EAGLES NEWS

Fresh off an easy win over the Carolina Panthers the Eagles returned to the Linc this afternoon for their home opener against Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints. With Donovan Mcnabb still nursing a fractured rib, Kevin Kolb took the field for the first start of his NFL career. He played well completing 31 of 51 passes for 391 yds and 2 TDs. Unfortunately, he was also intercepted 3 times, and although 2 of the 3 realistically occured when the game was already over including one right at the end that was returned for a TD, they still provided theme for the Eagles today. They simply made too many mistakes in every facet of the game to contend with the high powered Saint's offense today. They committed 7 penalties for 45 yards, most of them stupid special teams penalties that ruined good returns. In addition to Kolb's 3 turnovers, Ellis Hobbs fumbled the opening punt return in the 2nd half, killing off all of the momentum the Eagles had at the time. Lastly the Eagles defense broke down far too many times. Sure, Drew Brees had another unbelievable day throwing for 311 yards and 3 TDS, but it all seemed a little too easy at times. Yeah he made a couple absolutely perfect throws that the Eagles really couldn't do anything about, but there were quite a few plays they could have defensed better. In adittion they also did one thing you can't do against the Saints, they allowed them to run the ball effectively for 133 yards and 2 TDs. In all New Orleans racked up 421 total yards of offense and 48 points That's embarrassing even against the Saints, especially considering the Eagles posted 463 yards of offense and 22 points. Thus, they could have, should have and would have been right with New Orleans in this game if the defense could have played even half as good today as they did last week. In reality the offense was the only bright spot for the Birds. Besides Kolb, Desean Jackson with 4 catches, including a 71 yard TD pass, for 101 yards, Brent Celek with 8 catches for 104 yards and Jason Avant with 7 catches for 79 yards were also impressive. Yep that was pretty much the only thing for the Birds to be positive about today. They were also right with New Orleans after the 1st half of the game with the score 17-13 Saints, so that was kind of positive as well. Unfortunately it didn't last long, as Hobbs fumbled the opening punt of the 2nd half to set up one Saints score and then Kolb tossed in his first interception of the day to set up another Saint's score and before you knew it the Saints were up 31-13 and the Eagles were finished.