Philadelphia Eagles vs. Minnesota Vikings Preview & Prediction | PFF

Philadelphia Eagles vs. Minnesota Vikings Preview & Prediction | PFF

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But, talk to me about Philly. You know, what’s going on with the Philadelphia Eagles? It feels like everybody was very, very quick to the second Philly started not looking good and really the second that they dropped the game and a loss, they’re like boom. All right. like a rock. They’re not a top 10 team anymore. They and I kind of think we’ve gone a little bit too far in that direction, but talk to me about Philly and what you see in this game. No, I mean obviously they’re one of the most talented teams in football. I think right now they’re just having a case of needing to refine their identity that they had last year. What was the identity last year? Dominate in the trenches, run the football, ride Saquon Barkley late in games to wins, right? And right now they’re not they don’t have Saquon Barkley going. Whether it be certain games where they’re not calling enough design runs or it’s not creative enough or maybe he’s just a little bit gassed out from the heavy workload that he had last year right all the way through the postseason. Right now Saquon Barkley 59.4 rushing grade only ripping off 3.4 yards per carry. And that last number is the most stark to me. Zero runs of at least 20 yards. I mean this was what defined his season last year was the ability to get to the second level and and house calls to the end zone. 30, 40, 60, 70 yards. He was setting record when it came to those long touchdown runs and the explosives. He does not have a run longer than 18 yards this season, Trevor. So, I I think that’s the big thing. You have to find a way to get Barkley going, especially between the tackles on this Minnesota defense that has not looked great in run defense. It has it has not been a consistent operation in run defense. They’ve got some good pass rushers they acquired in the offseason on the inside, Javon Hargrave, Jonathan Allen, but these guys are not great run defenders. And I think stopping the run between the tackles has been a problem for Minnesota. If there’s a week where they need to bounce back in Philly in the run game, it’s this week because what you don’t want to do is get in those third and obvious situations where Brian Flores opens up the blitz packages and the Eagles, you know, and Jaylen Herz is under pressure and and they don’t have the hot routes on and the passing game doesn’t get too creative. They really need to find a way on early downs to get Saquon Barkley going to get in shorter yardage situations and set up their offense for success so they’re not getting blitzed like crazy on third and eight. Look, I I I totally agree and I think that this is a week where they can have that bounceback performance. When you look at the Vikings run defense this season, they’re 23rd in team run defense grade with that 62.8 and their average depth of tackle stat that I mentioned in the previous uh game, 4.34 yards after the line of scrimmage. That’s just 24th in the NFL. So, it feels like it’s a week where the Eagles haven’t been as dominant in run blocking as they have been in the past. And I think that we just automatically think of the the Eagles as like, oh, they’re just one of the best offensive lines in the NFL running the football. Not quite this year, but this could be a good bounceback type of week for them in that area. You get Saquon going, you’re able to run the football. It was a big reason why the trenches honestly was a big reason why I I liked the Vikings a lot this year, but through injuries, it just has not manifested. And I think the offensive side of things sort of goes into that as well with Ryan Kelly’s injury and Donovan Jackson’s injury and Christian Darasaw being in and out of the lineup, Ryan O’Neal being in and out of the lineup a little bit. They’ve just been dealing with a lot in the trenches. So I think that that to your point is sort of the biggest X-factor in the storyline here in this game. But also if McCarthy plays in this game, I just want to bring this up here. I I think this is a really bad game for McCarthy to come back and start for the first time since coming back from his injury. Mainly because it’s Vic Fangio as the defensive coordinator on the other side. And I feel as though Fangio’s got the ability and the wisdom to put my to put JJ McCarthy in hell. The stats that that make me think that that’s going to be the case is McCarthy 3.13 time to throw average so far this season when he has been out there. And when you take out week one, that week one performance, mainly just the second half of week one, it go Dalton, it goes all the way up to 3.31. And that I’m not even that’s not even under pressure. That’s just overall 3.31. You’re not going to win that way. And then when you take that stat a little bit further and you go, okay, well, what more can we find with this is the route here? 40.9% pressure to sack ratio for JJ McCarthy. that part of his game, health aside, has to be so much better if he wants to win in this league. He has to process things better. He’s got to be able to feel pressure better. He can’t take those sacks himself. He just has to play with with better awareness and a quicker time for this offense to operate the way that it needs to. Uh Kevin Oonnell, he can make things easier for quarterbacks, but they’ve still got to be able to process what they are seeing. And right now it feels as though what we have seen from JJ McCarthy is that he’s the phrase he’s trying to drink water through a fire hose. He’s just you could you could almost see it. He’s just trying to take in too much right now and it’s a little overwhelming for him. He’s got to come back and look a lot more in controlled, a lot more decisive and it’s a bad week against Vic Fangio um to have that be the case. So I am going to take the Philadelphia Eagles in this one on the road. I’m going to take them 27 to 17. I think they’re going to be able to run the ball. And I I I’m worried if JJ McCarthy is going to be out there, what Vic Fangio is going to sort of do with, you know, with the scheme of the defense, how he’s going to disguise things with the safeties coming up and coming down. Okay, two high, now it’s one high, the rotations, the sim pressures. I’m a little bit worried about everything that could be thrown at uh at JJ McCarthy if he starts in this game. Yeah, I think if the Eagles win this game, they’re going to have to win it on the interior. First of all, running between the tackles where they should have a solid opportunity to do so. And then the interior pass rush with Jaylen Carter and Jordan Davis and Moro Jomo. They’ve been outstanding on the inside. That’s really been the best part of their pass rush this year. Aside from the situational part of Josh Uch off the edge who’s been really good. Um I think this is actually the hardest game of the week to pick because the Eagles is not great vibes around the Eagles right now. They’re trying to figure out what they’re trying to do on offense. And now you have to go on the road and play a really creative defense that Brian Flores has in Minnesota. I I’m actually going to take the Eagles to sorry the Vikings I should say. I’m going to take the Vikings to squeak this one out 23 to 20. I I just this this game is so hard for me and and I actually don’t know yet if the Vikings would have a better chance to win with McCarthy or with Carson Wentz. There’s a lot of variability on the Vikings side, but the Eagles have to figure this thing out on offense. And if they don’t ride Saquon Barkley and they’re in a lot of obvious passing situations or they fall behind in this game early, I think they could be in a lot of trouble, man. If the Vikings if the Vikings win this game, we’d start to have some serious conversations about the Philadelphia Eagles next week. That’s I I I think this is this is a prime game for the Philadelphia Eagles to win. And a big and a big factor, too, is that Quinon Mitchell could miss this game. And the Eagles have really struggled at corner. And Coner is not a place no matter who the quarterback is, Coner is not a place you want to be struggling against this Minnesota team with Jefferson and Addison, all the guys that they have on the outside, too. I I think this is going to be a tight football game. I I really do want I I thought I thought looking at this slate, this was the hardest game to pick. So, I I’m I’m riding Minnesota as the home team, but I I really think this is the hardest one. I have no idea what this

PFF’s Dalton Wasserman and Trevor Sikkema preview the matchup between The Philadelphia Eagles and The Minnesota Vikings.

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