Philadelphia at New Orleans

Let us take you back to week three of this season on Monday night, September 25th. The New Orleans Saints were hosting the Falcons in the first home game in the Superdome since Hurricane Katrina. The stage was set. We were on the Saints big time in that game for one primary reason - emotion. Anyone who watched that game, or even just the pregame show, knows what emotion can do for an NFL football team. That place was absolutely electric and seething with positive emotion. The Falcons never had a chance.  New Orleans recorded five sacks in that game and limited Atlanta to ten first downs. So now we have a repeat of sorts. The playoffs and the emotion and energy that they bring on their own are big. Home teams in this round enjoy a very big advantge. That will combine with the same emotional energy that was present on September 25th. Not only is this the first home playoff game in seven years, it is being hosted in a city that was nearly anihilated last year. The Saints aren't just playing for themselves. They are playing for a city. This should be the strongest home advantage this weekend. It's not just about emotions here though. New Orleans came out of nowhere this year to end up one of the NFCs top teams. Drew Brees has led the NFL's top rated offense back into the playoffs. Brees has been nothing short of spectacular. In true Tom Brady fashion, he has taken a no-name receiving corp and made them look like Pro Bowlers. This year the Saints handled all the NFC playoff teams, beating Philly at home, and destroying the Giants and Dallas on the road. Philly can boast a resume that has shown them dominating their division by going 6-1. The one loss was after having the Giants left for dead, but giving it up with a huge second half rally by New York. The problem for Philly is not the success they had in their own division, but the lack of success outside of it. Outside of the NFC East, they were just 5-6! The 5 wins? Houston in week one (a team that started 2-6). San Francisco in week three (started 2-5). Green Bay in week four (started 1-6). Atlanta in week 17 that was 2-6 going into that game, and a win vs Carolina. So they were under .500 and the wins came over bad teams that were playing at their worst. They did not beat a team with a winning record outside of their own division and lost to some pretty poor teams as well. They barely got by the Giants last week to get here. The Giants are really not very good so that win means just about nothing. Philly underperformed last week in a home game they should have won by double-digits. New Orleans has a passing offense and weapons that put 383 yards through the air up in Baltimore. They scored 3 TD passes and racked up over 400 yards vs. the league's best defense. They did all that in spite of a time of possession of only 23 minutes for the game! They will score a ton of points on the Eagles this week. Defensively they are average, ranked #11. But they defend the pass which is Philadelphia's bread and butter. New Orleans sacked a more mobile Donovan McNabb three times in their regular season game, and we see them going after Garcia hard here. Philly has not had any success on the road come playoff time as they are just 2-6 since 1985. They are also a horrible 1-10 ATS after yielding 150+ yards on the ground. New Orleans is just a better team on both sides of the ball, and you can be sure the X-factor here, emotion, is on their side. They've also had an extra week to rest. The Eagles will be hard pressed to match the Saints in skills or emotion. It's been a nice Cinderella run for Jeff Garcia but it's coming to an end as the Saints win big.