The Philadelphia Eagles had a hard-earned 15-12 victory over the New Orleans Saints on Sunday that not many saw coming, thanks to how poor the Eagles defense played over the first two weeks compared to how strong the Saints offense was in that span.
The Eagles held the Saints to 12 points and a 4.0 yards per play average, after New Orleans came into Sunday averaging 45.5 points and 6.9 yards per play.
The Eagles’ victory impressed many who watched the game, including CBS Sports NFL analyst Matt Ryan.
“I mean, It was a gritty win going down there,” Ryan said on CBS Sports HQ Monday. “Offensively, they didn’t do much until they got the long run from Saquon [Barkley] and the crossing route from [Dallas] Goedert — and that was a result of the two defenders running into each other.
“A gutty win on the road,” Ryan continued. “Their defense played really well, Internally, that D-Line was collapsing the pocket on Derek Carr. They did a great job against the run game and the secondary stood up and made plays. I played down there a ton when I was in Atlanta, it’s not an easy place to go in and win. Any time you get the job done in New Orleans, it’s well earned. It was just what they needed.”
The Eagles got an elite performance from Saquon Barkley, who carried the offense. Barkley finished with 17 carries for 147 yards and two touchdowns (8.6 yards per carry) in the win. He totaled 156 yards from scrimmage and averaged 7.4 yards per touch. In the fourth quarter, Barkley had three carries for 69 yards and two touchdowns — including a 65-yard score that got the Eagles on the board.
“Saquon, specifically, responded to that drop,” Ryan said. “Going out there the way that he did with the two touchdowns was impressive.”
The Saints offense didn’t come close to their torrid start on Sunday, but can still live up to a three-game scoring average of 34.3 points (first in NFL) and 6.0 yards per play (sixth in NFL). This offense is still very good, even if they are regressing to the mean.
“I think we were all surprised at their production in the first two weeks,” Ryan said. “I wouldn’t have expected them to also have the performance they had yesterday either. I think it will balance out. They’ll be somewhere in the middle of that.
“I kind of expect them to be in between where they were the first two weeks and where they were yesterday.”