The Philadelphia Eagles' surprising season ended with a thud Saturday night, getting run over at home by the New Orleans Saints. After the game, some of the Eagles had a tough time giving the Saints much credit.
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"They got lucky and beat us," offensive tackle Jason Peters said, via CSN Philly. "We beat ourselves in the first half and they came out with a win."
We'd argue that New Orleans physically dominated Philadelphia throughout the game. If anything, it felt lucky that the Eagles managed to take a lead in the fourth quarter.
"We lost to a team that wasn't necessarily better than us," cornerback Cary Williams said. "They weren't better than us. Period. But (they were) better tonight. They got the job done."
This is a postgame trend that needs to stop. Losing players often say the "better team" lost, and it always comes off sounding ridiculous. Williams had a difficult time taking responsibility for the loss in general.
"When you go out there and have multiple busts, you're not helping your situation, not helping your team," Williams said, via Geoff Mosher. It sounds like he was talking about the run defense. Later, Williams added that when "the right call isn't being necessarily made, it's frustrating."
Add it all up, and this is an odd line of reasoning from a team that nearly saw its total yardage doubled Saturday (434-256). The Eagles missed a key field-goal attempt, gave up a big kick return at the worst moment and couldn't stop the run all day. Philly won the turnover battle 2-0, but it didn't matter.
In short: The better team won.
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