What to know heading into Eagles’ divisional round rematch with Rams

The Eagles’ Wild Card matchup did not go as smoothly as many, including myself, had thought it would. Jalen Hurts, likely due to not having played in 3 weeks, looked off and sloppy.

Despite that and some bad officiating for both sides, the Eagles still walked out with a 2-score victory.

Here’s everything you should expect this upcoming Sunday against the Rams in the NFC Divisional.

The offense WILL be better

Don’t let last week fool you, the offense will be just fine. Hurts hadn’t even practiced since the Washington game and didn’t return to practice until last Wednesday.

Jalen is playing some of the best football of his career and is bound to get back on his feet.

While statistically, this Rams defense has been one of the league’s best, this didn’t matter when the two teams squared off back in November in a 37-20 win on primetime. And as we all know when Saquon Barkley is going, this team is going. And Barkley did alright in these teams’ first meeting, only 255 rushing yards and 2 TDs.

The Rams’ defense might not be all that it appears to be either, while on paper they look elite they give up 29.8 PPG when facing top 10 offenses. Don’t expect things to be easy though, we all saw what they’re capable of against the Vikings.

What’s the plan at LB?

Nakobe Dean‘s season ended in a heartbreaking fashion last week and he’s out for the remainder of the playoffs. After an inconsistent rookie year, and only playing 5 games in his sophomore season, Nakobe Dean took a massive step forward this year forming one of, if not the best LB duo in the NFL with Zack Baun.

However, the Eagles have had a special teams standout waiting in the wings all season long and he made his impact last week as well. Oren Burks seems to be ready to replace Dean alongside Zack Baun for the rest of the playoffs.

Burks was thrown into the fire last week once Dean left, recording 4 tackles and proving himself somewhat.

We could also see a good amount of Jeremiah Trotter Jr., as well.

Arguably the biggest factor of losing Nakobe Dean however is that he was the play caller and a vital leader on the defense. The coveted green dot will most likely be passed over to Baun, a trustworthy candidate no doubt, but he’s never been in this position before either.

This team is different

It’s been a rollercoaster of emotions involving this team this season. In the first 4 weeks I advocated for firing Nick Sirianni, next month-ish the team still hadn’t shed the pretender label, a few big wins, and now we’re a win away from returning to the NFC Championship game.

I still don’t love Sirianni, but like players, coaches can change too and he has done a fantastic job this season at changing. The team isn’t making the same dumb mistakes anymore. Everyone knew the biggest thing holding this team back at the beginning of the year was the team itself, and that’s not happening.

Hurts isn’t a turnover machine anymore, Cam Jurgens went from a liability in week 1 to a Pro Bowl center, Mekhi Becton has improved into being one of the best guards in the league, and the team is fully bought in.

Tim McManus wrote an article for ESPN detailing a story you would’ve never expected a few months ago. This team loves Nick Sirianni. After an offseason of “Does Jalen hate Sirianni?” and “Has Sirianni lost the locker room?” the exact opposite is true.

If you want to win a championship, you have to have a championship level locker room chemistry and that’s exactly what Sirianni has cultivated this year.

Eagles 27, Rams 17. Eagles at Lions will feed families in a weeks time.

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