The Philadelphia Eagles entered their Week 17 home clash against the New Orleans Saints in need of a win to officially lock up the NFC East. Instead, the Saints played the role of spoiler with a 20-10 victory to keep their playoff hopes alive.

The Saints went into halftime holding a 13-0 lead, but the current NFC East leaders did manage to make it interesting in the second half. Eagles quarterback Gardner Minshew anchored a pair of scoring drives in the third quarter to trim New Orleans’ lead in the contest down to a mere three points.

Minshew had a golden opportunity in the fourth quarter to at the least string together a game-tying scoring drive, but instead, he ended up throwing a costly pick-six to Saints cornerback Marshon Lattimore. The fourth-year quarterback attempted to connect with A.J. Brown, but Lattimore read the play the entire way and hauled in the first interception of his season.

During his postgame press conference, Minshew opened up about just where it went wrong on the late interception.

“We ran that same play earlier against the same coverage and they made a great adjustment to it, jumped the route,” Minshew said. “I should have seen that leverage when we made the motion.

“I assumed since it was the same coverage, he was going to play it the same, but he made a great adjustment and made the play.”

In the end, Minshew finished with 274 passing yards and one passing touchdown in his second start of the season.

The attention for the Eagles now turns to Week 18 and just who will be under center for their home matchup against the New York Giants. Jalen Hurts missed the Eagles’ last two games due to a shoulder injury, but head coach Nick Sirianni did note during his postgame press conference that the third-year passer was close to being cleared to play in Week 17.

“He was close this week,” Sirianni said. “Obviously, we'll take it one day at a time. … His health is the No. 1 priority.”

A win for the Eagles over the Giants or a victory from the Washington Commanders against the Dallas Cowboys in Week 18 will clinch the NFC East for Philadelphia.