Blogging Live: Eagles vs. Saints [J. Mark English]

SAINTS WIN! Saints 27, Eagles 24

11:15 pm - You can put this game in the book. The Saints will win, and the Eagles will fly on home. This is a great win for the Saints...their first trip to the NFC Championship games. This is great for the city of New Orleans, and should be a major confidence booster for the residents of the Crescent City.

11:10 pm - Finally the crowd got to the Eagles. On 4th and 10 the Eagles convert for a first down but the play is taken away due to a false start. And at 4th and 15, the Eagles punt the ball. WHY? They're basically quitting. They only have two timeouts left, with 1:48 left to go.

11:07 pm - If your an Eagles fan right now, your stomach must be upside down and causing you all sorts of pain. They just ran three inept plays, and its fourth down with just over two minutes to go.

11:05 pm - Eagles just got their miracle...a turn over by the Saints on a pitch from Brees to Bush....and now all the Eagles need is a FG to tie or a TD to go ahead....and Westbrook finally caught a screen, even while being hit...but he lost a yard.

11:03 pm - Tick tock, tick tock...Gar CYA? 3:21 left to go, and the Eagles just stopped the clock with a timeout. Their defense is looking tired, and beaten down. They need a turnover or something...anything...if they want to have a chance to get the ball back.

11:00 pm - While the Saints are matriculating down the field, and letting that clock run down, I was on you tube and found a clip of Eagle fans drunk on bourbon street: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1Tj3fWfg5s

10:54 pm - The teams have just traded a series of three and out. Saints better milk some time off the clock it they hope to hold on to their lead. 8:26 left in the fourth.

10:48 pm - The Superdome - It looks like a U.F.O, doesn't it? Or at least the ship from E.T.?

10:46 pm - Dick Stockton keeps comparing this game to a heavyweight fight, but with all the offense in this game it feels more like a fencing match. Theres been a perfect back and flow with precise strikes. The teams have been pacing each other.

10:43 pm - Mr. Automatic, David Akers, just notched a short field goal, pulling the birds to within three. Saints, 27, Eagles 24. 11:08 left to go in the fourth.

10:40 pm - Eagles have responded by going deep into Saints territory. Unlike last weeks Eagles/Giants game where the teams were playing as if they didn't want to win...this is an all out war with teams wanting desperately to win. Its been a special game so far.

10:29 pm - DEEUUUCCCEEE...best running tandem ever? What a screen play to Deuce, and now the Saints are up again. This game has been total ebb and flow. Saints 27, Eagles 21...one minute left in the third quarter. Fasten your seat belt baby...this is a roller coaster.

10:22 pm - That pass catching drill they showed on FOX, from the Hofstra coach...where they paint the football with a white tip, with numbers...really seems to work. The Saint running backs can all catch a screen pass...and Westbrook hasn't caught one so far...

10:10 pm - Earlier I said why not leave Bush in the whole game...McAllister just demonstrated why he still shares the spotlight. He just willed his team to score...and they didn't go for two... Eagle 21, Saints 20.

10:09 pm - Saints are on the march (sorry that was too easy)...if they score here...do they go for two?

10:00 pm - Brian Westbrook, just broke free for a 62 yard touchdown run, and the Eagles are starting to open up a marginal lead. Eagles 21, Saints 13. This game so far is showing a similar script to last weeks Eagles/Giants game...

9:55 pm - If you live in the tri-state area, and you have cablevision, please visit www.iwantnflnetwork.com and tell them you want the NFL Network. Because I want it!! Those commercials are really effective...

9:47 pm - We should be so lucky as NFL fans, and fans of fate if next week, the Cotls playing the Patriots...the game comes down to a field goal, and Adam Vinatieri has to nail a game winning field goal against his former team.

9:40 pm - Now the half time comes...after Colston nearly caught a hail mary pass from Brees in the end zone. But the Saints had the ball on the last play at the 45 yard line of the Eagles. Why not just kick the field goal? It would be a 62 yard field goal...theres no wind...why not give a it a try? The Eagles lost a game earlier this year after Matt Bryant beat them with 62 yard field goal in Tampa Bay...so you never know.
9:37 pm - Eagles have retaken the lead, and will go into the half up 14-13. The crowd has been subdued, and I think the Eagles should...okay as I write this the Saints just nearly had a punt blocked, and the punter runs with the ball and gets a first down!

9:29 pm - As the refs are reviewing the L.J. Smith play near the endzone (he didn't score, his knee was down)...FOX keeps showing Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie up in the owners box. Maybe its just me but Jeffrey Lurie and Saturday Night Live creator Lorne Michaels were seperated at birth:

9:25 pm - I can't wait for Twenty Four to begin tomorrow!!!!! Gotta love the FOX promos...including getting in a plug from Stephen King.

9:22 pm - Garcia just made one heck of a play...scrambling close to the sideline, and the throwing a laser pass to Hank Baskett down the sideline. If the Eagles win this game, what happens to McNabb next year? Do you think the Eagle fans will want him back if Garcia takes them all the way to the promise land? (Will Rush Limbaugh have a job with the Eagles organization?)

9:19 pm - Dick Stockton just said "we're gonna show you how loud this crowd is"...

9:17 pm - Random thought - the Subway ad, where they say "Subway, Eat Fresh"...why do they always leave off the adverb? It should be "Subway, Eat Freshly"....blame the poor grammar of this blog on Subway.

9:12 pm - Wow! Reggie Bush scores, and the Saints are showing some gumption. Why not just leave him in there for the rest of the game? He's averaging at least 5 yards a run. Saints 13, Eagles 7.

9:10 pm - Colstein just had a catch and run down to the Eagles' ten yard line...if they don't score a touchdown here, the Eagles will win this game.

9:05 pm - Up until the touchdown by Stallworth, the Saints had been outplaying the Eagles, and had dominated the stat board. They have 80 rushing yards compared to the Eagles 7 yards with eleven minutes to go in the second quarter. The Giants had a similar advantage last week...but just like the Giants, the Saints have not scored enough...only six...when you dominate that much early, and can't take advantage of it on the scoreboard, it usually comes back to haunt you. This could be an Eagles victory, based on the early success of the Saints.

8:59 pm - Stallworth gets his revenge for being traded by the Saints...(and has silenced the "capacity throng") Eagles 7, Saints 6 - off a bomb to Stallworth from Garcia.

8:58 pm - I miss the gold pants the Saints wear usually...Who makes those decisions anyway?

8:57 pm - If the Giants were playing in that noisy dome, they'd have at least five false starts already....

8:53 pm - I'm watching this game right now on a regular TV, as opposed to HDTV...does it really make all that much of a difference? I mean okay the quality of the vision is a little clearer...but is it really worth all of the hoopla?

8:50 pm - That was a heck of a run by Reggie Bush. I hope the Houston Texans are enjoying this game, if they're not on the golf course right now...