Beatdown on the Bayou

That was ugly. I mean ugly with a capital U.

48-7.

The Eagles were dominated in every way possible.

Some people have compared this to losses against Tampa and Detroit in 2015, a pair of really bad beatdowns. I don’t see this game like those at all. The Eagles got destroyed by rookie Jameis Winston and Matthew Stafford in those debacles.

Today we saw future Hall of Famer Drew Brees just surgically cut the Eagles apart. The secondary came into the game banged up and things got worse, with Sidney Jones and Rasul Douglas both going down. At the end, the CBs were Chandon Sullivan, Cre’Von LeBlanc and DeVante Bausby. That crew isn’t going to stop Brees.

We all either expected or feared the defense would be overhwelmed. We did not anticipate the Eagles offense playing so poorly.

The Eagles gained 196 yards and scored 7 points against a mediocre defense. Rookie Josh Adams might be the only offensive player who actually had a good game. He was 7-53 on the ground and 3-19 in the air. He scored the team’s only TD, on an impressive 28-yd run.

There are a lot more questions than answers when it comes to the Eagles offense right now. The blocking isn’t good enough. The skill players aren’t getting the job done. Carson Wentz had arguably the worst game of his career.

Doug Pederson and Jim Schwartz will face a lot of questions. Their gameplans did not come close to working. Pederson also did a poor job of managing the game. He had multiple fourth downs on which he should have gone for it, but instead opted to punt. This wasn’t the game to be conservative. The Eagles defense had no answer for Brees and the Saints.

Sean Payton on Eagles' D (courtesy of @MikeTriplett): “They played a ton more man tonight than we'd seen in two years. We had watched every film, you name it. Last season, Super bowl, this season, last postseason, playoffs, and tonight was entirely different."

— Tim McManus (@Tim_McManus) November 19, 2018

The Jimmy’s and Joe’s matter more than the X’s and O’s. Backup DBs against Brees isn’t going to work unless you can somehow turn the game into a shootout. Clearly, that didn’t happen.

Let’s talk injuries. Jason Kelce hurt his elbow early on and didn’t return. Avonte Maddox got hurt early and that might be a serious injury. Douglas looked to have hyperextended his knee. LS Rick Lovato will be tested for a concussion.

The Eagles are now 4-6. They are technically still alive in the NFC East race, but the primary concern now is trying to win a single game.

A season that started with so much excitement has gone horribly wrong. Instead of focusing on playoff seeds, the burning questions are about who should be fired or who should be cut. There is a lot of blame to go around for this mess. We’ll focus on that when the season winds down.

For now, hope this is rock bottom.

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