SEAN PAYTON GOT NFL COACH OF THE YEAR!!!
GO SAINTS
Saints-Eagles Divisional Playoff Game to Be Played on Saturday at 7:00 pm CTDoug Miller, NewOrleansSaints.comJan 7, 2007 – 8:42 pm
The Saints' Divisional Playoff Game against the Philadelphia Eagles on January 13, 2007 will be played at 7:00 p.m. CT and will be televised by Fox Sports.
The Eagles defeated the New York Giants, 23-20, on a David Akers 38-yard field goal as time expired and advanced to the divisional round.
Saturday's match-up will mark the second time this season the Saints and Eagles will play, as the Saints defeated the Eagles 27-24 on October 15 at the Superdome.
The Chicago Bears will host the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday in the other NFC Divisional game. The winners will advance to the NFC Championship game the following Sunday (Jan. 21).
The Saints have several members of their team with strong connections to Philadelphia, including Head Coach
Sean Payton, who was an assistant coach with the Eagles from 1997-1998. Additionally, starting middle linebacker
Mark Simoneau and defensive tackle
Hollis Thomas were with the Eagles just a year ago before being traded to the Saints. And guard
Jahri Evans is a native of Philadelphia and starred north of Philly at Bloomsburg College. Saints LB Coach
Joe Vitt was a coach with the Eagles from 1995-1998 and is a native of Blackwood, N.J., not far from Philly.
On the other side of the ball, wide receiver Donte Stallworth and defensive end Darren Howard are prominent Eagles with Saints ties. Those connection are sure to be re-visted this week and nearly every angle of the game will come into focus and be closely examined, as the NFL's eligible teams for Super Bowl contention has been pared to only eight teams.
Of interest this weekend in both conferences is the fact that all of the home teams were victorious, a trend Saints fans hopes continues at least through Saturday evening.