NEW ORLEANS (AP) – Drew Brees was struggling early. Michael Thomas was silent. The New Orleans Saints found themselves down 14-0 after a brutal start. Nick Foles was on fire for the Philadelphia Eagles, and Doug Pederson had never lost a playoff game entering Sunday.
Things looked dire early, to say the least.
But thanks to Sean Payton’s guts, some Brees-to-Thomas magic and a strong defensive rebound, the Saints rallied down two touchdowns to beat the Eagles, 20-14, to advance to the NFC title game.
But right when the Saints needed another crucial stop, cornerback Marcus Lattimore hauled in his second pick of the game — off the hands of Alshon Jeffery — to close it out.
Foles’ magic had run out. In what might have been his final game as the Eagles’ starting QB, he started out hot but struggled late, finishing 18-of-31 passing for 201 yards with a passing TD, a rushing score and the two picks.
The Saints will will face the Los Angeles Rams in the NFC championship game next Sunday for the right to play in Super Bowl LIII two weeks later. The rematch at the Superdome could be another offensive shootout like the one the teams played back in Week 9, a 45-35 thriller that was capped by Thomas’ massive game that day.
Thomas also was the star on offense in this one. He set a Saints playoff record for catches (12) and receiving yards (171) that had been held by Marques Colston five years ago to the day in a loss to the Seahawks. Thomas converted catches of second-and-20, third-and-16 and a massive one late on third-and-13. He scored the touchdown that put the Saints up for good late in the third quarter after they had trailed since the game’s first five minutes.
Brees rebounded from his uncharacteristic start — three straight misses and a pick to open the game — to complete 28-of-38 passes for 301 and two TDs.
Eagles CB Cre’Von LeBlanc picked off Brees on his first pass of the game, just the second interception he has thrown in six playoff games at the Superdome. He started slowly, missing on his first three passes. Meanwhile, Foles started out on fire, hitting on his first seven pass attempts for 85 yards, including a gorgeous fade to Jordan Matthews for a a 37-yard TD that stunned the home crowd for a 7-0 Philly lead.
What Foles did after that reminded the football-watching world how special he really has been lately. He hit Alshon Jeffery on a 30-yard fade for a big conversion on third-and-7, and Foles capped the drive with a 1-yard TD sneak.
If 7-0 was shocking, a 14-0 Eagles lead was an absolute stunner. The Eagles had gained 151 yards in their first two drives to the Saints’ zero in a dominant start. It actually looked like things would get worse as Foles continued to dice up the Saints’ secondary, but Lattimore came up with a critical pick just outside the red zone.
It was the turning point New Orleans needed so badly. But that was followed by another boost — on a gutsy call from Payton, who remains unbeaten at home in the playoffs.
The Eagles forced a fourth-and-1, but the Saints faked a punt and snapped the ball directly to upback Taysom Hill, who ran 4 yards for the daring conversion from the Saints’ own 34-yard line. The Eagles actually had four defenders — DT Fletcher Cox, CB Rasul Douglas and DEs Brandon Graham and Michael Bennett — go down with injuries on that drive alone.
The Saints went for it again on fourth down, this time on goal-to-go, and Brees found Keith Kirkwood on a fade in the corner of the end zone to cut the Eagles’ lead to 14-7. They would tack on a field goal right before the end of the half, driving 67 yards in 72 seconds to make it 14-10 at intermission.
New Orleans’ defense really stepped up in the second half. In fact, the turnaround started with Lattimore’s first pick. The Eagles had 153 yards and eight first downs in the first quarter but only 112 yards and seven first downs the rest of the way, even without Rankins.
The Saints had a touchdown wiped off the board when Hill (yes, Hill) hit Kamara on a gorgeous post route, but it was called back after OG Andrus Peat’s third penalty of the game. After another Saints penalty knocked them out of field-goal range, Brees almost was picked on an errant pass to Thomas.
And yet Thomas and Brees delivered again. They connected on a third-and-16 conversion on the drive that would give the Saints the lead. Thomas’ 2-yard TD catch put them up for good as the Saints actually gained 112 yards of offense on that drive, along with 20 yards of penalties knocking them back.
The 18-play drive took 11:29 minutes worth of clock, which made it the longest playoff possession since the New York Giants’ final drive in the 2000 NFC championship game.
And that’s where the Saints will be next week, bringing the conference title game back to the Superdome for the first time since the 2009 season nine years ago.
Photo credit – Gerald Herbert / Associated Press / New Orleans, LA
