Eagles DE Fletcher Cox was in the face of Drew Brees all afternoon. Photo by Jesse Simmers / contrastphotography.com

For the Eagles and the New Orleans Saints, Sunday’s game at the Linc was a de facto relegation game for the 1-3 teams.

Whichever team lost would be looking at a wasted season.

The Eagles stayed very much in the hunt with a convincing 39-17 win that had it not been for two early interceptions by the ever-improving Eagles quarterback Sam Bradford, the blowout could have been much worse.

The 2-3 Eagles next face the New York Giants (3-2) this Monday night with a chance to take over first place in the competitive NFC East. Big Blue beat the San Francisco 49ers 30-27 on a 12-yard touchdown pass from Eli Manning to Larry Donnell with 26 seconds left in the game.

The Birds embattled offensive line had by far its best outing the season. The Eagles produced 519 yards of offense on the afternoon.

Bradford looked more like the No. 1 player taken in the draft going 32 of 45 for 333 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions.

DeMarco Murray had his first productive game as an Eagle rushing 20 times for 83 yards and a touchdown and hauling in seven catches for 37 yards.

Ryan Mathews again looked good rushing eight times for 73 yards and a TD. Mathews also caught five passes for yards.

Second-year receiver Josh Huff had his biggest day as an Eagle catching four passes for 78 yards and score.

Center Jason Kelce talked about how important it was for the blockers to have an positive impact on this game.

“I don’t know what it says about the group, but I think that it was really good, especially for the offensive line to come out and have a good game,” Kelce said. “We’ve had a lot of questions surrounding us, not just from the media, but for all over about how poorly we’ve played. We put a lot of effort into get this result, we worked real hard at practice, warm ups to make sure our blocks are good and our technique was cleaned up. I have to go back and look at the film but it certainly felt like everybody was doing their job.”

Guard Matt Tobin, who is starting in place of the injured Andrew Gardiner who is out for the season with a foot injury, said the players on offense knew early were in sync. The O-line knew they could not afford to start the game without getting a first down.

“A three-and-out is tough on this offense.” Tobin said. “Once you get someone tired, that’s when it really works. Even the first drive, we didn’t take it in the end zone, it was no big deal, we knew they couldn’t stop us.”

Tobin said the line never lost faith even though it was under fire from fans and observers.
“Even over the past few weeks we knew we could do it,” Tobin said. “It was just a matter of execution.”
Kelce talked about the Eagles slowing it down a bit in the second half and focus on running ball.

“We executed the blocks, especially in the second half,” Kelce said. “I really think we did a good job. That’s the first time we’ve been in the situation where we needed to run the ball, needed to run the clock…we did it. We did a good job.”

Still, in the first half the problems with the offense continued. The Eagles twice went on long drives only to see Bradford throw mind-numbing interceptions.

For the second consecutive week rookie Nelson Agholor wiped out a second quarter touchdown and the Eagles failed to score at all.

The Eagles finally hit pay dirt at the `11:43 mark of the second quarter when Bradford hit Josh Huff with a 41-yard catch and run play that made the score 7-7.

It was a vintage Chip Kelly drive: Four plays 81 yards, 1:45 minutes.

Eagles TE Brent Celek had three catches for 44 yards including a 13-yard touchdown pass. Photo by Jesse Simmers / contrastphotography.com

The Eagles defense stopped the Saints (1-4) on four consecutive drives before the half. On the final two stops Fletched Cox sacked Brees twice, one for a ten-yard loss that set up safety Malcolm Jenkins’s tackle of C.J. Spiller on a screen pass for a five-yard loss.

The last stop turned into three Eagles points when Cox again sacked Brees at the 30-yard line forcing a fumble recovered by the Eagles with 1:12 left in the half.

The Birds however, lost the outstanding field position when the Eagles bench was called for unsportsmanlike conduct and had to start at the Saints 45-yard line.

Bradford led the Birds to the 21-yard line before the drive stalled.

Caleb Sturgis got a foot out of the fans doghouse when he drilled a 39-yard field goal with 15 seconds left in the half (he would later miss an extra point and duck right back into it).

The Saints took the opening kickoff and drove …yards before the drive stalled at the three.
Zach Hocker tied the score 10-10.

The Eagles, who have made their living in 2015 playing well in the third quarter, scored 16 points and led 26-10 going into the fourth quarter and were never really threatened. The Saints scored a meaningless touchdown with zeros left on the game clock.

As well as the offense played it was the Fletcher Cox show.

The defensive end had a line score that sends players to Canton: Six tackles, all solo, one for a loss. three sacks, two forced fumbles and one recovered fumble.

Kelly was asked about Cox, that he has been dominating for a while, but the numbers are starting to show. Is defensive coordinator Billy David putting him in different positions to rack up these numbers?

“No,” Kelly said. “You know, sometimes, and Billy (Davis) says it, sometimes it comes in bunches. But Fletcher has played really, really well for us in the three years I’ve been here. You know, it’s just sometimes it seems that some of those things, sacks and things like that, come in bunches. But he is playing really well for us right now, and we’re really — I mean, he played a heck of a game today. And a lot of our guys on the defensive side of the ball played really well today, but Fletch had a heck of a game.”

Brees looked mortal today and the Eagles defense, led by Cox, had a big hand in that.

The future Hall of Famer 26 of 43 for 335 yards two touchdown passes and an interception. He was sacked a total of five times.

The Birds held the Saints to just 96 yards on the ground.

Cox simply dominated the game. The 24-year-old said his game against the Saints may have been his most dominant ever.

“I’ve never had three sacks in a game,” said Cox, drafted in the first round in 2012 out of Mississippi State. “Not even in college.”

His teammates were impressed as well.

“Incredible performance by him,” said defensive tackle Beau Allen, who registered two tackles. “It was really fun to watch when you see someone playing like that.”

Saints linebacker Delvin Breaux talked about what Sean Payton told the team after the game.

“He told us to just stay together,” Breaux said. “We want to see what type of team this is, what type of men we are, what type of men we have in the locker room. We come here and get blown out. Now we have to play Thursday against a great Atlanta team, a division opponent. He (Payton) just wants us to stay together and keep punching in the clock, we have to regroup for Thursday.”