{"id":1005708,"date":"2026-09-20T07:18:49","date_gmt":"2026-09-20T07:18:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/1005708\/"},"modified":"2026-09-20T07:18:49","modified_gmt":"2026-09-20T07:18:49","slug":"titans-vs-eagles-preview-5-questions-with-bleeding-green-nation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/1005708\/","title":{"rendered":"Titans vs. Eagles preview: 5 questions with Bleeding Green Nation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brandon Gowton of Bleeding Green Nation was nice enough to answer 5 questions about his Philadelphia Eagles ahead of tomorrow\u2019s matchup. I did the same for him, and you can read his questions with my answers here<\/a>. I long for the day when I can answer the opposing team\u2019s questions with some confidence in the Tennessee Titans. That day is not today.<\/p>\n

Here are my questions with his answers:<\/p>\n

1 – The Titans franchise went into the tank the night they traded A.J. Brown to the Eagles. Summarize his time with the Eagles from your perspective. Why was it necessary to trade him this offseason? <\/p>\n

Including the playoffs, the Eagles were 56-20 during A.J. Brown\u2019s Philly tenure. They went to two Super Bowls and won one. He was a big part of the most successful era in modern franchise history. For that, I\u2019ll always think of him fondly. He was pretty fun to watch!<\/p>\n

Of course, the 2025 season left Eagles fans with a sour taste in their mouths. Brown clearly didn\u2019t put his best foot forward last year. He looked really disillusioned and disinterested while being frustrated with the Eagles\u2019 offensive struggles. We can\u2019t act like he was totally crazy to feel that; plenty of Eagles fans were similarly annoyed with the team\u2019s offensive incompetence. But Brown didn\u2019t express those feelings in the most constructive manner. It reached the point where it was hard to envision him being fully motivated as a member of the Eagles. His once close relationship with Jalen Hurts deteriorated.<\/p>\n

Trading Brown away wasn\u2019t ideal. The Eagles got worse at receiver by moving on from him. But keeping him didn\u2019t seem like a tenable situation. And that\u2019s a shame because Brown looked pretty good to me when I saw him practice against the Eagles in Foxboro this summer. I don\u2019t buy the idea that he\u2019s in rapid decline. Unfortunately for him, he\u2019s now dealing with an injury that will cause him to miss time and perhaps negatively impact him over the course of the entire 2026 season. We\u2019ll see on that front. The Eagles, meanwhile, will look forward to the 2027 fifth-round pick and 2028 first-round pick they received from the New England Patriots in exchange for Brown.<\/p>\n

2 – Who fills in for Landon Dickerson? How big of a loss is his injury for the Eagles\u2019 offensive line?<\/p>\n

Should I be like the Eagles and try to obfuscate here? Competitive advantage in the SB Nation blog Q&A exchange?!<\/p>\n

Nah. That would be silly. As silly as the team trying to hide their seemingly obvious intentions? Who can say for sure.<\/p>\n

Sure seems to me like Drew Kendall will be the guy. He was the first-team left guard whenever Dickerson missed reps or sat out of practice in training camp. Dating back to the NFL Combine, there was word that the Eagles were internally high on Kendall, a 2025 fifth-round pick. He then looked good in their preseason games this summer.<\/p>\n

Alternatively, there\u2019s been some buzz about the Eagles moving starting center Cam Jurgens to left guard and putting Kendall in at center. That could make sense for the perspective that Kendall only played the pivot in college and thus lacks extensive guard experience. But then there\u2019s the matter of Jurgens lacking experience at left guard; he previously played right guard in 2023.<\/p>\n

The Eagles showed a look with veteran swing tackle Fred Johnson, who played some guard earlier in his career, during practice this week. I\u2019d be surprised if he\u2019s the Dickerson replacement since he didn\u2019t play well this summer and he hasn\u2019t played guard in a long time. Wee Willie Lampkin is also potentially a factor in this equation.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, though, I\u2019m leaning Kendall until I see otherwise.<\/p>\n

Losing Dickerson isn\u2019t a big deal in terms of the player that he was in Week 1. It looked like he couldn\u2019t move out there. He admitted that he was a \u201ccomplete liability\u201d against the Washington Commanders. By virtue of him struggling so much, his replacement should be an automatic upgrade, even if they\u2019re not actually all that great.<\/p>\n

