PHILADELPHIA — Never is a long time and that’s how long it has been since the Saints won a playoff game on the road.
Never can weigh on a team and so coach Sean Payton made sure to tell his Saints, “As far as the history of the organization, you carry your own history,’’ before they faced the Eagles Saturday night in an NFC wild-card playoff game. It was going to be cold at Lincoln Financial Field and it certainly wasn’t going to be climate-controlled the way the Saints prefer it back home in New Orleans.
“I get it,’’ Payton said. “It’s that stereotype that comes with a team that plays inside. We traveled pretty well tonight.’’
They sure did. Never was wiped from the record books, as Shayne Graham nailed a 32-yard field goal as time expired to give the Saints a 26-24 victory over the Eagles, the first road playoff victory in New Orleans franchise history. The Saints had been 0-5 in the postseason on the road — 0-3 in the Payton/Drew Brees era.
“There’s no better place to win a road game,’’ Payton said of leaving Philadelphia with a victory.
“We didn’t play well enough to win and that’s on all of us,’’ said Eagles coach Chip Kelly, whose successful first season ended with a stunning setback at home.
Now that the spell has been broken, the Saints (12-5) move on and stay on the road, traveling to Seattle to take on the No. 1 seed Seahawks in an NFC divisional game at the most inhospitable venue in the NFL for the visiting team. The Seahawks clobbered the Saints 34-7 on Dec. 2 in Seattle.
It was the Saints who did most of the clobbering in this one, changing the way they usually move the ball. Brees threw two first-half interceptions and the Saints trailed 7-6 at halftime, but they proved to be the tougher team, pounding away on the ground for 185 rushing yards. They were led by Mark Ingram (18-97, one touchdown), got a big lift from Khiry Robinson (eight carries, 45 yards) subbing for injured Pierre Thomas and even got some effective quarterback sneaks from the diminutive Brees.
“Up front we felt we pushed them pretty good,’’ Payton said.
“We know when we run the ball, we’re hard to beat. It opens up the entire offense and just keeps the defense on their toes,’’ Ingram said. “We saw we could run the ball early and we kept running it.’’
This was a bitter loss for the Eagles (10-7), who won the NFC East, but fell behind 20-7 after the Saints got touchdowns on their first two possessions of the second half.
The Saints, though, lost cornerback Keenan Lewis to a head injury when he slammed into Jason Avant breaking up a pass in the third quarter, and that opened up the gates for DeSean Jackson, who did not have a catch for nearly three quarters. Jackson’s 40-yard reception against Corey White led to LeSean McCoy’s TD run to pull the Eagles within 20-14, and White’s 40-yard pass interference penalty hauling down Jackson led to Nick Foles’ 3-yardTD flip to tight end Zach Ertz to put the Eagles ahead 24-23 with 4:54 remaining.
The Eagles couldn’t hang on. Darren Sproles returned the ensuing kickoff 39 yards and the Saints got an extra 15 when Cary Williams was called for a horse-collar tackle on Sproles.
Brees took over on the Eagles’ 48-yard line with 4:47 left. The Saints were able to hold the ball for 10 plays to churn out 34 yards — a Brees quarterback sneak picked up a key third down — getting Graham in position to hit his fourth field goal of the night. A full 28 yards on the game-winning drive game came on the ground.
“We definitely did not think they were going to run it as much as they did,’’ Eagles linebacker Brandon Graham said. “We thought they were going to air it out.’’
The Saints were 8-0 at home this season, but just 3-5 on the road, so this was a big deal. They got a break in that the temperature at kickoff was 25 degrees, but there was very little wind and Payton said several of his players took off a few layers before kickoff.
“There’s nothing like it,’’ Payton said. “There’s nothing like winning.’’