Press sets up the Eagles game

wv wrote:

The Eagles have given the Rams problems during the McV era. Why is that?

w
v

Combination of a (until this year) sterling OL, and very tough DL. That DL has made the Rams offense struggle, and that OL is good enough to take the Rams DL on.

Eagles-Rams scouting report: Matchups, keys to the game, prediction

Paul Domowitch

https://www.inquirer.com/eagles/philadelphia-eagles-los-angeles-rams-scouting-report-week-2-20200916.html

After blowing a 17-0 first-half lead and losing their season-opener to Washington, the Eagles will try to rebound Sunday when they host the LA Rams in an empty Lincoln Financial Field.

This will be the third meeting between Doug Pederson’s Eagles and Sean McVay’s Rams. The Eagles won both previous battles — 30-23 in 2018, and 43-35 in 2017. Both of those games were played at the Los Angeles Coliseum. That 2017 game, of course, was the one in which Carson Wentz tore his ACL. Nick Foles replaced him and the Eagles went on to win their first Super Bowl.

When the Eagles run the ball
The Eagles ran the ball poorly against a Washington defense that finished 31st in run defense and 26th in opponent rush average last season. They were held to 57 yards on 17 carries. Eight of those 17 carries gained two yards or less. They had just three rushing first downs. They were without their No. 1 RB, Miles Sanders (hamstring), but Boston Scott and Corey Clement are capable backs.

The problem was their offensive line. It was missing two Pro Bowl starters — RG Brandon Brooks and RT Lane Johnson. They had a rookie — Jack Driscoll — at Johnson’s spot, and a second-year guy with three career snaps — Nate Herbig — replacing Brooks. On top of that, their nine-time Pro Bowl LT, Jason Peters, played like, well, like a guy who is four months away from his 39th birthday. LG Isaac Seumalo also struggled. They are hoping to get both Sanders and Johnson back this week, which will help. But they need a better overall run-blocking effort from everyone up front.

They’ll be facing a Rams defense with a new defensive coordinator (37-year-old Brandon Stanley) and a new scheme (3-4), but the top priority will be the same: neutralize All-Pro DT Aaron Donald. In their Week 1 win over the Cowboys, the Rams did a decent job on Zeke Elliott and Tony Pollard, holding them to a combined 106 yards on 24 carries.

EDGE: Rams

When the Eagles throw the ball
Carson Wentz was sacked a career-high eight times in the Washington loss. Some were his fault, some were not. But he has to do a better job of getting rid of the ball. He was under pressure on 40 percent of his dropbacks last week. That was the second-highest percentage in the league in Week 1.

The Eagles have to find a way to slow down All-Pro DT Aaron Donald, who had 10 QB pressures vs. the Cowboys. Even with the pressure he faced, Wentz had an outstanding first half, completing 14 of his first 18 passes and throwing two TD passes to help spot the Eagles to a 17-0 lead. But then things went to hell.

Even with the return of DeSean Jackson and the additions of rookie WRs Jalen Reagor and John Hightower, the Eagles used 12-personnel 56.7% of the time. TE Dallas Goedert had possibly the best game of his career, catching eight balls for 101 yards and a TD. Wentz hit Goedert and Reagor early with deep balls, but missed his last five 20-plus-yard throws. He targeted Jackson, Reagor and Hightower 15 times Sunday, but they combined for just four catches.

Stanley likes to move his defensive backs around and disguise coverages. The speed with which Wentz is able to diagnose those coverages and locate All-Pro corner Jalen Ramsey will be as critical with respect to the line’s ability to keep Donald out of his lap.

Edge: Eagles

When the Rams run the ball
With Todd Gurley gone, the Rams are turning to a share-the-load running attack featuring veteran Malcolm Brown, second-round rookie Cam Akers, and 2019 third-round pick Darrell Henderson. And there’s apparently going to be a big load to share if their Week 1 win over the Cowboys is any indication. Forty of their 72 offensive plays against Dallas, or 55.2 percent, were run plays.

Brown, who has never had more than 69 rushing attempts in any of his previous five NFL seasons, had a team-high 18 on Sunday. He and Akers both are powerful 215-plus-pound backs, while the 5-foot-8, 205-pound Henderson, who has been nursing a hamstring injury and had just three carries in Week 1, is kind of their version of Boston Scott.

The Rams only averaged 3.8 yards per carry overall against the Cowboys but were very productive running the ball on first down, which set up manageable third downs. Brown averaged 6.6 yards per carry on first down, including runs of 12, 11, 8 and 6 (twice) yards.

It will be interesting to see whether Rams coach Sean McVay repeats his run-heavy approach this week. In two previous meetings with Doug Pederson’s Eagles, McVay’s Rams ran the ball just 18 and 17 times. Last week, Washington ran the ball 36 times against the Eagles but averaged just 2.2 yards per carry.

Edge: Eagles

When the Rams throw the ball
The Rams are predominantly an 11-personnel (three wide receivers) team. Jared Goff completed three passes of 30-plus yards vs. Dallas in Week 1 and averaged 8.9 yards per attempt, but didn’t have a touchdown pass. He is coming off a subpar season in which he threw 16 interceptions and finished 22nd in passing and 28th in touchdown percentage.

He has an experienced receiving corps headed by Robert Woods and slot receiver Cooper Kupp. The Rams added a burner in the draft in second-rounder Van Jefferson. Woods has had 1,100-plus receiving yards each of the last two seasons. Kupp had 94 receptions and 10 touchdowns last year. A league-high 37 of those 94 came on third down. He’ll be matched up Sunday against his former Rams teammate, slot corner Nickell Robey-Coleman. Goff also has two capable pass-catching tight ends in Tyler Higbee and Gerald Everett.

