Saints, Payton and Brees success against divisional playoff foe Eagles

It was inevitable.

The New Orleans Saints were going to have a rematch game in the Divisional Round of the playoffs next Sunday.

It was either going to be against the Cowboys, who beat the Saints in Dallas, or against the Eagles, whom the Saints drilled in the regular season.

For that matter, it will be another rematch in the NFC championship game versus the Cowboys or L.A. Rams, if the Saints can beat the Eagles next weekend. New Orleans will be a solid favorite. Familiarity breeds contempt.

The Eagles and possibly the Rams will be seeking revenge. The Cowboys would be seeking to repeat their regular season magic against the Saints.

Speaking of magic, Nick Foles is magical. He is cool, hard to shake. His teammates obviously love him and have tremendous confidence in him. He and the Eagles are on their way to the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.

This will be the fourth meeting between the Saints and Eagles in the playoffs, the last two coming during the Sean Payton-Drew Brees regime.

Under Jim Mora, the 12-4 Saints looked like they may be on their way to their first-ever playoff win on Jan. 3, 1993 against the Eagles in the Superdome.

When Morten Andersen kicked his second field goal of the game, a 42-yard effort midway through the third quarter, the Saints seemed in control at 20-7.

Then came the big collapse.

The Eagles scored the last 29 points of the game, including 26 in the fourth quarter to win 36-20. It was the last meaningful game of the Mora era. The Saints would not have another winning season until 2000 when Jim Haslett arrived.

The Saints drowned in a sea of four turnovers, including three interceptions of Bobby Hebert in his last game as a Saint. It was hard to watch and it was hard to swallow.

An aging core of great players would never have the chance to win again, including Rickey Jackson, Sam Mills, Vaughan Johnson, Pat Swilling, Frank Warren, Jim Wilks, Stan Brock, Dalton Hilliard, Eric Martin, Hoby Brenner and Hebert. All would be gone within two years.

On Jan. 13, 2007, the Saints hosted the Eagles in the NFC Divisional Round in the first season in New Orleans for Payton and Brees.

New Orleans got its second-ever playoff victory with a 27-24 win.

Brees was 20 of 32 for 243 yards and a touchdown and Reggie Bush had 12 rushes for 52 yards and a touchdown and caught three passes for 22 yards, taking one of the biggest hits of his career on one of those receptions. He also returned three punts for 21 yards. John Carney kicked a pair of field goals.

The real star was Deuce McAllister, who rushed 21 times for 143 yards and a touchdown and had four catches for 20 yards and a score.

The win propelled the Saints to the NFC Championship game the following week.

On Jan. 4, 2014, the Saints traveled to Lincoln Financial Field in the Wild Card round of the playoffs and the Saints took their first and only road playoff win in franchise history, winning 26-24.

Brees was 20 of 30 for 250 yards with a touchdown pass to Lance Moore and overcame a pair of interceptions. Mark Ingram rushed 18 times for 97 yards and a touchdown.

Foles completed 23 of 33 passes for 195 yards and two touchdowns for the Eagles and he will face the Saints again.

The Saints have won four of the last five and six of the last eight meetings between the two teams, all during the Payton-Brees era.

Earlier this season, the Saints walloped the Eagles 48-7 in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome on Nov. 18.

It was a complete demolition.

The Saints led 24-7 at halftime and blanked Philadelphia in the second half.

New Orleans picked off Carson Wentz three times and sacked him three times, including a pair by Chris Banjo. Josh Adams rushed seven times for 53 yards and a touchdown for the Eagles. New Orleans held Zach Ertz to just two catches for 15 yards.

Brees was 22 of 30 for 363 yards and four touchdowns for a 153.2 rating. Ingram rushed 16 times for 103 yards and two scores. Tre’Quan Smith had a breakout game with 10 receptions for 157 yards and a touchdown while Alvin Kamara, Michael Thomas and Austin Carr also had touchdown catches.

New Orleans is the fresher team but the Eagles are playing very well. Since losing to the Saints, the Eagles have won six of seven games, including wins over the Rams in Los Angeles and the Bears in Chicago. The only loss was in overtime at Dallas (29-23). It was a game that the Eagles easily could have won and they got a terrible call early in the game on a fumble which they recovered but the officials gave Dallas the ball deep in his own territory.

The Eagles are the defending champion, they got a new lease on life by sneaking into the playoffs and took advantage of the opportunity in Chicago. They have the most recent Super Bowl MVP playing quarterback. They will be bent on revenge for the regular season loss, a game in which former Saint Malcolm Jenkins expressed some discord afterwards about Brees hitting Kamara on a 45-yard touchdown pass early in the fourth quarter to make it 45-7.

The Saints will have the advantage of being the fresher team and of being at home. They have the advantage of having hammered the Eagles in the regular season and the advantage of having the upper hand in recent history. The Saints will be a solid favorite, hoping to stem the tide of a guy affectionately known as St. Nick.