This week the New Orleans Saints head back home to face the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 3 of the 2024 regular season. Brandon Lee Gowton of Bleeding Green Nation joins us to preview Sunday’s matchup between two of the best rushing attacks in football.
NJ: After nearly three years, former Saints DB Chauncey Gardner-Johnson is set to make his long-awaited return to the Caesars Superdome on Sunday. Given the small sample size from this season, how do you think he’s performed during his second stint in Philly, and do you expect him to set the tone early in Week 3?
BLG: CJGJ has been inconsistent.
He’s allowing a (not so) perfect 158.3 passer rating when targeted, according to Pro Football Reference. He’s also already missed four tackles through two games. For context, the most he’s ever missed in one season is 11. One of those misses came in Week 2 when he allowed a deep completion to Darnell Mooney and then was totally unable to bring the receiver down.
It hasn’t been all bad, though. CJGJ really should’ve had a game-winning defensive stop when he blew up Bijan Robinson in the hole on fourth down for a turnover on downs. That was a special kind of play. And if Saquon Barkley doesn’t drop a game-sealing catch, CJGJ’s highlight would be getting a whole lot more focus this week.
CJGJ unexpectedly popped up on the injury report, but the Inquirer’s Jeff McLane reported that “it’s not a major concern.” We’ll see if that’s truly the case or not. I do expect him to be fired up to play his former team. It’s quite possible that he’ll channel that energy to make some big plays. It’s also possible he’ll get a bit overzealous.
NJ: With star WR A.J. Brown expected to miss a few weeks due to a hamstring injury, are you confident in the Eagles’ depth at receiver behind DeVonta Smith against this loaded Saints secondary?
BLG: No, I’m not super confident in the Eagles’ receiver depth behind DeVonta (who is very good).
Britain Covey is a solid role player who ideally should see no more than two-to-three targets per game as a possession receiver. He shouldn’t be getting six targets — including some designed touches in high-leverage scenarios — like he did last week.
Jahan Dotson has ability in theory but we’ve yet to see it in reality. Jalen Hurts doesn’t seem to trust him considering Dotson has just two targets over the first two games.
Parris Campbell will likely be temporarily elevated from the practice squad to be a fourth receiver. He did not get a target in Week 2.
Rookie Johnny Wilson appears on track to miss Sunday’s game due to a hamstring injury.
Realistically speaking, the Eagles can’t majorly rely on their receiver depth to help replace Brown. Rather, they need to lean more heavily upon Dallas Goedert and Saquon Barkley. The coaching staff needs to do a better job of getting the Eagles’ top tight end involved. And while Barkley hasn’t lacked opportunity (26 touches in each of the Eagles’ first two games), the Birds should ride him even harder while Brown is out. And especially in this game when the Eagles could stand to benefit from running the ball and controlling the clock to try to keep the Saints’ offense off the field.
NJ: The pairing of new OC Klint Kubiak and star RB Alvin Kamara has gotten the Saints’ run game off to a spectacular start through the first two games of the season. With Green Bay Packers RB Josh Jacobs and Atlanta Falcons RB Bijan Robinson getting whatever they want on the ground against the Eagles defense, are you concerned with their ability to limit this mesmerizing New Orleans run scheme?
BLG: Absolutely. Taking out four Kirk Cousins runs that resulted in negative one yard, the Eagles are allowing seven yards per carry through two games. There’s every reason for the Saints to run the ball over and over again until the Eagles can actually prove they can stop it.
One would think we might see Vic Fangio try more five-man fronts this week to help stop the run. But we’ll have to see if that’s truly the case. And while some schematic changes might help, there are still personnel issues here too. The Eagles’ defensive line just hasn’t been stout enough. They’re not winning their share of 1-on-1 battles. Oh, and they also apparently can’t rush the passer at all, so that’s also an issue.
NJ: What’s going on with LB Devin White? Are his starting days in the NFL behind him? Saints fans are no strangers to the former LSU Tiger, as the former All-Pro caused problems for the Saints’ offense during his five seasons with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
BLG: It’s been a weird arc. The Eagles signed White to a one-year contract worth $3.5 million guaranteed back in March. This despite the fact that he got benched late last season.
White had some good moments in OTA’s and he took all of the first first-team linebacker reps in 11-on-11 in training camp. It looked like he was going to be a Week 1 starter, at least in a rotational capacity.
But then White suffered an ankle injury in practice leading up to Week 1 and did not travel with the team to Brazil. Around that time, it was reported that White lost the starting job to third-year linebacker Nakobe Dean anyway. Dean definitely had some nice moments in training camp, but I don’t think White looked unplayable by any means.
White was healthy enough to play in Week 2 but the Eagles decided to keep him inactive as a healthy scratch. I’m guessing they might try to trade him before the deadline?
Otherwise, he won’t be playing unless there’s an injury to either Dean or Zack Baun … another linebacker you’re familiar with.
NJ: According to FanDuel Sportsbook, the Saints (-152) are currently 2.5-point favorites over the Eagles (+128) in Sunday’s matchup; who do you think will come out on top, and what is your final score prediction?
BLG: Maybe the Eagles will win this game because, as a number of Week 2 results reminded us, the NFL can be pretty weird and unpredictable.
But I’m easily taking the Saints to win this game. This is a tough spot for the Eagles, traveling down to New Orleans on a short week.
The Saints have looked unstoppable so far and I don’t see how the Eagles are going to be the first team to slow them down when they can’t stop the run or rush the passer. Philly’s offense should be expected to put up some points but not enough to keep pace with the Saints’ scoring ability.
Saints beat the Eagles, 42 to 21.
Thank you again to Brandon Lee Gowton for joining us this week! You can check out the rest of his work here.
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