Game Overview ::
By hilow >>
- Eagles WR A.J. Brown has yet to practice this week (as of Friday) following a scary looking knee injury sustained in Week 18 (update: AJ Brown has been ruled out).
- Eagles QB Jalen Hurts (finger) was unable to finish the game in Week 18 due to a dislocated middle finger. He reportedly got in a full practice on Friday after missing Thursday altogether, but reports from beat writers indicated he has yet to throw a pass this week.
- Eagles RB D’Andre Swift was held out of the team’s Week 18 loss due to an illness but has practiced in full this week.
- Buccaneers QB Baker Mayfield (ankle/ribs) did not practice on Thursday before upgrading to a limited showing on Friday. This dude is beyond banged up at the moment.
How philadelphia Will Try To Win ::
Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni has come under fire this week after his alpha wide receiver sustained what appeared to be a significant knee injury in what amounted to a meaningless Week 18 game. Yes, the Eagles had about a 10 percent chance of leaping from the five-seed to the two-seed in Week 18, but they needed a Cowboys loss against the Commanders to do so. Beyond that, Brown is very clearly frustrated with his team, his situation, his coaching, or some combination of all of the above. The disgruntled veteran receiver removed all mention of the Eagles on his socials in addition to deleting his Twitter account this week. And then there’s Jalen Hurts, who dislocated his middle finger in the first half of the team’s Week 18 loss to the Giants (lolz) and was unable to finish the contest. As was noted above, he was listed as a full participant in Friday’s practice but beat reporters indicated he has yet to throw a pass this week. And then there’s the state of this team after having lost five of their last six games and dropping from the one seed in the NFC all the way down to the fifth seed in the process. In other words, this Philadelphia team does not enter the Super Wildcard Round in the greatest form.
Lead back D’Andre Swift has a clearly defined role in this offense, having played over 65 percent of the team’s offensive snaps just twice all season while ceding work to Kenneth Gainwell in a “more than change of pace” capacity. Although Swift has 41 red zone touches to go along with the fifth most rushing yards in the league this season, he saw only five goal line carries through the entirety of the regular season with basically anything inside the three left to quarterback Jalen Hurts. The matchup on the ground is far from ideal against a Buccaneers defense holding opponents to 3.8 yards per carry behind 1.09 yards allowed before contact (third best of playoff teams).
A.J. Brown’s status for this game is likely to carry massive implications for the fantasy expectations for multiple Philadelphia pass-catchers. This offense has historically behaved rather straightforward with its primary weapons, typically becoming more condensed amongst the primary pieces as opposed to allowing trickle-down volume to carry to the situational players. That makes both Dallas Goedert and Devonta Smith extremely interesting to include in builds for the full six-game slate because this is the final game of the weekend, meaning we currently have the lowest amount of information. The Buccaneers allowed 6.4 net yards per pass attempt this season (23rd) on an 8.0 aDOT, setting the stage for a solid pass-funnel matchup for the Eagles. Finally, the fact that Hurts has an injured middle finger on his throwing hand could lead to a higher rate of short-to-intermediate passing, which bodes well for the potential upside of Goedert. The team very clearly does not want Julio Jones in a heavy snap rate role and Quez Watkins is more of a field stretcher out of the slot, meaning it would likely be Olamide Zaccheaus on the perimeter should Brown miss.
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