7 takeaways from Saints' Week 3 matchup with Eagles (2024)

Derek Carr had a really tough performance against the Eagles, going 14/25 for 142 yards, 1 touchdown, and 1 interception. His interception came on an absolutely brutal throw where he threw into double coverage when Rashid Shaheed was not even facing the ball yet, sealing the loss for the team. Even worse, the pass was completely unnecessary, as it was 2nd and 5 with enough time left to run dink-and-dunk plays to get down the field. He also had two other throws to Shaheed that were underthrown to the point where he did not catch either, and both could have been large gains.

An early injury to starting center Erik McCoy left the Saints in limbo throughout the whole game, struggling on offense and having a really tough time getting the defensive line blocked. A switch for Lucas Patrick to center and Oli Udoh being placed into the lineup all but killed the Saints offense immediately, as they were unable to block up the middle for both rushes and passes.

Carl Granderson has had an outstanding start to the season, and his play stripping the ball from Jalen Hurts from behind was a thing of beauty. Being able to not only catch up to him but get a hand on the ball and knock it out is really impressive, and the sole reason the Saints had a 3-0 lead for so long as that was at minimum a field goal. Hopefully he can keep up this impressive pace and turn it into a great season.

Chris Olave has not been getting a ton of utilization throughout the early few weeks of the season, and in this matchup, he got a little more of a chance to shine. He ended the day with 6 receptions for 86 yards and a go-ahead touchdown, which unfortunately was all but erased with the Eagles’ next drive being a quick score. Regardless, he had a phenomenal day, and it feels like if he got targeted more often this would be a more common occurrence, and the offense may have had some momentum.

The Eagles defense has been criticized for their inability to stop the run. That wasn’t a problem on Sunday. Does it happen like this if McCoy doesn’t get hurt? Maybe. The Eagles have a monster duo on the inside. The run game didn’t work and the passing attack never got activated.

Erik McCoy left the game and the Saints offensive line crumbled. The Eagles lost Lane Johnson and Mekhi Becton but didn’t lose a step. The Eagles played their best football when those players went out of the game. They began to run the ball better, meanwhile the Saints couldn’t run block or pass block consistently.

Saquon Barkley’s 65-yard touchdown run was the highlight of the game, but the struggles weren’t isolated to that moment. The Eagles gashed the interior of the Saints’ defensive line, with 172 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns.