Saquon Barkley, Dallas Goedert, and strong defense lift Eagles past Saints; Lane Johnson, DeVonta Smith injured

The Eagles cooled off the previously red-hot New Orleans Saints, squeaking out a 15-12 win. The defense had an impressive outing, holding the Saints to 219 net yards of offense and allowing them to score on one of their three red-zone trips. Here’s whose stock is trending up and down after the third game of the season ...

Up: Saquon Barkley

On the play after DeVonta Smith sustained an apparent concussion, Saquon Barkley exploded for a 65-yard touchdown to give the Eagles their first lead. He racked up 156 all-purpose yards and two touchdowns on 21 touches against the Saints.

The Eagles make things as easy as reading James Joyce in Braille. They won a game here Sunday at the Superdome, 15-12, over the Saints, that by all rights they had no business winning. They were sloppy. They suffered injury after injury to one important player after another. Their head coach appeared to be making significant decisions by flipping a coin that had an infinite number of sides. Yet here they are, 2-1.

Nick Sirianni staunchly defended his fourth-down decision making last week, and six days after those choices put a spotlight on the coach’s role as CEO and game manager, fate followed him south.

Near the end of the first half, with the Eagles trailing 3-0, Sirianni called timeout to set up a fourth-and-1 on the Saints’ 15-yard line and 14 seconds on the clock. A half from hell could have ended with a 3-3 score, but the Eagles instead went for it, and with two backups playing on the right side of their line, they did not Tush Push but instead handed it off to Barkley, who was stuffed at the line.

According to the NFL’s Next Gen Stats model, the Eagles would have increased their win percentage by 8.1% by kicking instead of going for it.

The Eagles are playing without the starting right side of their offensive line in the second quarter in New Orleans. After Mekhi Becton went to the locker room on the Eagles last drive and was replaced by Tyler Steen, Lane Johnson was not out on the field to start the next drive for Philly following another stop by the defense.

Instead, Johnson was seen being helped into the locker room after a brief visit to the blue medical tent.

According to the team, Johnson is being evaluated for a concussion.

Get ready for Brotherly Shove merchandise to hit the shelves at Lincoln Financial Field.

As of Sept. 17, the Eagles officially own the trademark for the Philly-specific name of their signature Tush Push play, according to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. That means the Eagles have exclusive rights to include the Brotherly Shove phrase on “men’s, women’s and children’s clothing, namely, shirts, shorts, jackets, sweatshirts, jerseys, hats, and caps being headgear,” per the trademark filing, which was first filed about 11 months ago.

The successful application does not restrict other teams from copying or using the play on the field — just from using the specific Brotherly Shove phrasing on merchandise and memorabilia. Given its Philly-specific name, that probably applies to apparel makers looking to cash in on the name rather than other NFL teams.

Since 2020, when his therapist suggest he try it ahead of one of his first starts with the Eagles, Jordan Mailata has practiced grounding — walking barefoot on the earth as a means of reducing stress — during his hyper-regimented pregame routine. Nowadays, he said its incorporation in his laundry list of tasks mostly is rooted in superstition. Still, all he can focus on while performing his routine is the routine itself, keeping anxious feelings at bay.

For a road game, that routine begins the day before, when Mailata requests that he sits at the very back of the plane on the left-side window. When the team lands, he has to be on Bus 3 in the same location as his seat on the plane.

His dinner at the hotel the night before a game is always the same — bow tie pasta, a mixture of red and white sauces, shrimp, sun-dried tomatoes, spinach, a little bit of garlic, salt, pepper, and chili flakes. Sometimes he pairs it with steak and garlic bread. After meetings, he has a snack of three scoops of chocolate ice cream and crushed Oreos. If the Eagles play a 1 p.m. game the next day, he’ll get an IV the night before.

Eagles safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson, who had a foot injury pop up during the practice week, will play Sunday in New Orleans.

There were no other surprises on the Eagles’ inactive list 90 minutes before kickoff. Linebacker Devin White remains a healthy scratch. On Saturday, the Eagles elevated wide receiver Parris Campbell and tight end Jack Stoll from the practice squad.

A.J. Brown remains out with his hamstring injury, but rookie receiver Johnny Wilson will play.

With his team reconvening after a stunning loss a few days earlier, Nick Sirianni opened a new week with a pointed reminder for Eagles players to block out the noise.

The coach didn’t have many words to say in the locker room following the team’s 22-21 loss to the Atlanta Falcons on Monday night, deeming Jalen Hurts’ cutting speech to his teammates as sufficient instead. On Wednesday, Sirianni’s first meaningful address to his players included a story about a critical comment he’d noticed about himself and a key detail revealed about the otherwise anonymous commenter in a reply shortly thereafter.

“Coach said he was reading some of his comments,” defensive end Brandon Graham said. “You know how you read a comment and then everybody else comments under that comment? [The original commenter] was responding to some people, he’s like, ‘I’ve been an Eagles fan for seven years. Now I’m 10, and they still ain’t …’ So it was a 10-year-old talking stuff on there.”

The Birds are 2½-point underdogs against the Saints, who are coming off a stunning 44-19 victory over the Dallas Cowboys. The Saints offense behind Carr has put up 91 points in two games. Running back Alvin Kamara is coming off a four-touchdown game in which he went for 180 total yards.

Will the Saints keep their momentum going? Will the Eagles come back from a devastating loss at home?

Inquirer predictions

Today’s game between the Eagles and Saints is scheduled to kick off at 1 p.m. Eastern on Fox.

Calling today’s game are two familiar voices for Eagles fans — Joe Davis, who called the Phillies World Series run on Fox in 2022, and Greg Olsen, who was on the call for Super Bowl LVII, when the Birds came close to toppling the Kansas City Chiefs. Veteran report Pam Oliver will be on the sidelines Sunday.

Olsen had called games alongside Kevin Burkhardt the past two seasons as part of Fox’s top NFL booth, but was replaced during the offseason by Tom Brady.