Sean McDermott didn't call his first blitz until there were just 2 1/2 minutes left in the first half, which tells you all you need to know about the respect the Eagles' defensive coordinator has for Saints quarterback Drew Brees.
He sent middle linebacker Omar Gaither through the "A" gap after Brees. Gaither got picked up, but Brees had to hurry his throw and the pass for tight end Jeremy Shockey went incomplete.
Ran another blitz on the very next play and had even better luck with it. End Juqua Parker broke through and hit Brees, forcing a fumble that, alas, the Saints recovered.
Unfortunately, there weren't enough moments like those in the Eagles' 48-22 loss, as Brees showed once again why he is considered one of the best quarterbacks in the game.
He completed 24 of 35 passes for 311 yards and three touchdowns against an Eagles defense that, just a week earlier, had totally dominated the Carolina Panthers and their quarterback, Jake Delhomme.
"You try to get your hands up and knock balls down [with Brees]," defensive end Darren Howard said. "But he gets the ball out so fast. And he knows exactly where guys are at, all the time. It makes it hard to get to him.
"You've got to cover their [receivers] and give us a little time to get to him. But that's easier said than done."
With Brees, even when you have his receivers covered, it often doesn't seem to matter. On a third-and-11 play in the third quarter, cornerback Sheldon Brown had wide receiver Devery Henderson covered about as well as you can cover a guy. Yet, Brees still managed to throw a 38-yard strike to Henderson that helped set up yet another score.
"He did what he's been doing since he's been there," Howard said. "Getting the ball out fast, in sync with his offense. Three-step drop and throw it to a spot and you gotta be there. He can probably do it with his eyes closed."
Last week, the defensive game plan against the Panthers was to shut down their run game and then blitz the hell out of Delhomme. Worked like a charm.
But Brees isn't Delhomme. You blitz him too much and he'll make you pay.
"It makes it tough," said Gaither. "Their coordinator does a good job of keeping in certain personnel and running the same plays. It makes it hard to get after him. He gets it out so quick. You almost have to pick your poison.
"We did pretty well in the first half. But then they got those two turnovers down there to start the second half and it changed the entire ballgame."
Those two turnovers were a fumble by Ellis Hobbs on the opening kickoff of the second half, and a bad interception by quarterback Kevin Kolb. Both giveaways set up short scoring drives for the Saints.
The game plan against Brees was to go mostly with a four-man rush, cover his receivers as tightly as possible and use sure tackling to limit their yards-after-the-catch. But they screwed up the sure-tackling part.
After Hobbs' fumble, Brees connected on an 11-yard touchdown catch and run to fullback Heath Evens that featured missed tackles by linebacker Akeem Jordan and rookie free safety Macho Harris.
"We didn't execute," strong safety Quintin Mikell said. "We've got to make tackles. We've got to have guys on the receivers that are catching the ball. We gave them too many YAC [yards after the catch]. We've got to get back to basics, look at the guy when you're tackling him and keep your head up.
"As long as I've been here, we've had our ups and downs and, unfortunately, this was really a down game. But the thing we can do is learn from this and move on and get better."
Said McDermott: "It [the tackling] needs to improve. There are a lot of areas that need to improve."
The Eagles haven't had much success against Brees. In their last four meetings, the guy has a .683 completion percentage and has averaged 7.67 yards per attempt. He's been sacked just six times in those four games, including twice yesterday.
