Eagles visit Saints as New Orleans aims for its first 3-0 start since 2013

Philadelphia (1-1) at New Orleans (2-0)

Sunday, 1 p.m. EDT, Fox.

BetMGM NFL odds: Saints by 2 1/2.

Series record: Eagles lead 18-13.

Against the spread: Eagles 1-1, Saints 2-0.

Last meeting: Saints beat Eagles 20-10 on Jan. 1. 2023, in Philadelphia.

Last week: Eagles lost to Falcons 22-21; Saints beat Cowboys 44-19.

Eagles offense: overall (6), rush (8), pass (10), scoring (5).

Eagles defense: overall (30), rush (25), pass (28), scoring (27).

Saints offense: overall (3), rush (3), pass (11), scoring (1).

Saints defense: overall (7), rush (3), pass (20), scoring (4).

Turnover differential: Eagles minus-3; Saints plus-3.

RB Saquon Barkley has rushed for 95-plus yards in consecutive games for the first time since December 2019 with the Giants. He scored three touchdowns in the opener and had 116 scrimmage yards (95 rushing, 21 receiving) last week.

RB Alvin Kamara 290 yards and five TDs from scrimmage in the first two games of the season, including 198 yards and four TDs rushing and seven catches for 92 yards and a TD receiving.

Eagles QB Jalen Hurts against a Saints' pass rush that has seven sacks times in two games. Hurts is an elite scrambler, who has 118 yards and a TD rushing this season. And he has given the Saints fits in the past. In two starts against the Saints (2020 and 2021), Hurts has 175 yards and three TDs rushing.

Eagles WRs A.J. Brown and Johnny Wilson missed practices this week with hamstring injuries. Saints TE Taysom Hill (chest), DT Khalen Saunders (calf), OT Landon Young (foot) and LB D'Marco Jackson (calf) also missed practices. CB Marshon Lattimore, who left New Orleans' Week 1 game with a hamstring injury and did not play in Week 2, returned to practice on a limited basis this week.

The Eagles have won two of the past three regular-season meetings. Hurts played in both victories but did not play because of an injury when these teams last met near the end of the 2022 season. Gardner Minshew started that game for Philadelphia. The Eagles last won a game in New Orleans in 2007. Since then, they've lost two regular-season games in 2012 and 2018, and a playoff game in January 2019.

Hurts rushed for a season-high 85 yards and a TD in Week 2. It was his fifth regular-season game with at least 85 yards on the ground. Hurts has 42 TDs rushing in his career and can tie Steve Young (43) for third most by a QB in NFL history. ... WR Devonta Smith had seven catches for 76 yards and a TD last week. ... Eagles LB Zack Baun, a Saints third-round draft choice in 2020, had nine tackles in Week 2. His 24 tackles this season are tied for the NFC lead. ... DT Milton Williams had his first sack of the season last week. He also had a sack in the Eagles' previous meeting with the Saints. ... Eagles S C.J. Gardner-Johnson spent his first three NFL seasons with New Orleans ... The Saints have scored 91 points, the most by a team in the first two games of a season in 15 years and tied for fourth most by a team in its first two games of a season in NFL history. ... Saints QB Derek Carr has five TDs passing and a TD rushing in two games. ... Two of Carr's TD passes have been to WR Rashid Shaheed for 59 yards in Week 1 and 70 yards in Week 2. ... WR Chris Olave had 81 yards receiving last week. ... DE Carl Granderson had 1 1/2 sacks last week. ... CB Alontae Taylor had two tackles for loss in Week 2 and a career-high three sacks in Week 1. ... S Tyrann Mathieu intercepted a pass last week, giving him 34 interceptions for his career, second most among active players. ... CB Paulson Adebo had his eighth-career INT last week.

The versatile Kamara, who had 180 scrimmage yards and four TDs last week, has been New Orleans' most productive player early this season, and his role might increase even more with Hill potentially sidelined this week.

AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL

Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts (1) runs past Atlanta Falcons defensive tackle David Onyemata (90) during the first half of an NFL football game Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

New Orleans Saints running back Alvin Kamara breaks away for a long touchdown run against the Dallas Cowboys during the first half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver DeVonta Smith celebrates his touchdown during the first half of an NFL football game against the Atlanta Falcons on Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

New Orleans Saints wide receiver Mason Tipton (84) and quarterback Derek Carr (4) react after a touchdown run by teammate Alvin Kamara during the first half of an NFL football game against the Dallas Cowboys, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts (1) runs with the ball during the second half of an NFL football game against the Atlanta Falcons on Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

New Orleans Saints safety Tyrann Mathieu (32) reacts with teammates, including Kool-Aid McKinstry (14) and Jordan Howden (31) after intercepting a pass by Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott during the second half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Jeffrey McWhorter)

Some FIFA rules on player transfers are contrary to European Union legislation relating to competition and freedom of movement, the EU’s top court said on Friday.

