Chip Shot

The Saints brought their high-flying offense to Philadelphia in search of the franchise’s first road playoff victory, but it was an old-fashioned power running game – and the leg of Shayne Graham – that got the job done.

Mark Ingram rushed for 97 yards and a touchdown and Graham kicked four field goals, including the game winner from 32 yards as time expired, to lift New Orleans to a thrilling 26-24 victory over the Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field on Saturday night.

The sixth-seeded Saints (12-5), who had come into the game with an 0-5 road playoff mark, go on the road again to play the top-seeded Seattle Seahawks (13-3) next week. The Eagles, champions of the NFC East, finished 10-7.

New Orleans ran the ball 36 times and threw it only 30 against Philadelphia, a change in offensive style for a team accustomed to big plays from the arm of quarterback Drew Brees, who threw for more than 5,100 yards during the season.

“We got into the game and we saw how well it was working,” Saints offensive guard Jahri Evans said. “It makes it hard to get away from it. We had seen what other teams did against them. With our backs, with our guys up front, we thought we could do it.”

So, with starting running back Pierre Thomas injured, were the Eagles expecting 185 yards rushing from New Orleans, 142 of it from the tandem of Mark Ingram (97 yards) and Khiry Robinson (45 yards)?

“I don’t know if anyone would come play us looking for that,” said Saints offensive lineman Zach Strief, “but we thought we had a size advantage up front. And we knew if they wanted to take things away, they’d have to give something up. I guess it’s the advantage of having a lot of weapons.”

Strief said he was not surprised by how well New Orleans’ big backs performed.

“Mark Ingram has just gotten better and better, he’s much more comfortable with what we’re doing,” Strief said. “And Khiry (Robinson), he has been working so hard. He really runs with an edge.”

The Eagles were far more concerned about stopping Brees and his favorite target, tight end Jimmy Graham, who led all NFL tight ends with 86 catches and 16 touchdowns in the regular season. Philadelphia mostly kept the two in check, as Brees had a below-average game by his standards, 20 of 30 passing attempts for 250 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. Graham finished with three receptions for 44 yards.

“I thought their backs ran extremely hard,” Eagles coach Chip Kelly said. “If you told me we were going to hold Jimmy Graham to three catches… I thought that would be a pretty good deal. But give them credit, they did a really good job of running the football against us.”

Payton said the Saints won the game with their play up front.

“I think at some point when you win a game like that, it’s kind of broken down to the essence of the line of scrimmage of football, and your will to keep pushing and get the first down,” Payton said. “Those guys fought hard and, again, we played a good team. That line of scrimmage was the difference, I think.”

The Philadelphia defenders acknowledged they had keyed on trying to slow down the Saints’ vaunted pass game.

“They ran a lot more, and they are a passing team, which is what we worried about this week,” said Philadelphia linebacker Brandon Graham. “We knew they were going to run it here and there, but we definitely did not think they were going to run it as much as they did.”

Philadelphia’s defensive plan seemed to keep the New Orleans offense at bay for the first half, intercepting Brees twice – the second pick setting up the Eagles’ go-ahead touchdown just before the half, as quarterback Nick Foles hit Riley Cooper for a score and a 7-6 halftime lead.

A sluggish first half gave way to a scintillating finish. The Saints opened the third quarter with consecutive touchdown drives – the first a 24-yard strike from Brees to Lance Moore and, after an Eagles punt, a 1-yard run by Ingram to cap a nine-play, 66-yard drive.

That put the Saints up 20-7 with 3:59 to play in the third quarter, temporarily subduing a sellout crowd.

Brees said the Saints could see the Eagles were determined to not give up big plays, so New Orleans settled in for a move-the-chains attack that piled up 26 first downs.

“We realized at halftime that we were going to be able to run the football,” Brees said. “But the way they were playing us, was trying to keep everything in front – so we (could) just take what they gave us and just sustain drives and put points on the board.

“We ended up getting some big plays in the passing game, eventually. I think it kind of opened up once we started pounding the ball on the ground.”

But Foles, who had led the Eagles to victories in seven of their last eight regular-season games, brought Philadelphia back. The Eagles scored on their next possession, a 1-yard plunge by LeSean McCoy on fourth-and-goal, to cut the lead to 20-14.

The two teams traded field goals to make it 23-17 early in the fourth quarter, until Foles and the Eagles took over at their 23 with 7:59 to play. The Eagles drove to the New Orleans 43, where Foles attempted a deep pass to LeSean Jackson that fell incomplete, but a pass interference call on Saints defensive back Corey White gave the Eagles a first down at the New Orleans 3.

Foles, who finished with 195 yards and two touchdowns on 23-of-33 passing, found Ertz two plays later for a 3-yard touchdown pass, sending the crowd into delirium as the Eagles regained the lead, 24-23, with 4:54 to play.

That’s more than enough time for Brees and the Saints to score twice in most games, but instead of trying to score quickly, New Orleans bashed its way down the field. The Saints possessed the ball the rest of the game, running it eight times in a 10-play drive that moved only 34 yards in 4:51.

“There was nothing we could do but watch,” said McCoy, who was held to 77 yards on 21 carries. “They killed us slowly. It was a terrible feeling.”

With three seconds on the clock, Saints coach Sean Payton sent in Shayne Graham, who became the team’s kicker after Garrett Hartley was cut with two games left in the regular season.

Graham, a veteran of 10 teams in his 14th season, said he focused on his routine and wasn’t nervous.

“Strike the ball clean, hit it pure,” Graham said. “I’m so methodical in my routine. Anyone can watch me for a short period of time and know what I am going to do. I just went through it and made the kick.”

Foles, who attended the same Texas high school as Brees, Westlake High in Austin, said he was proud of how the Eagles fought back in defeat.

“It turn out our way today,” Fole said. “The Saints played a great game and they obviously finished it out, but at the end of the day, I’m very proud of my team.”

For the Saints, the road now leads to Seattle, the site of a regular-season whipping on Dec. 2, when the Seahawks buried the Saints, 34-7.

Strief says the Saints are not expecting a repeat.

“They are a tough team and it’s going to be a tough game, we know that,” he said. “But it’s not like winning one game guarantees you’ll win the next one. I think it’s going to be very easy for us to get up for this game.”