Game Overview ::
By mike johnson >>
- This is an interesting matchup between two of the top-3 rushing offenses in the league, who are facing two top-10 run defenses.
- The Ravens and Eagles are both coming off national TV wins in Week 12, with the Ravens playing on a short week after traveling to Los Angeles to face the Chargers.
- This game’s over/under of 51 is over three points higher than the next closest game on the main slate.
- Baltimore is trailing Pittsburgh in their own division, while Philadelphia has a 2.5 game lead on the Commanders – but this game is highly critical for both teams for playoff positioning, momentum, etc.
- The status of Eagles WR DeVonta Smith will heavily impact their likely approach and player usage.
- Baltimore has a bye in Week 14, which means they have two weeks to rest after this game and can be liberal with their player usage.
How Philadelphia Will Try To Win ::
The Eagles offense is really starting to hum and just had arguably their best game of the season with a 37-20 dominant performance against the Rams. Saquon Barkley’s talents playing alongside the dual threat aspect of Jalen Hurts, and behind one of the top offensive lines in the game is borderline unfair. Last week, Barkley had an incredible 302 total yards from scrimmage, with 255 of them coming on the ground. To make the night even more impressive, the Eagles amassed nearly 500 yards of offense despite playing without wide receiver DeVonta Smith. In his absence, A.J. Brown had a relatively dominant performance of his own on the perimeter but wasn’t really needed during the second half while Barkley ran wild. The Eagles scored on seven of nine possessions, including all four times they had the ball in the second half, and have now scored 26 or more points in six consecutive games.
The Eagles offense is not trying to hide what they want to do, as they rank 31st in the NFL in pass rate over expectation. Barkley and Hurts are everything to this offense as they lean on the ability of their offensive line to create holes and use misdirection between the two to hold linebackers for each other. The ability of this offense to get these dynamic athletes to the second level is something to behold. Philadelphia’s offense struggled earlier this year when A.J. Brown was out. His presence is essential to forcing defenses to play them honest and not just totally load the box. Sunday Night Football announcer Cris Collinsworth said it perfectly last week, “There are guys who you can’t cover and there are guys that you can’t tackle once they make a catch…..A.J. Brown just so happens to be both of those guys.” These three create everything for the Eagles offense. The presence of DeVonta Smith and Dallas Goedert makes them even more potent but the “Big 3” are what makes them special.
This week against the Ravens will be a tougher task for the Eagles than last week. Baltimore was one of the league’s bigger pass funnels early in the season as their run defense was very strong, and their secondary was depleted and getting torched by opponents who were relentlessly attacking them. Things have tightened up a bit for the Ravens in recent weeks, as they have held three of their last four opponents below 250 passing yards with 6.5 yards per pass attempt or less allowed in each of those games. Baltimore now ranks 8th in run defense DVOA and a below average but respectable 19th in pass defense DVOA. The Bengals high powered and aggressive passing offense has dusted them up twice this year, but against less talented and/or more run-heavy offenses in recent weeks, the Ravens have done pretty well. The Eagles will have an interesting dynamic as their preferred method of attack is likely to struggle in the early going. How aggressive they decide to be through the air will likely depend in large part on how much they trust their defense, which is dealing with some injuries in the secondary right now. Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni will likely try to slow things down and control the tempo rather than getting into a shootout with Lamar Jackson on his home turf, but may not have much of a choice in the matter.
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