Cornerback Darius Slay had a solid Eagles debut. Matched up against Washington’s Terry McLaurin, who put up 250 receiving yards and two TDs against the Eagles last year in two meetings, he held McLaurin to five catches for 61 yards and no TDs. He’ll likely spend most of Sunday shadowing Woods, while Robey-Coleman battles Kupp.

The Eagles need to get pressure on Goff. He finished 22nd in completion percentage when under pressure (42.3) last year. Against Dallas, he completed just 1 of 6 passes and threw his only interception when under pressure.

Edge: Even

Special teams
The Eagles’ Jake Elliott entered the season with a solid 84.1 career field-goal accuracy mark. He’s never missed more than five FGAs in any of his three NFL seasons. The Rams didn’t re-sign their longtime kicker, Greg Zuerlein, after he converted just 72.9% of his FG attempts last year. They’ve replaced him with a rookie, seventh-rounder Sam Sloman of Miami of Ohio. Sloman got off to an inauspicious start in the win over Dallas. He hit the left upright with an early 29-yard attempt.

The Rams’ Johnny Hekker is one of the best punters in league history. His 47.0-yard career average is the best among active punters and second only to Shane Lechler all-time. But the Eagles’ Cameron Johnston has quickly developed into one of the league’s top young punters. He’s finished in the top 10 in both gross and net average in each of his first two years. Last week against Washington, he averaged 53.6 yards per attempt on five kicks, and put three of them inside the 20. Washington averaged just 3.4 yards per return.

The Eagles’ Jalen Reagor averaged 17.8 yards on PRs last year at TCU, but still has to prove to Dave Fipp that he can hang on to the ball. Greg Ward is a more dependable, but slightly less explosive alternative. The Rams are using slot receiver Cooper Kupp on punt returns. He had four fair catches and no returns against Dallas. Prior to that, he had handled just three punts in his NFL career.

Edge: Eagles

Intangibles
With most teams not allowing fans, the home-field advantage is pretty much nonexistent. Home teams were 8-8 in Week 1. While the popular perception is that Sean McVay is way smarter than Doug Pederson, Pederson is 2-0 against McVay, beating him twice on the road.

Edge: Even

Prediction
Rams 20, Eagles 17

Key matchups
Eagles interior offensive line vs. Rams DT Aaron Donald: The Cowboys’ Zack Martin is the best guard in the NFL, and Donald had him for lunch in Week 1. He had 10 QB pressures. Jason Kelce and Co. have to find a way to slow him down. Advantage: Rams

Eagles slot corner Nickell Robey-Coleman vs. Rams slot receiver Cooper Kupp: Kupp had a league-high 37 third-down receptions last season, but nobody knows him as well as his former Rams teammate. Advantage: Rams

Eagles wide receiver DeSean Jackson vs. Rams CB Jalen Ramsey: Ramsey’s one of the best corners in the league and has a new $21 million-a-year deal to prove it. The 33-year-old Jackson had just two catches on seven targets vs. Washington. Advantage: Rams

Keys to the game
Protect Wentz. This didn’t work out so well last week, though Wentz and his refusal to get rid of the ball was a big part of the problem. Under new defensive coordinator Brandon Stanley, the Rams try to disguise their coverages and slow up the whole get-the-ball-out process. Wentz needs to quickly decipher what he’s looking at, and his blockers need to slow down Aaron Donald and Michael Brockers.

Stop the run. The Rams ran the ball 40 times (for 153 yards) against Dallas. Goff is an effective play-action QB who averaged 8.9 yards per attempt in Week 1. Malcolm Brown averaged 6.6 yards per carry on first down. Eagles need to neutralize the Rams’ rushing attack on first and second downs and put Goff in obvious passing situations. Last week, 11 of the Rams’ 17 third-down situations were four yards or less.

Stick with what has worked. In both of the Eagles’ previous two wins over Sean McVay’s Rams, they did two things: 1) won the turnover battle; and 2) got off to fast starts. In ’18, they scored on three of their first four possessions and won the TO battle, 3-1. In ’17, they also scored on three of their first four possessions and won the turnover battle, 2-1. Wash, rinse, repeat.

Lane Johnson said he re-tore a ligament in his ankle during a camp scrimmage, describes how it was repaired through surgery. pic.twitter.com/bLQEV5tKT0

— Tim McManus (@Tim_McManus) September 17, 2020

from https://theathletic.com/2072586/2020/09/17/week-2-nfl-picks-against-the-spread-2/?source=dailyemail

Rams at Eagles (+1)
The Eagles opened as 3.5-point favorites, but as of this writing are now underdogs. Over the past five seasons, only the Packers’ defense had a bigger edge than the Eagles when playing at home versus on the road. But obviously, there will be no fans in the stands for this game. Rule number one for making picks in Week 2: Don’t overreact to what happened in Week 1. The Rams were impressive in their win against the Cowboys, and the Aaron Donald montage that NBC showed in the second half had to be terrifying if you’re an Eagles offensive lineman. The Eagles, meanwhile, were one of the biggest Week 1 disappointments. Things balance out here between two pretty evenly-matched teams.

The pick: Eagles (+1)

Previewing the matchup between Cooper Kupp and Nickell Robey-Coleman in the slot, with context from Sean McVay regarding why the Rams felt comfortable handing that role to Troy Hill in 2020.https://t.co/6qPpasUOmI

— J.B. Long (@JB_Long) September 19, 2020