The Eagles have an offense that is terrible early in games and a defense that falls apart late in games. This has proved to be a devastatingly effective way to get to 4-5, heading into a visit with the 8-1 New Orleans Saints, winners of eight games in a row.
Which unit's underperformance is a bigger crisis varies from week to week. This week, it seems to be the Eagles' defense. Top corner Ronald Darby went down for the season with an ACL tear in Sunday night's loss to Dallas, in which the host Eagles made the NFL's 24th-ranked scoring offense look, well, like the Saints, whose 36.