Eagles can ill afford another slow start
Eagles can’t afford another slow start against Brees, Saints Sunday
PHILADELPHIA >> If you’re tired of hearing how the Eagles need to get off to better starts, so are they.
They’ve trailed at the half in four of nine games in a 4-5 season.
Last year the Eagles were behind at the intermission in just three of 16 regular season games, and one of three starts in the playoffs. The Eagles went 13-3 in the regular season and aced the playoffs to win their first Super Bowl.
“I guess at this point it’s just kind of disappointing because you get tired of saying we need to execute,” veteran guard Brandon Brooks said Tuesday. “We just need to see actions instead of words at this point. I think everybody can see we’re a ball bouncing our way here, or a guy getting a block there from making plays. It’s one thing to keep saying it. It’s another thing to get it done.”
The Eagles are averaging just 8.8 points a half, which is barely enough work to break into a sweat. They’ve outscored the opposition, 80-78, in the first half. A slow start at New Orleans this Sunday would be fatal. The Saints have outscored the opposition, 175-118, in just the first half and 330-232 overall.
The Saints are averaging 19.4 points in the first half, and a league-high 36.6 points this season. Contrast that with the Eagles, who have scored 198 points all season, an average of 22 per game.
“I just think we can start a lot faster,” Brooks said. “That’s one thing we could do is start the way we wanted to. We need to get it corrected.”
Said offensive coordinator Mike Groh: “I’s a little bit of this, and a little bit of that. Kind of everybody has taken a share of that. We’re pointing those things out
that need to be corrected. Trust me when I say this, we’re spending a lot of time trying to get it fixed.”
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The Eagles get to wear their green home jerseys Sunday when they take on the Saints in New Orleans (4:15 p.m.) Then again, they’ve lost three straight games in their home uniforms, most recently in their aggressive black outfits. And the Saints are favored by eight points.
But green it will be because Doug Pederson defeated Saints counterpart Sean Payton in golf at the NFL owners meeting in March.
The Saints (8-1) are 3-1 at home with an eightgame winning streak overall. They’ve scored 40 or more points in five games this season, joining the 2013 Broncos and the 2000 Rams as the only teams to manage that.
Pederson actually beat Payton twice on the links over the offseason. And it’s generated donations to the Autism Challenge in Philly and to the KultureCity autism
program in New Orleans.
••• While Drew Brees is having a season for the ages, completing almost 78 percent of his passes with 21 TDs and just one interception, he’s not the only guy who lines up behind center.
Taysom Hill (6-2, 235) runs wildcat formations for the Saints. He’s also third in rushing on the squad, averaging 5.8 yards on 27 carries, below Alvin Kamara (11 TDs) and Mark Ingram (two TDs).
“We’ve faced wildcat before,” Eagles defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz said. “I think the thing that’s a little bit of a different challenge with Hill is he played quarterback, he plays running back, he plays tight end and he plays wide receiver. He wears so many hats, that you have to cover him in all those aspects. Wildcat plays, read-option plays, those are nothing new. It’s all the different things you have to be prepared for him lining up as a wide receiver. He can block like a fullback, he can block like a tight end. So, it does give you a little bit more to prepare for.”