20-14 playoff victory over the Eagles
 

Re: 6 takeaways from the Saints' 20-14 playoff victory over the Eagles
 

I thought that one was pretty obvious. Total miss by the zebras.

Re: 6 takeaways from the Saints' 20-14 playoff victory over the Eagles
 

If Drew throws it instead of flicking it on the first play to Ginn, this game isn't even close. His deep ball is almost always underthrown anymore and it worries me when we can't take the top off of opposing defenses.

That being said... how about that Saints Defense! SHUT IT DOWN!

Re: 6 takeaways from the Saints' 20-14 playoff victory over the Eagles
 

Timing is everything too. If Brees would be threw that ball a half a second earlier,it would've been money

...but hell yes on that Defense!!

Re: 6 takeaways from the Saints' 20-14 playoff victory over the Eagles
 

Good grief, drew goes for 350 and people still fuss about one pass. He is the reason the saints are where they are. He and SP alone turned around this franchise. At 40 he is still a top 5 qb and will give the saints 2 more good years

Re: 6 takeaways from the Saints' 20-14 playoff victory over the Eagles
 

In the beginning I believed that the refs were told to let them play.....at least to start, but as the game we went on I did feel like we were called for too many penalties and the Eagles got to mug us!

Re: 6 takeaways from the Saints' 20-14 playoff victory over the Eagles
 

- Thomas is a beast. Pay him before it has a chance to get messy.
- T. Hill is a difference maker. His arm strength is much better than Brees.
- When Lattimore is motivated, he's as good as it gets.
- Davis was a difference making signing.
- Too many penalties.
- Horrible play/angle by Williams on the Eagles TD.

- The Rams are better in key area's since the first game.

Re: 6 takeaways from the Saints' 20-14 playoff victory over the Eagles
 

True however the Rams got absolutely ROASTED on the back end by Dak Bortles on Saturday & Talib should scare no one. If they attempt to stack the box like they did against the Cows, #9 is gonna carve that secondary up.

Re: 6 takeaways from the Saints' 20-14 playoff victory over the Eagles
 

On the way back from New Orleans we listened to Pat Kirwan on NFL Radio and he led of the show talking about the bogus holding calls against the Saints. Everyone can see it but are afraid to admit it. Well, not everyone. That's why I love that show.

Re: 6 takeaways from the Saints' 20-14 playoff victory over the Eagles
 

The calls appeared very one sided that is for certain.

After every Saints big play, I would often look to confirm no flags were thrown before giving the wife a high five :rolleyes:.

Re: 6 takeaways from the Saints' 20-14 playoff victory over the Eagles
 

I did the exact same thing in the stands! LOL!

Of course, it was also hugs all around with the wife, son and other cool fans in the area.

Re: 6 takeaways from the Saints' 20-14 playoff victory over the Eagles
 

They held us the whole first quarter. It was rediculous. Looked like the league didn’t want a blowout win.

Re: 6 takeaways from the Saints' 20-14 playoff victory over the Eagles
 

There are even posts about "The Drive" on non-sports web sites such as Deadspin. Here are a couple of comments to the article...



Borkowskowitz
Barry Petchesky
1/14/19 2:14pm
It's surreal watching an opposing QB line up at 2nd and 20 and feeling like he has the advantage.
7
Reply

PureFLuke
Barry Petchesky
1/14/19 9:49am
Just to grant some clarity to what the spectrum is here: If an offense has a drive where it start on their own one-yard line and get a first down by < a yard on third down every single time (the ~ 11-yard line, then the ~ 21-yard line, etc.) until they are inside the opponent’s 10-yard line, and then don’t score until third & goal there as well, that would only add up to 30 plays. So yeah, lot of plays!

Re: 6 takeaways from the Saints' 20-14 playoff victory over the Eagles
 

Re: 6 takeaways from the Saints' 20-14 playoff victory over the Eagles
 

Sean Payton Genius.