PLAYER NOTES
–CB Ronald Darby tore an ACL on Sunday night and is gone for the season, and it appears that the other starting cornerback, Jalen Mills, will miss his second straight game with a foot injury. That means Rasul Douglas is line for his second straight start. CB Sidney Jones, who has missed the last three games with a hamstring injury, is on track to return and could play inside the slot or outside in place of Mills. Head coach Doug Pederson said earlier in the week that he is optimistic Jones will play.
–The Eagles designated TE Richard Rodgers to return to practice during the week. Rodgers, who signed a one-year free-agent deal in the offseason, has not played this season due to a knee injury. If he cannot play, the Eagles will have just two tight ends in Zach Ertz and rookie Dallas Goedert because Joshua Perkins has a knee injury that head coach Doug Pederson said will keep him sidelined for a good portion of what’s left in the season.
–WR Mike Wallace is eligible to come off injured reserve next week. Wallace suffered a fractured fibula in Week 2, but is believed to making progress toward a return this year.
–RT Lane Johnson was a game-day decision against the Cowboys and the decision was he could not play. Johnson, though, was close to playing and should line up against the Saints this week, strained MCL and all.
–RB Darren Sproles isn’t expected to play and will miss his ninth straight game since injuring a hamstring in the season opener.
–DT Timmy Jernigan was expected to do more in practice the week, and head coach Doug Pederson has not ruled out the possibility of Jernigan playing on Sunday.
PLAYER SPOTLIGHT: DE Michael Bennett. Bennett had his first multi-sack game since the team traded for him from Seattle in the offseason. He leads the team in sacks with 5.5 and all of them have come in five of the last six games. Sacking QB Drew Brees, though, is no easy task. Still, Bennett will need to lead the defensive line’s charge to pressure the veteran quarterback in order to have any kind of chance to win.
GAME PLAN: The Eagles may as well forget about slowing the Saints offense. Nobody has done it, and they average more than 36 points per game. The Eagles, on the hand, only average 22. “We feel like we want to score a touchdown every time we have the ball,” said offensive coordinator Mike Groh. “We’re not trying to take any series off. Obviously, we know they’re playing at a high level, and we understand the challenge in front of us. But our goal each and every time we run out there is to score a touchdown.”
Maybe the running game could help the Eagles, except that has been mostly nonexistent this year. The Eagles dialed up just 15 running plays against the Cowboys. Their run game is ranked just 22nd overall in the NFL.
The Eagles, though, may be able to contain the Saints offense by controlling the clock. The Eagles lead the league in time of possession, so maybe that will be one way to prevent New Orleans from reaching or topping their average.
For every positive, though, there is a negative with the Eagles. The big one this week is that the Eagles’ secondary is banged up and will likely be without their top two cornerbacks Ronald Darby (out for season with torn ACL) and Jalen Mills (foot injury), so this could get out of hand early, unless … the Eagles can figure out how to match the Saints point for point to make this game relevant in the fourth quarter.
“We’d love to go out on offense and put up 50 every week but that’s the mentality we’re going to take in there no matter who we’re playing,” said quarterback Carson Wentz. “So we’ll see how that all plays out.”
Defensively, the Eagles will need to keep the Saints in check on first down. New Orleans averages 7.03 yards on first down, which ranks third in the league behind the Chargers (7.56) and Rams (7.35).
MATCHUPS TO WATCH
–Eagles secondary vs. Saints WR Michael Thomas. Due to various injuries, the Eagles’ secondary has been a revolving door, and now must try somehow put the clamps on one of the top receivers in the game. Thomas leads the league in catches (78) and is second in receiving yardage (950). Defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz said that, despite the heavy rotation, his scheme has not changed and the defensive playbook is still wide open. “We’ve got some guys hurt, we’ve got some guys that are working hard to get back,” said Schwartz. “We’ve got some young players that need to fill in and make their way in the league. We’ve got some guys that aren’t coming back, obviously. Darby is not going to come back, Rodney McLeod’s not going to come back. The other guys will all have a chance to get back. But our job as players and coaches is work to find a formula that works for the guys that we have. In my mind, that’s the essence of coaching: Take what you have and try to figure it out. It might look different than when we were at 100 percent strength.”
–Saints rushing offense vs. Eagles run defense. The Eagles were shredded on the ground by Dallas’ Ezekiel Elliott, allowing him to run for 151 yards and a touchdown on Sunday night, prompting defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz to say: “I mean, all due respect, Ezekiel Elliott’s a great running back, but we shouldn’t give up rushing yards like that.” Now comes Alvin Kamara, Mark Ingram II, and Taysom Hill. They have the Saints leading the league in rushing scores with 17, averaging 126 yards rushing per game, which is eighth best in the league, and are coming off a game against the Bengals where they hammered out 244 yards on the ground.
