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USA Today Sports Media Group
Sport
Glenn Erby

What the Eagles are saying after 20-10 loss to the Saints at home in Week 17

Philadelphia spent the first 15 weeks of the NFL season stacking wins and preparing for home-field advantage, but injuries at key positions and poor play on both sides of the football now have this team fighting for the top spot.

NFL seasons can fall apart in a hurry and the Eagles are now facing a must-win scenario in Week 18 after a disastrous 20-10 loss to the Saints on Sunday.

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Returning home to Lincoln Financial Field for the first time in three weeks, quarterback Gardner Minshew was sacked six times on the afternoon, and went 18-32 passing for 274 yards, one touchdown, and one interception that was returned for a touchdown in the loss.

Minshew looked out of sorts at times and made several costly errors while trying to bring Philadelphia back from a 13-0 first-half deficit.

The scenario has been simple since the end of Week 15, with Philadelphia needing to win one of their final three games to win the NFC East and clinch home-field advantage in the NFC.

With preparation for the Giants set to begin, here’s what the Eagles are saying after the disastrous loss.

Gardner Minshew

Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports

Gardner Minshew

Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports

Dallas Goedert

Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports

A.J. Brown

Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports

Jordan Mailata

Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports

Nick Sirianni

Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports

Nick Sirianni on Jalen Hurts

(Photo by Dustin Satloff/Getty Images)

Jason Kelce

(Photo by Sam Hodde/Getty Images)

Josh Sweat

Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports

Nick Sirianni

Jan 1, 2023; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; ZZZZZZZ during the third quarter at Lincoln Financial Field. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports

Nick Sirianni

(Photo by Dustin Satloff/Getty Images)

Nick Sirianni

Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports

Gardner Mishew

(Photo by Dustin Satloff/Getty Images)

Nick Sirianni on Eagles poor offensive performance

Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports

The Eagles’ coach credited the Saints’ defense.

I think you have to give credit to that defense. That’s a good, well-coached defense with good players. Obviously, we didn’t put the players in good enough positions to succeed. We didn’t execute well enough.

It’s always going to be those two things. I’m going to have to watch the tape and see what’s going on, but there was no — we didn’t really have a rhythm going in that first half. I think we had three, three-and-outs, however many three-and-outs there were.

In one of them we got way behind the sticks. When you’re not converting on third down, it’s hard to convert on the one that was third and forever, but when you’re not converting on third down and not getting drives sustained, it’s hard to get in a rhythm, and that’s exactly what happened when we didn’t get a first down.

Why did that happen? Again, it’s always going to be coaching, always going to be execution; and then obviously give them credit as well.

A.J. Brown

(Photo by Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images)

Brown talked about Hurts being out the past two games.

“Jalen’s not on the field. We’re not thinking about what he would do or none of that. We’ve got to focus on who’s playing and try to win a game with the people playing.”

DeVonta Smith

Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports

“Like I said, find a way to stop the bleeding.”

“Come in everyday and get back to playing fundamental football because right now we’re not playing fundamentals.”

Fletcher Cox on Brandon Graham

(Photo by Dustin Satloff/Getty Images)

“I mean it’s so good for BG. We talk about it all the time, obviously we’re locker mates and we always talk about goals and things you want to get done in your career and what’s important. I always told him it’s just going to take time and I get really emotional for him because I know how hard he’s been working and how hard so many people counted him out after coming back from that achilles injury, it’s really big for a guy that’s in his thirteenth season.”

Brandon Graham on Week 18 pressure

(Photo by Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images)

“There’s no pressure. I think you all [media] are going to make the most pressure about it, because at the end of the day if we have to keep rolling, maybe that’s okay too. Life has a way of showing you when you look back on it. Sometimes you say, ‘I’m happy that didn’t happen because if this didn’t happen, this wouldn’t have happened.’ It’s just how you look at it. I wanted to get the win today and that’s what we were aiming for, but at the end of the day our goal is to get to the postseason, win the division, and go win the championship. I’m just staying in the moment. Let’s just take care of this week and we’ll talk about the rest [later].”

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