East vs. West Divisional Showdown — Rams at Eagles Divisional Round Preview

It’s almost time, everybody.

This Sunday, at 3:00, the Eagles will have the opportunity to make their second NFC Championship appearance in three years if they can take down the Los Angeles Rams at home.

Firstly, it needs to be stated that the fires that have ravaged the entire Los Angeles area are nothing short of tragic, and our hearts go out to every single person who was affected by this event. It was because of these fires that it seemed like the entire NFL was behind the Rams in their 27-9 victory over the Vikings, in a game they weren’t even able to play in their own stadium for safety reasons. This win seemed to galvanize the entire and gave them a sort of “team of destiny” vibe akin to the Boston Red Sox winning the World Series in the wake of the Boston Marathon bombing. These types of emotional wins can have the opposite effect, however, and leave a team emotionally drained, unprepared, and unmotivated in the following week’s game. We don’t know what version of the Rams we will see on Sunday, but the Eagles need to be ready for anything and everything.

In their previous meeting in Week 12, the Eagles handled the Rams fairly easily en route to a 37-20 victory. In that game, Saquon Barkley rushed for 255 yards, a career-high, as well as 302 total scrimmage yards, and two touchdowns. This was the game that officially stamped Barkley as a legitimate MVP candidate and got people talking about whether he could break the rushing record. While we know that this did not end up happening, Barkley has not skipped a beat and should be in just as good shape for this game as he was the last time they met.

If the Rams make a concerted effort to stop Barkley and the run game, A.J. Brown had six receptions for 109 yards and a touchdown in their previous encounter, so the passing game is a viable option for this Eagles offense. After a game abasing the Packers where the offense looked a step slow, this game could be a chance for Jalen Hurts and company to hit the ground running. Devonta Smith was also unavailable in the previous Rams game, meaning the Eagles will have another weapon that LA did not have to prep for the first time around.

Defensively, Philly was amazing, forcing an opening drive fumble and holding the Rams and Matthew Stafford to only 20 points, which included a late garbage-time touchdown. After beating the Bills in Week 14 by a score of 44-42, LA’s offense has not scored more than 20 points in a game, including their playoff win abasing the Vikings, where the defense accounted for 7 of their points.

Speaking of the Rams’ defense in the playoffs, they sacked Sam Darnold nine times, which tied a playoff game-high for any NFL team ever. While this is certainly a dominant pass-rushing performance, I would be shocked to see them repeat, or even come close to matching this level of play against the Eagles’ offensive line. After all, in their first matchup, LA sacked Hurts just once the entire game. With that being said, Hurts will need to be better this week about getting rid of the ball when he has open receivers as opposed to dancing around the backfield and playing scramble drills like we saw last week.

The Eagles’ defensive line, on the other hand, was able to sack Stafford five times throughout the game. This is to be expected when facing an older quarterback who is known as a pocket passer. Stafford, however, is usually good at getting the ball out quickly in order to avoid the pressure and potential sacks that could come his way, which is why the Eagles’ secondary will be pivotal for victory in this game. They don’t need three interceptions like they did last week, but their coverage needs to be tight enough that it forces Stafford to hold on to the ball for just that little bit longer so that the D-line can get to him.

One final thing to consider in this game: the weather is calling for snow in Philadelphia on Sunday. The Rams have played very sparingly in cold weather this year, and it is very possible that they will not be prepared to play in the cold. At the very least they certainly won’t be as prepared as the Eagles, who have been practicing outdoors at the Linc since the playoffs began, and if the snow means this game needs to be won in the trenches, I’ll take Saquon Barkley over Kyren Williams any day of the week and twice on Sundays.

Vegas seems to agree, putting the Eagles as 6.5-point favorites with a -280 money line.

The game can be watched on NBC or streamed on Peacock.

---

Use code PHILLYSPORTSREPORT for $20 off your first SeatGeek order

Click here to save 10% on any order at FOCO