WASHINGTON (AFP) – Drew Brees threw two touchdown passes and the New Orleans Saints beat defending champion Philadelphia, 20-14, Sunday, joining the history-making New England Patriots in the NFL playoff semi-finals.
Two days before his 40th birthday, Brees overcame a first-pass pickoff to complete 28 of 38 throws for 301 yards and rally the host Saints from a 14-0 deficit in the team’s greatest playoff fightback.
“We just had to find our rhythm,” Brees said. “I tried to take a shot on the first play and that didn’t work. They got off to a phenomenal start.”
But the Saints will go marching into next Sunday’s National Conference final against the visiting Los Angeles Rams for a berth in Super Bowl 53 on Feb. 3 at Atlanta.
New England advanced to the American Conference final for a record eighth consecutive season by ripping the Los Angeles Chargers, 41-28, booking a date next Sunday at Kansas City to decide the other berth in the NFL championship spectacle.
Five-time Super Bowl winner Tom Brady completed 34 of 44 passes for 343 yards and a touchdown while Sony Michel ran 24 times for 129 yards and three touchdowns to help build a 35-7 half-time lead for the Patriots, who seek a ninth Super Bowl appearance in 18 campaigns.
The Patriots, seeking a third crown in five seasons, beat Kansas City 43-40 in an October regular-season contest, but the Chiefs, who haven’t won a title since the 1969 campaign, were the only visitors all season to lead at New England.
The Rams and Saints each went an NFL-best 13-3 this season, with New Orleans beating the Rams 45-35 in November.
The Saints won their only Super Bowl in 2010. The Rams own three NFL titles from three different cities – Cleveland in 1945, Los Angeles in 1951 and the 2000 Super Bowl while based in St. Louis. They moved back to LA in 2016.
Eagles fly high early
The Saints blasted Philadelphia 48-7 in a November meeting, but the Eagles served notice early they wouldn’t suffer another disaster.
Philadelphia’s Cre’Von LeBlanc intercepted Brees’s first pass to set up a 37-yard Nick Foles touchdown toss to Jordan Matthews. Foles followed with a 1-yard touchdown run later in the first quarter for a 14-0 Eagles lead.
New Orleans answered with a 12-play, 79-yard touchdown drive – sustained by a Taysom Hill fake punt run and capped by a 2-yard Brees touchdown pass to rookie Keith Kirkwood on fourth down – and Will Lutz’s 45-yard field goal made it 14-10 at half-time.
