Week 2 Preview: Eagles Square Up With Rams
The Eagles and Rams are trending in opposite directions after Week 1. Who will emerge victorious in their third matchup of the Pederson/McVay era?
Injury Report (from philadelphiaeagles.com):
Philadelphia
OUT: WR Alshon Jeffery (foot)
QUESTIONABLE: DE Derek Barnett (hamstring), DE Brandon Graham (concussion)
NOT LISTED: DT Fletcher Cox (rest), DT Javon Hargrave (hamstring/pec), WR DeSean Jackson (rest), T Lane Johnson (ankle), T Jason Peters (knee), RB Miles Sanders (hamstring)
Los Angeles
QUESTIONABLE: TE Gerald Everett (back)
NOT LISTED: T Andrew Whitworth (not injury related)
Outside of Vinny Curry and Craig James moving to IR, the Eagles injury report looks a lot more promising than it did last week. Lane Johnson, Miles Sanders, and Javon Hargrave will all make their season debuts as the Eagles look to avoid an 0-2 start. The only worrying part about this report is that both starting DEs are listed as questionable. They did practice fully on Friday, so their chances of playing are looking good.
Los Angeles has a very, very short injury report. Backup TE Gerald Everett is expected to play.
Analysis:
It was proven last week that the best way to stop the Eagles offense is to pressure Carson Wentz relentlessly. Wentz has the tendency to try and do too much with dead plays, resulting in extra lost yards and fumbles. Even when he has a clean pocket, sometimes he looks shaken up from previous pressure, leading to overthrows. While Los Angeles doesn’t boast the same ridiculous defensive line depth that Washington does, they still have Aaron Donald, who is arguably the best football player on the planet. He hasn’t had previous success against Philadelphia, but he shouldn’t be taken for granted as he has the ability to wreck any game at any moment. He picked up one sack last week against Dallas (three total for LAR).
The Eagles may finally get to see their starting defensive line at full health with the expected returns of Derek Barnett and Javon Hargrave. Jared Goff is a QB who likes to dink-and-dunk his way to success, but the Eagles now have the horses to really rattle him into making bad decisions. Jim Schwartz should be very aggressive now that he has a very solid defensive backfield ready to cover up for blitzes. Sean McVay’s offense includes a lot of screens and passes near the line of scrimmage, so expect the Eagles corners to play closer up than usual. The Dallas defense, which isn’t better than this current Philadelphia unit, held the Rams to just 20 points despite a strong performance from RB Malcolm Brown and a very efficient day by Goff.
Dallas ran the ball just 27 times, but they did average over five yards per carry on the Rams D. With Miles Sanders and Lane Johnson back in action, the Eagles can finally run the ball successfully and take pressure off of Wentz. They had no semblance of a run game against Washington last week, and that contributed to them blowing the lead. The Eagles run defense continues to be strong and I expect them to dominate against the Rams uninspiring duo of Malcolm Brown and Cam Akers. The Eagles really do have the advantage in this matchup, but let’s see where their confidence is after a tough loss to the Washington Football Team.
Can Doug Pederson improve to 3-0 against the man who stole the 2017 Coach of the Year?
Prediction:
Eagles 24, Rams 16
Sunday, September 20 at Lincoln Financial Field, Eagles 1.5-point favorites (Odds Shark)
Writer