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Unless you've been living a rock all week, you've already heard of the most obvious storyline heading into Saturday's game: the fact that the Saints, who aren't a very good road team, will be playing outdoors in the cold Philadelphia air. So how significant will the Eagles home field advantage be this week? A look at some numbers:
• Saints road record in 2013: 3-5
• Saints outdoor record in 2013: 2-4 - The two wins came against: the Buccaneers on September 15, and the Bears on October 6th. By no means were these cold weather games.
• Saints all-time road playoff record: 0-5
• In the playoffs, dome-dwelling teams playing in temperatures below 35 degrees on the road are 3-22
• Saints are 1-5 in their last six six road games. Eagles are 4-0 in their last four home games.
• Average Saints home game is a 34-16 victory. Average road game is a 22-18 defeat
• Eagles all-time home playoff record: 13-6
• Home teams are 26-18 in the wild card round since 2002
Now take a look at these Saints 2013 split stats:
Passing
| PASSING | ATT | COMP | PCT | YDS | YDS/A | YDS/G | LONG | TD | TD% | INT | INT% | SACK | YDSL | RATE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | 651 | 446 | 68.5 | 4918 | 7.9 | 307.4 | 76 | 39 | 6 | 12 | 1.8 | 37 | 244 | 104.5 |
| Home | 311 | 229 | 73.6 | 2718 | 9.1 | 339.8 | 76 | 27 | 8.7 | 3 | 1 | 17 | 117 | 126.3 |
| Away | 340 | 217 | 63.8 | 2200 | 6.8 | 275 | 60 | 12 | 3.5 | 9 | 2.6 | 20 | 127 | 84.5 |
Rushing
| RUSHING | ATT | YDS | YD/A | LONG | 20+ | TD | YDS/G | FUM | FUML | 1DN |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | 391 | 1473 | 3.8 | 38 | 7 | 10 | 92.1 | 1 | 1 | 87 |
| Home | 211 | 828 | 3.9 | 38 | 5 | 8 | 103.5 | 1 | 1 | 49 |
| Away | 180 | 645 | 3.6 | 34 | 2 | 2 | 80.6 | 0 | 0 | 38 |
Receiving
| RECEIVING | REC | TAR | YDS | AVG | TD | LONG | 20+ | YDS/G | FUM | FUML | YAC | 1DN |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | 446 | 651 | 5162 | 11.6 | 39 | 76 | 67 | 322.6 | 1 | 0 | 2225 | 244 |
| Home | 229 | 311 | 2835 | 12.4 | 27 | 76 | 38 | 354.4 | 0 | 0 | 1177 | 134 |
| Away | 217 | 340 | 2327 | 10.7 | 12 | 60 | 29 | 290.9 | 1 | 0 | 1048 | 110 |
Defensive
| DEFENSE | SOLO | AST | TOT | SACK | YDSL | TLOSS | PD | INT | YDS | LONG | TD | FF | REC | TD | BK |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | 650 | 290 | 940 | 49 | 336 | 38 | 66 | 12 | 169 | 43 | 0 | 16 | 7 | 0 | 0 |
| Home | 307 | 108 | 415 | 28 | 196 | 20 | 43 | 9 | 134 | 43 | 0 | 9 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| Away | 343 | 192 | 535 | 21 | 140 | 18 | 23 | 3 | 35 | 31 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
Clearly these numbers support the fact that the Saints road struggles are more than just anecdotal. They are a legitimate concern, and our Saints fan friend Wallace Delery confirmed this notion:
Concern is an understatement to say the least. Both the Saints and Saints fans need some serious medication due to the road struggles. Only the poor offensive line play this season has been more concerning. This is a legitimate mental issue, we'll see if it continues this Saturday.
I'm not suggesting these numbers point to the Saints being an overall bad team. They're just on a whole different level when playing at home than when they are on the road. It's obviously still going to be a big challenge for the Eagles and not a game they will win easily if the Saints' vaunted passing attack has their way with this Eagles secondary. All these numbers do is indicate the Eagles have an edge in this game. It's up to them make the most out of the advantage.
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