Monday Night Football: Philadelphia Eagles at New Orleans Saints

John Morgan

Nov 5, 2012 at 3:30pm ET

3-4 Philadelphia Eagles at 2-5 New Orleans Saints
- Monday Night Football on espn -

I was thinking back to the Juan Castillo firing and it occurred to me that the decision to promote him to defensive coordinator probably actually weakened the Eagles just as much on offense and their offensive line as it weakened them on defense. For New Orleans Darren Sproles is out with a broken hand, which really makes me back off from the Saints in this game, even though it is still really tough to go against New Orleans at home. Can Michael Vick avoid turnovers and take advantage of a porous Saints' pass defense? Andy Reid might be better off giving the ball to LeSean McCoy 25 times.

Prediction: Eagles 28, Saints 27
Eagles +3, over 51½
- final score: Saints 28, Eagles 13

This Day In Patriots History

November 5, 1967:
Boston Patriots 18, Houston Oilers 7 at Fenway Park

The Pats defense limited the Oilers to just 200 yards of total offense and one score while forcing Houston to punt eight times, upsetting the Oilers for their third and what would turn out to be final win of the season. Jim Nance rushed for 108 yards, Bob Cappadonna ran for 45 and Art Graham had six catches for 84 yards, but the Pats offense kept stalling when they got close. Gino Cappelletti kicked three field goals (on five attempts) to put the Patriots up 9-0 and then the defense came through, tackling Houston RB Roy Hopkins in the end zone for a safety. In the 4th quarter Houston scored on a short touchdown pass to cut the lead to four before Nance ran it in from five yards out for the final score.

November 5, 1978:
New England Patriots 14, Buffalo Bills 10 at Rich Stadium

For the third straight game and seventh time on the season the Patriots rushed for over 200 yards, winning their 7th straight game to improve to 8-2. Steve Grogan (5/17, 65 yards, 0 TD and 1 interception) could not get anything going through the air on the breezy day but it didn't matter as the Pats just ran over the Bills. Horace Ivory ran for 128 yards and two touchdowns on 16 carries, Sam Cunningham ran for 85 yards on 13 carries, Don Calhoun added another 39 yards rushing and Grogan had an 18-yard run for the Pats. In all the Pats averaged 5.9 yards per carry and ran for 279 yards on the day.

November 5, 1989:
New York Jets 27, New England Patriots 26 at Foxboro Stadium

The Jets got their second win of the season when Ken O'Brien completed four straight passes covering 72 yards in the final 1:03 to set up a 23-yard field goal by Ken Leahy as time expired. For the Jets this was an offensive outburst; in the previous five games (all losses) they had scored just one offensive touchdown. For the Patriots this was the second time they had lost a one-point game in which they had missed an extra point.

Steve Grogan was knocked out of the game on a late hit three minutes into the second half and Marc Wilson came in, rallying the Pats. Down by 12, Wilson hit Cedric Jones on a 65-yard bomb and then connected with Hart Lee Dykes on an 11-yard score with 1:03 remaining to put the Patriots up by two.

Wilson finished 12/18 for 177 yards in his first NFL action in two years. John Stephens had 86 yards rushing, Jones finished with 6 catches for 127 yards, Stanley Morgan had 5 catches for 72 yards and Eric Seivers had 7 receptions for 50 yards.

November 5, 1995:
New England Patriots 20, New York Jets 7 at Exit 16W

Curtis Martin rushed for a career-high 166 yards on 35 carries and scored twice as the Patriots broke a three-game skid with a 20-7 win at Giants Stadium. The Patriots defense came up with a fumble recovery, interception, and five sacks, eventually knocking Glen Foley out with a shoulder injury which ended his season. Vincent Brisby had three catches for 74 yards and Vincent Brown had a sack and an interception for the Pats.

November 5, 2000:
Buffalo Bills 16, New England Patriots 13 at Foxboro

Steve Christie hit a 48-yard field goal with 48 seconds remaining to force overtime, and then hit his third field goal of the day from 32 yards to win the game.

On the opening drive Drew Bledsoe suffered a thumb injury and was replaced by John Friesz in the second quarter after throwing an interception. The Bills dominated the first half but were only up 10-0 when they turned the ball over on a fumbled handoff from Doug Flutie to Sammy Morris. Adam Vinatieri kicked a 48-yard field goal to cut the score to 10-7 at halftime.

In the second half the Pats defense dominated Buffalo but the offense was unable to capitalize. On one series in the third quarter due to penalties the Patriots had three 3rd and goals from the one yard line and failed to score each time; on the day the Pats had nine plays from the Bills one-yard line and scored only once. In the 4th quarter the Pats had a first and goal from the one and were stopped three times before J.R. Redmond finally punched it in for their only touchdown of the game.

That tied the score and then Troy Brown returned a punt to the Buffalo 43 with 4:04 to play. The Patriots were only able to make one first down but it was close enough for Vinatieri to kick a 43-yard field goal to put the Pats up 13-10 with just 1:57 to go. However Flutie drove the Bills down the field, completing a 24 yard pass and scrambling for an 11-yard gain on 3rd-and-10 to set up the game tying field goal.

November 5, 2006:
Indianapolis Colts 27, New England Patriots 20 at Gillette Stadium

The Colts picked off Tom Brady four times, two on tipped passes, to defeat the Pats and remain undefeated at 8-0. The loss ended a four-game winning streak for the Patriots, who dropped to 6-2.

The Patriots had a chance when Adam Vinatieri, facing his former team for the first time, missed his second field goal of the game from 37 yards with 1:55 remaining. However two plays later Brady was intercepted by Cato June and the Colts ran out the clock.

The Patriots ran for 148 yards, led by Laurence Maroney's 63 yards on 13 carries while Corey Dillon rushed for two touchdowns. Troy Brown had 37 yards on five catches; his second reception made him the Pats all-time leader with 535, surpassing Stanley Morgan.

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November 5, 1931:
Ike Turner was born.

November 5, 1941:
Art Garfunkel was born.

November 5, 1946:
Gram Parsons of The Byrds and Flying Burrito Brothers was born.

November 5, 1947:
Peter Noone of Herman's Hermits was born.

November 5, 1966:
The number one single was Last Train To Clarksville by The Monkees ... although it wasn't them playing any of the instruments.

November 5, 1970:
Led Zeppelin III was released; the album would go on to sell 6 million copies.

November 5, 1971:
Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead was born.

November 5, 1988:
For the third time in three decades Gerry Coffin and Carole King's The Locomotion was a top five single: in 1962 by Little Eva, in 1974 by Grand Funk Railroad, and this time by Kylie Minogue.

November 5, 2003:
Bobby Hatfield of The Righteous Brothers died at age 63.

November 5, 2005:
Guitar player Link Wray died at age 76. Wray may be the only person to have an instrumental banned (Rumble) by radio stations. Besides that song Wray is most well known for inventing the fuzz guitar sound, which he achieved by simply punching a hole in a speaker to create the distorted sound effect.