NEW ORLEANS — Andy Reid saw Michael Vick go down seven times, get clobbered countless other times and misfire time after time in the red zone.
But despite the Eagles’ fourth consecutive loss — a 28-13 rout by the resurgent Saints last night — the Philadelphia coach said he was standing by his man.
“Michael Vick will be the quarterback,” Reid said, referring to next week’s home game against the Cowboys. “It’s a team. It’s all of us. There’s not one particular person. We’re all involved in this.”
Against the indisputably worst defense in the NFL, the Eagles figured they had a chance to get things right against the Saints, who had allowed an average of 30.9 points in the first seven games.
Despite running for 221 yards on 29 carries — a 7.6-yard average — the Eagles (3-5) repeatedly misfired in the red zone. On five trips inside the 20, the Eagles came away with two Alex Henery field goals (22 and 37 yards), an interception, a lost fumble and a fourth-down failure at the end.
“It’s pretty simple,” Reid said. “When you’re 0-5 in the red zone, [give up] seven sacks and your tackling is terrible, then you’re going to struggle to win football games in this league. As coaches and players, we obviously have to do a better job.”
The mystery was why the Eagles didn’t emphasize their running game until the Saints could stop it. They had 105 yards on just 12 carries in the first quarter, and on their third series of the game, LeSean McCoy ripped off runs of 13, 25 and 34 yards in a 76-yard drive that ended with a 22-yard Henery chip shot.
Incredibly, the Eagles (3-5) gained 447 yards and scored only 13 points.
So much for players-only meetings. Vick had used the occasion of his team’s three-game October nosedive to bring his teammates behind closed doors last week in an attempt to hash out their woes.
But after Monday night’s loss — the Eagles’ fourth straight loss and fifth in six games — Vick just might be running out of time as a starting quarterback.
Drew Brees threw two short touchdown passes and the Saints finally uncorked their missing rushing attack with 141 yards on 24 carries to power the Saints (3-5) to their third victory in four games.
The killer mistake for the Eagles was a tipped Vick pass in the first quarter that cornerback Patrick Robinson returned 99 yards for their first score. Vick tried to fire a pass into tight end Brent Celek, but he threw it with a bit too much force, and the ball bounced of Celek’s right hand and into Robinson’s waiting arms.
Reid thought Celek was interfered with on the play.
“I obviously thought there was some very aggressive play on that ball that was questionable, but you’ve got to make the plays,” Reid said. “I felt like [Celek] was restricted to get the ball. That’s what I saw.”
The seven sacks of Vick were the most sacks the Saints have recorded in a game in 10 years.
The Eagles turned two Saints turnovers — a Brees fumble on a sack by Brandon Graham and a fumbled kickoff by Travaris Cadet — into 10 points early in the third quarter to narrow a 21-3 deficit to 21-13. The touchdown came on a 77-yard connection between Vick and DeSean Jackson, who was wide open after a Vick bootleg fake.
But the Eagles had to settle for a 37-yard field goal following Cadet’s fumble, in large part because of Will Smith’s 11-yard sack of Vick.
Brees settled down the Saints on the next series, directing a 10-play, 70-yard drive that ended with a 6-yard pass to Jimmy Graham and a 28-13 lead with 1:20 left in the third quarter.