Philadelphia Eagles and New Orleans Saints desperate for win in Monday encounter - NFL Preview
Two sides desperate for a win to turn around their poor start to the season face off on Monday as the New Orleans Saints take on the Philadelphia Eagles at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.
The Saints are currently in the midst of their worst start to a regular season after losing all of their first four games.
They picked up some momentum with two victories over the San Diego Chargers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers but succumbed to another defeat last week to the Denver Broncos taking their record to a shocking 2-5.
This comes right after the 2011-12 season when they went 13-3 to win the National Football Conference (NFC) South division.
Quarterback Drew Brees and the offence have performed remarkably in this period but their defence ranks as one of the worst in the league and is the main reason for their poor results.
Allowing a league worst 474.7 yards on average per game the franchise delivered their worst defensive performance against the Broncos giving up a massive 530 yards which is the highest allowed by any team in the National Football League (NFL) currently.
This stat also led the Saints to make an unwanted record as they became the first team since the 1950s to give up 400 plus yards in seven consecutive games.
Defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo has taken responsibility for the poor performance of the Saints defensive roster and said:
"On defence it starts with me.”
Adding further he said:
"Somehow, some way, I have to get better with my job. I hope everyone else does the same thing. When you add it all up, everybody gets better and the whole defence gets better."
They will now hope for a better performance against Philadelphia Eagles whose shoddy offence has come in for big criticism.
Quarterback Michael Vick has the third highest number of interceptions to his name with 13 this season which coupled with his poor passing game has greatly hampered the team to meet expectations.
Vick said about his poor performances:
"I think there's a lot of things that I can do better. I'm trying to do everything that I can to put the ball in the end zone to give my guys every opportunity."
The defence is not much better with head coach Andy Reid firing defensive coordinator Juan Castillo after some really poor results.
Secondary coach Pat Bowles took over defensive coordinator duties in the game against the Falcons but the result was the same.
After the loss to the Falcons he said:
"You don't go from the outhouse to the penthouse in one week. Right now, we're in the d**n outhouse."
Both teams need victory to get their campaign back on track with the winner simply having to perform better than their opponents.
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