The ruling will likely lead to a shakeup of the soccer market's global regulations and could change the sport's economy.

The European Court of Justice's ruling came after former France international Lassana Diarra legally challenged FIFA rules following a dispute with a club dating to a decade ago. Diarra argued that FIFA's restrictions meant he was unable to find a new club after his contract with Russian club Lokomotiv Moscow was terminated in 2014.

FIFA's rules state that if a player terminates his contract without “just cause," the player and any club wishing to sign him are jointly liable for paying compensation to the previous club.

“Those rules hinder the free movement of players and competition between clubs,” the court said in a statement. “The rules in question are such as to impede the free movement of professional footballers wishing to develop their activity by going to work for a new club.”

The ruling is seen as crucial because it could make it easier for players to terminate their contracts and join another team — potentially leading to a scenario where bigger clubs could more easily poach players from smaller rivals.

The global players’ union FIFPro, which supported Diarra's case, said the ruling “will change the landscape of professional football.”

However, it could take a couple of years before any changes to the system go into effect as Friday’s ruling is part of a Belgian court case that is still ongoing.

Although the ruling was seen as a defeat for FIFA, the court recognized that the transfer regulations can also be necessary to help maintain stability within professional squads and guarantee the regularity of competitions.

“It is important to clarify that today’s decision does not change the core principles of the transfer system at all,” FIFA chief legal officer Emilio Garcia said.

Diarra's lawyers called the ruling a “total victory.” He signed a four-year contract with Lokomotiv Moscow in 2013 but the deal was terminated a year later after Diarra was unhappy with alleged pay cuts.

Lokomotiv Moscow applied to the FIFA dispute resolution chamber for compensation and the player countered seeking compensation for unpaid wages.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled in favor of the Russian club and the player was ordered to pay 10.5 million euros ($11.2 million). Diarra claimed his search for a new club was hampered by FIFA's rules stipulating any new side would be jointly responsible with him for paying Lokomotiv.

The former Real Madrid player also argued that a potential deal with Belgian club Charleroi fell through because of the FIFA rules, and sued FIFA and the Belgian federation at a Belgian court for damages and loss of earnings of six million euros ($7 million). With the lawsuit still going through Belgian courts, the case was referred to the ECJ for guidance.

In Friday's ruling, the court added that current rules “impose considerable legal risks, unforeseeable and potentially very high financial risks as well as major sporting risks on those players and clubs wishing to employ them which, taken together, are such as to impede international transfers of those players.”

It was not immediately clear what impact the ruling will have on players and leagues more broadly, but some analysts have compared it to the ECJ’s 1995 decision on Belgian footballer Jean-Marc Bosman.

That ruling removed restrictions placed on foreign EU players within national leagues and allowed players in the bloc to move to another club for free when their contracts ended.

That ruling ultimately skewed the player trading market in favor of wealthier clubs in western Europe who could lure free agents with big salaries and avoided paying transfer fees that many smaller clubs relied on.

If FIFA introduces rules making it easier for players to terminate their contracts and join new clubs when they want, the whole system of transfers largely based on transfer fees could be challenged, with clubs less tempted to invest millions in players with more freedom to leave.

But it could also give more power to the richest clubs capable of luring players with gigantic salary offers.

“All professional players have been affected by these illegal rules and can therefore now seek compensation for their losses,” Diarra's lawyers claimed in a statement.

FIFPro added: “Lassana Diarra — like Jean-Marc Bosman before him — has ensured that thousands of players worldwide will profit from a new system which must guarantee respect of their employment rights. This ruling is not only important for Lassana Diarra but all players, both active and retired.”

The Diarra case went through FIFA judicial bodies before the 2016 election of FIFA president Gianni Infantino, who has made it a priority to modernize transfer market rules. FIFA has indicated it is open to a wide-ranging consultation with unions, clubs and leagues to address the courts’ opinions.

FIFA said the ruling “only puts in question two paragraphs of two articles of the FIFA Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players, which the national court is now invited to consider.”

The court slammed FIFA's rules for restricting and preventing cross-border competition between European clubs.

“The Court recalls that the possibility of competing by recruiting trained players plays an essential role in the professional football sector and that rules which place a general restriction on that form of competition, by immutably fixing the distribution of workers between the employers and in cloistering the markets, are similar to a no-poach agreement," it said.

The court in Luxembourg also suggested FIFA's compensation rules seemed to protect the financial interests of clubs.

“FIFA has been continuously improving that (transfer) system for many years — not for its own benefit,” Garcia said, “but for the benefit of players, clubs, leagues and member associations, to ensure that players can train, be developed and have stability, while safeguarding the integrity of competitions.”

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

Graham Dunbar in Geneva and Lorne Cook in Brussels contributed.

FILE - In this file photo dated Friday, Sept. 14, 2018, Paris-Saint-Germain player Lassana Diarra during a French League One soccer match against Saint-Etienne at the Parc des Princes stadium in Paris. (AP Photo/Michel Euler, File)