Eagles prey on Saints

IF YOU TURN left through a short, wide entrance way at the back of the Eagles' locker room at Lincoln Financial Field, there is a white-tiled space near the shower area. It's maybe 18 feet by 12, and it contains only an orange plastic bin for discarded towels, sitting in the far corner.

After warm-ups, just before the Eagles were to take the field for yesterday's game against the New Orleans Saints, quarterback Sam Bradford gathered his offense in that room. Tight quarters, yes, but good acoustics.

"I just felt like I wanted to say something, just get some things out there for the guys," Bradford told the Daily News, after throwing for 333 yards as the Eagles kept their season alive with a 39-17 victory. "I just told the guys, 'Let's go out there and just be us today,' you know what I'm saying? Let's go do what we know we're capable of. I felt like the guys really responded."

Wideout Josh Huff said Bradford told the receivers he had confidence in them. They were able to return the favor, staying positive and not giving in to frustration when Bradford twice led the team down the field in the early going, only to throw end zone interceptions.

Tight end Zach Ertz said Bradford told the offense, "It's our time to go. We had some ups and downs through the first four weeks, and it's time for the offense to put a complete game together."

"He's not the most vocal guy, but when he says something, everyone listens," Ertz said. "That's what we need out of him, and I thought he played a heckuva game today. We know the kind of player Sam is. If we need somebody to step up, the quarterback's going to be the first guy that everyone looks to. He's the leader of the offense, and I think everyone goes as he goes."

Right tackle Lane Johnson, who played through lingering ankle and knee problems as the offensive line finally resembled what fans expected, for the first time this season, said the meeting crystallized something for him.

"The deal is, we know we have the talent. We have all the talent in the world. It's just a matter of going out there and getting it done. That's what's most frustrating, is knowing you have the ability, and not going out and getting it done," Johnson said.

The Eagles finished with a season-high 519 net yards against a Saints defense that might be as bad a unit as the NFL has to offer. Bradford was 32-for-45 for the previously mentioned 333 and two touchdowns, along with the picks, and the Birds also ran - yes, ran - 34 times for 186 yards, easily their best output of the post-LeSean McCoy era.

Fletcher Cox dominated the Saints' offensive line and specifically first-round rookie left tackle Andrus Peat, who was making his first NFL start, filling in for Terron Armstead. Cox notched three sacks, forced two Drew Brews fumbles, and recovered one of them.

"I almost called the child abuse hotline," Eagles defensive end Cedric Thornton said, when asked about Cox. "Every week, he's been there . . . I haven't seen anybody play like that in a couple of years."

As dominant as Cox was, though, the game was more about Bradford and the offensive line, who were the two biggest problems as the Eagles stumbled through the first month.

Some of Bradford's shakiness presumably had to do with the o-line and the Eagles' run-based offense not being able to establish a running game, as Bradford labored to return from nearly two years without having played in a game that counted. The Eagles entered the weekend ranked 30th in rushing, but yesterday they seemed to take a much more straight-ahead, simple approach.

"I thought that was the key; we talked about being able to establish the run and then things can build off that. Credit to those guys up front, I think they had a good week of preparation and I thought they did a really nice job out there," said Eagles coach Chip Kelly, whose team remains in the thick of the NFC East melee at 2-3.

"Those guys dominated the line of scrimmage today," Bradford said.

With Johnson and quad injury sufferer Jason Peters able to play the whole way, the Eagles were able to keep Matt Tobin at right guard and do a little bonding.

"Getting some continuity with the same five guys, I think, really helped us," Kelly said. He put Bradford under center quite a bit, something both DeMarco Murray (20 carries, 83 yards) and Ryan Mathews (eight carries, 73 yards) have said is helpful to their vision and forward momentum.

"Whenever you can get under center and run the ball, I think it's great, and it helps the offensive line to hide some of our runs," Murray said. "But we ran it well from the 'gun' as well, so I think we were just on today."

Nobody really wanted to reflect too much on what 1-4 would have felt like, with the Giants visiting next Monday night.

"Everybody knew this was a very important game . . . 1-4 is drastically different from 2-3," center Jason Kelce said. "I don't want to say it was a must win, but it kinda was. And we prepared like it. Now we just have to play like this every week. We have to make sure we know all the details and all the footwork, we know how to hit the blocks. Because, really, the biggest difference in today's game was that the offensive line executed. We gave Sam time to throw, for the most part, and we gave the backs room to make plays. If we do that, it's going to be very, very hard for any defense to stop us."

Because of Bradford's picks, and Kelly going for it and failing twice on fourth down instead of trying long field goals with new kicker Caleb Sturgis, the Eagles actually trailed 7-0 at the end of the first quarter, which seemed very familiar, and they led just 10-7 at halftime, though they'd outgained the Saints 300 yards to 130 and had 16 first downs to New Orleans' 8.

The Eagles put together seven scoring drives in a row, six in the second half. Rolling Bradford out, often on play-action, seemed to help his accuracy and decision-making.

"I just felt like our offense had confidence, that we could move the football on them," Kelly said.

"They were playing some single-high zones, and we just felt the way we were running the football, coming back to some of those rollouts and naked (boots), it was a good look for us today," Bradford said.

If there was a pivotal moment, it might have come with the Eagles leading 17-10 after a 2-yard Mathews touchdown run, with six minutes and 44 seconds remaining in the third quarter.

On the Saints' first play after the kickoff, Cox sacked Brees and then recovered the QB's fumble at the New Orleans' 13. On the very next snap, Bradford hit tight end Brent Celek, left uncovered, for a touchdown and a 23-10 lead, Sturgis missing an extra point for the second week in a row.

"I'm going to give the credit to the back end today. All three of those sacks were coverage sacks," Cox said. "When the quarterback holds the football, it gives the rush time to get there."

"It was an unbelievable game by him," outside linebacker Connor Barwin said of Cox. "You knew that kind of day was going to happen eventually. You never know when it will happen."

"It was real big to have four turnovers," Cox said. Michael Hoomanawanui also fumbled, and Brees threw an interception to Walter Thurmond. "A couple of them put our offense in position to score."

Why did the offense labor for so long, unable to do anything close to what it did yesterday? Were the now 1-4 Saints that much worse than the other teams the Eagles have played?

"I think after what we were able to do in the preseason . . . everyone had kind of been waiting for this," Bradford said. "Obviously, it's not going to be like this every week. But to know that when we're clicking and we're rolling that we can go out and do that, it's just going to give us confidence now to go out there and do it more often."

Blog: ph.ly/Eagletarian