3 – As you know, the Eagles and Titans don\u2019t play very often. Who are some of the under-the-radar players that we should keep an eye out for? <\/p>\n

Offense: Dontayvion Wicks. He\u2019s only played one career game against the Titans, which came early in 2024 as a member of the Green Bay Packers. Wicks saw two targets for zero catches in that one. I\u2019d expect him to be more noticeable this time around. Wicks logged the longest reception of his career last week in a win over Washington. With the Titans likely to try to key in on stopping DeVonta Smith, Wicks should get some opportunities to win his matchups. His route-running savvy allows him to get open for Jalen Hurts, who has already developed solid chemistry with his new target.<\/p>\n

Defense: Jalyx Hunt. The 2024 third-round pick had a stellar summer for the Eagles. He wasn\u2019t very active in the traditional box score in Week 1 but Pro Football Focus charted him with four pressures. Whereas the Eagles had to respect Jayden Daniels\u2019 mobility in Week 1, I think their pass rush will be able to attack Cam Ward more aggressively this weekend. I could see Hunt having a big game while going up against Dan Moore at left tackle.<\/p>\n

Real deep cut: my guy Darius Cooper, who deserves more offensive playing time than he saw in Week 1. Cooper logged four special teams tackles against the Commanders.<\/p>\n

4 – If the Eagles could steal one player from the Titans\u2019 roster, who would it be and why?<\/p>\n

The Eagles are already strong at defensive tackle but Jalen Carter is now dealing with a wrist injury that\u2019s causing him to wear a cast. And the Eagles are relying on him to play a lot of snaps. I\u2019d steal Jeffery Simmons and strengthen the DT rotation. The combination of Simmons, Carter, Jordan Davis, and Moro Ojomo would be really nice. Opposing offensive lines would hate facing that group.<\/p>\n

Honorable mentions: Peter Skoronski could step in to fill the hole at left guard. I thought about Calvin Ridley or Carnell Tate since I\u2019m not sure what to make of Makai Lemon as WR3 just yet.<\/p>\n

5- What\u2019s the biggest matchup in the Eagles\u2019 favor and the biggest matchup against their favor?<\/p>\n

Biggest matchup in the Eagles\u2019 favor: Philly\u2019s defensive front going up against the Titans\u2019 offensive line and Cam Ward. The Eagles generated pressure on 19 of Jayden Daniels\u2019 38 dropbacks in Week 1. Was their pass rush perfect? Hardly. They logged just one sack and two quarterback hits. But I\u2019m willing to believe that the rush was accounting for Daniels\u2019 mobility; the Eagles did keep his rushing production in check. Vic Fangio\u2019s defense should be able to have more success attacking Ward.<\/p>\n

Biggest matchup in the Titans\u2019 favor: Jeffery Simmons against the Eagles\u2019 interior offensive line. The Birds will be starting a backup at left guard and it\u2019s not like Cam Jurgens, who struggled last year, was lighting the world on fire. Tyler Steen is a solid starter at right guard but not a Pro Bowler. Simmons having a big game should work towards preventing the Eagles\u2019 offense finding a rhythm. Which is something they certainly didn\u2019t have in Week 1 when they gained just 10 first downs, second-fewest in the league.<\/p>\n

6 – Who wins this game and why? With the Titans currently listed as 7-point home underdogs, what\u2019s your score prediction?<\/p>\n

The Eagles will win this game and cover. I feel good about Fangio\u2019s defense being able to cause problems for Ward and a Titans offense that struggled against the New York Jets last weekend. I don\u2019t feel amazing about the Eagles\u2019 offense as a collective right now \u2026 but I do feel encouraged by what I saw from Jalen Hurts against the Commanders. He might be able to make some big plays that end up being the difference in this game, just like he did against Washington.<\/p>\n

The Eagles come out on top in this one to notch their first-ever win in Tennessee, 27 to 12.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Brandon Gowton of Bleeding Green Nation was nice enough to answer 5 questions about his Philadelphia Eagles ahead…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1005709,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2061],"tags":[7,6,526,394,58253,2411,527],"class_list":["post-1005708","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennessee-titans","tag-football","tag-nfl","tag-tennessee","tag-tennessee-titans","tag-tennessee-titans-game-information","tag-tennesseetitans","tag-titans"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/117302156557805062","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1005708","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1005708"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1005708\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1005709"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1005708"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1005708"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1005708"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}