Monday Night Football open thread: Eagles vs. Saints

Monday Night Football is back to wrap up Week 9 as the 2-5 New Orleans Saints host the 3-4 Philadelphia Eagles. The 49ers square off the Saints later this month a couple days after Thanksgiving so there is a little bit of that to consider when watching this game.

Both teams are having disappointing seasons thus far, so it will be interesting to see which team can potentially grab some momentum heading into the second half of the season. The chatter has been heavy about the Eagles potentially benching QB Michael Vick. He is hanging on to his job for now, facing a Saints defense this week that is incredibly awful. Could he sneak through a big performance to buy himself more time? The Eagles need a win to stick around an NFC East race that remains there for the taking. The Giants loss to Pittsburgh means the Eagles could climb to within a game and a half of first place.

On the other side, the Saints lost Darren Sproles for anywhere from 2 to 6 weeks depending on who you ask. We'll see if they mix in Pierre Thomas a bit more to make up for the loss of Sproles. Thomas is an intriguing fantasy start this week if you were looking for a last minute running back option. For the Saints, a win keeps their slim playoff hopes alive. At best a win moves them to five games back of the undefeated Falcons, but they would be only a game and a half back of the Seahawks for the final wild card spot. There is plenty of football left for this race to get all sorts of jumbled.