The New Orleans Saints will host the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 3 of the 2024 NFL season, according to Jeff McLane of the Philadelphia Inquirer. With the 2024 NFL schedule release dropping on May 15, we have already begun to see some of the more notable games announced. The Christmas games have been sent out, as well as the international schedule of games. However, most of the primary schedules have not come out as of yet and will be fully released on NFL Network at 7 p.m. CT.
The New Orleans Saints have had trouble with the Philadelphia Eagles in the past, winning 16 matchups and losing 19 all-time. In recent years, the prognosis looks a little better, as despite losing two of their last three, the Saints have won three of their last five matchups against the Eagles.
In their 2023 matchup on January 1st, the Saints were able to win 20-10 and hand Super Bowl bound Philly their third loss of the season. However, the Eagles were without Jalen Hurts in that matchup, who tends to have a field day against the Saints each time he plays them. Regardless, this last matchup was a battle between Andy Dalton and Gardner Minshew, how things have changed since then.
In 2021 the Eagles beat New Orleans 40-29, as they would put up 27 points in the first half in a route of the Saints. It is worth noting that this was a Trevor Siemian game for the Saints, while Jalen Hurts ran for all three Eagles touchdowns on the day. Ultimately Hurts did not have to pass the ball much, only throwing for 147 passing yards, but he did not need to as the game was not close enough to warrant it.
In 2020, the game got away from New Orleans very quickly. The 3-8-1 Eagles were ultimately able to take down the then 9-3 Saints by a score of 24-21. Jalen Hurts rushed for 106 yards, and Miles Sanders also rushed for 115 yards and two touchdowns. With Taysom Hill behind center in that game, we still have yet to see a relatively normal quarterback matchup between these two teams in their last three meetings.
Ultimately, it will be a matter of whether the Saints run defense can finally keep up after some heavy turnover in the last few offseasons. The Eagles have high ambitions after an 11-win season ended with a tough playoff loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but New Orleans will be looking to make a statement after being written off after missing the playoffs three years in a row.
