Football
Associated Press 17y

Saints prepare for Garcia as they did for McNabb

NEW ORLEANS -- Sure, Jeff Garcia is no Donovan McNabb.

Yet New Orleans coach Sean Payton is no less fearful of all the
ways the Philadelphia Eagles' resurgent quarterback could cause
havoc for the Saints' defense.

"I saw it firsthand," Payton said Wednesday, thinking back to
when he was an assistant coach with the New York Giants during the
2002 season.

The Giants were in the playoffs, facing the San Francisco 49ers
in a wild-card game. New York had a whopping 24-point lead. Then
Garcia got on an unforgettable roll as the Niners scored 25
unanswered points to take a late 39-38 lead, which stood up when
the Giants botched a potential game-winning field goal.

"I watched him, right on field level, come back and bring his
team back in a big game," Payton said. "That didn't just
disappear overnight."

Garcia finished that game with 331 yards and three touchdowns to
go with 60 yards rushing, including a 14-yard touchdown scramble.

"His mobility and his ability to throw the ball from different
positions on the field are all things that are challenging to a
defense and things he does very well," Payton said.

Garcia's numbers were not as spectacular in the Eagles' 23-20
victory over the New York Giants in last Sunday's wild-card round.
He was 17-of-31 for 153 yards and one TD, but he did engineer a
late drive that set up David Akers' winning field goal.

And the Eagles have now won six straight.

So when New Orleans hosts Philadelphia in a second-round NFC
playoff game Saturday night, Saints players and coaches say there
will be little sense of relief over McNabb being sidelined with the
knee injury that ended his season two months ago.

"There's not a whole lot of dropoff" with Garcia taking the
snaps, Saints defensive end Will Smith said.

When these teams last met in mid-October, McNabb was the
quarterback and the game was close, with the Saints prevailing
27-24 on a short field goal as time expired.

McNabb was 19-of-32 for 247 yards and two touchdowns. Garcia
came in five weeks later, lost his first start against
Indianapolis, but has won every start since, ending the regular
season with 1,309 yards and 10 TDs passing.

Garcia appeared to be through in his previous two seasons,
struggling with Cleveland in 2004 and Detroit in 2005. Now it's
looking more like Garcia's woes had more to do with him playing for
bad teams with offensive systems that did not suit him. The Eagles
employ the multidimensional West Coast offense, throwing the ball
often to running back Brian Westbrook coming out of the backfield.

It is similar to the system Garcia thrived in when he played on
the West Coast.

"There's a lot of things that go on for that position to be
successful, and you see it the way he's playing now and the way he
played in San Francisco," Payton said. "His two stops before
Philadelphia -- there have been a lot of things maybe not going on
right, so insert any quarterback you want in those scenarios and
they're going to struggle."

Garcia's strengths are in many ways similar to McNabb in that
both move well out of the pocket, throw well on the run and
scramble effectively.

"McNabb probably has a little bit stronger arm, but they're
both elusive, they both can make a dead play into a big play,"
Smith said. "McNabb is one of the best in the world and Garcia has
proven he has the ability to be one of the best ... so you never
know. If he comes out and has a great game against us and puts up
all these numbers, then shame on us for not paying attention."

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