Drew Brees threw four TD passes in 48-7 win over the Eagles. Photo from neworleanssaints.com

NEW ORLEANS – There was no slowing the red-hot New Orleans Saints offense as they marched in, over and through the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday afternoon at the Superdome by a score 48-7. It’s the sixth time this season the Saints (9-1) have scored 40 or more points and over their last three games they’ve averaged 48 points. For the Eagles (4-6), they were the exact opposite, they were held to their lowest point total of the year and had just 196 yards total offense.

Eagles quarterback Carson Wentz had perhaps his worst game as a pro. He did, if you go by quarterback rating; his 31.9 was the worst of his career, his previous low was 52.4 which came in the sixth start of his career in a game the Eagles won 21-10 over Minnesota on October 23, 2016.

“I’ve played a lot of football games in my career, ever since I was a kid and this is one of the worst losses, I’ve ever been a part of,” said Wentz, who was 19 of 33 for 156 yards, he was sacked three times and matched his season total with three interceptions. “It frustrating all the way around. We just got beat, plain and simple.”

Head coach Doug Pederson tried to be philosophical after the worst loss any defending Super Bowl champion has ever suffered.

“I’m not looking past this week at all,” he said. “We, obviously, have to own this game. We have to get better, obviously. I told [the team] not to hang their head. We’re going to stay committed. Every man in there embraced that and understands that we’re held accountable for the way we played. We’re going to fix the mistakes and get ready for New York.”

While the Eagles continue to look for answers on offense, Drew Brees didn’t pretend like he had them all despite the evidence that might indicate otherwise. When the Eagles banged up secondary tried to take away Michael Thomas or the front seven contained Alvin Kamara. He threw to Tre’Quan Smith (10 catches and one touchdown) or Temple product Keith Kirkwood (three catches all for first downs) or Austin Carr (one catch for a touchdown). While Mark Ingram ran for 103 yards and two scores.

“Every time we step on the field, we understand we are going to have to earn it,” said Brees, who was 22 of 30 for 363 yards, four touchdowns and an almost perfect 153.2 quarterback rating. He wasn’t sacked and didn’t throw an interception. “We have to go out and earn the victory. We have to go out there and earn the amount of points within the framework of what’s winning football. When you take care of the football, when you convert on third downs, when you maximize your opportunities in the red zone, that’s winning football. If we just continue to create the sense of urgency each week on making sure we accomplish those things then good things will happen.”

Few, if any, good things happened for the Eagles defense.

“That’s us getting our ass kicked,” said defensive end Chris Long.

The Saints had scored on 11 of their last 13 possessions coming into the game (the two they didn’t score on were at the end of each game) and they scored on their first three in this game while the Eagles had two three-and-outs and an interception. It allowed New Orleans to build a 17-0 lead on a 38-yard field goal by Will Lutz, a three-yard pass from Brees to Carr and a 14-yard run/walk in by Ingram.

At this point, the Eagles offense came alive for really the only time all day. On the possession, Wentz completed all four of his passes for 46 yards, connecting with three different receivers. Four of their five longest plays of the day came on the drive which was capped when Josh Adams, the rookie out of Notre Dame, scored his first career touchdown on a 28-yard run.

The defense responded by forcing a three-and-out and the Eagles offense was on the move again but whatever voodoo they had ran out when Wentz was sacked by Sheldon Rankins on a third-and-three play from the New Orleans 46-yard line.

“We had a shot play called down field,” said Pederson. “The safety actually rolled over the top and I think Stefen Wisniewski (who was in for the injured Jason Kelce) just got beat inside so the pressure was on him real fast before he could get the ball out.”

The Saints scored on a 15-yard catch by Smith just before halftime and they would score again (a 23-yard catch by Thomas) with the first possession after the break to go up 31-7. If it wasn’t over then, it surely was when the Eagles failed to convert on fourth down from their 41. The resulting short field led to a one-yard run by Ingram.

Kamara hauled in a pass from Brees for a 37-yard touchdown and Lutz added a 19-yard field goal to cap the scoring and leave the Eagles to wonder where they go from here and the Saints wondering if they can replace them as champions.

NOTES – Kelce left the game with an elbow injury after the second series, he was ruled out then reevaluated at halftime and his return was labeled as questionable but he didn’t return.

The beleaguered Eagles secondary suffered more injuries. Rookie safety Avonte Maddox left in the first quarter with a leg injury and didn’t return, Rasul Douglas went out on the final play of the third quarter with a knee injury and Sidney Jones was suffering from a hamstring pull.

The Saints total of 544 yards on offense was a season-high.

Email Rock Hoffman at Rock@footballstories.com