October 11, 2024
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Will A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith returning from injury bring the Eagles back on track?
The Eagles are coming back from the bye.
When we last saw them two weeks ago, they were getting completely dismantled by Tampa Bay. Now they're hoping that the extra time off was just the trick to getting healthy and addressing all the issues that the Bucs exposed – issues that all lingered from last season's collapse.
To the Eagles' advantage this week: A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith, and Lane Johnson are all expected to return, they're at home at the Linc, and their opponent, the Cleveland Browns, are just bad.
It should be an ideal setup for the Eagles to bounce back – granted "should" is the volatile keyword with this team through four games so far.
Here is how our sports writers are feeling about it heading into Week 6 and game No. 5...
TV: FOX (Kenny Albert, Jonathan Vilma, Megan Olivi)
RADIO: 94.1 WIP (Merrill Reese, Mike Quick)
| Sportsbook | Spread | Money Line | Total O/U |
| DraftKings | PHI -8.5 | CLE +340 PHI -440 | 43.5 |
| FanDuel | PHI -8.5 | CLE +350 PHI -450 | 43.5 |
| BetRivers | PHI -9.5 | CLE +320 PHI -420 | 43 |
| BetMGM | PHI -8.5 | CLE +350 PHI -450 | 43.5 |
| Bally's | PHI -8.5 | CLE +320 PHI -420 | 43 |
The Eagles are coming off of their bye and will benefit from the returns of A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith, and Lane Johnson. They are about as healthy as a football team can reasonably be heading into Week 6. The Browns, meanwhile, listed 19 players on their initial injury report, including four of their five offensive line starters, a few of their OL reserves, and a bunch of key players in their secondary.
But more importantly, serial sexual assaulter Deshaun Watson has been abysmal.
Deshaun Watson is averaging -0.30 EPA per dropback, the lowest number for any Browns QB in Weeks 1-5 since at least 2000.
— Austin Gayle (@austingayle_) October 6, 2024
The second-worst performance? Deshaun Watson last season (-0.20).
The Browns have had some truly awful starting quarterbacks over the last 24 years. Guys like Tim Couch, Kelly Holcomb, Trent Dilfer, Charlie Frye, Derek Anderson, Brady Quinn, Brandon Weeden, Brian Hoyer, Johnny Manziel, Robert Griffin III, Cody Kessler, DeShone Kizer, etc. So it's no small feat to out-awful other awful Browns quarterbacks of yesteryear.
If the Eagles can't find a way to win this home game against this putrid, injury-ravaged team, especially after the Phillies pathetically no-showed in the playoffs, there are going to be a whole lot of angry calls from Philly fans for Nick Sirianni's head.
MORE: Jimmy's Week 6 picks
The Eagles might not be true contenders, but at home, with their offense healthy, after a break, and facing one of the worst teams in the NFL — might be a recipe for some fool's gold at least for one week. This one will be a breezy victory before an inevitable frustrating letdown to come in the next couple weeks.
If they can't win this one, just pack it all in and get ready for Sixers season and Michkov Mania, Philadelphia.
MORE: Eagles-Browns injury report
I think the Eagles win here – they kind of have to – but it's not going to do anything to ease anyone's concerns coming off of the Bucs loss, nor is it going to take any pressure off Sirianni.
Brown, Smith, and Johnson all returning is going to let the offense out-talent the Browns, but I fear they're just going to stall again up until one of Brown, Barkley, or Smith rips off a big scoring play to put enough of he puzzle together. As for the defense, I just hope they can properly tackle this week, and that the special teams doesn't do anything stupid again.
Really, my belief in the Eagles winning this game is based more on the Browns being far, far more of a dumpster fire than they are.
Is that overly cynical? Maybe. But four games in of the Eagles playing with no real offensive gameplan other than 'Barkley, bail us out now' or 'A.J. go score' with a defense that's supposed to be much fiercer than it's actually been, they have to give legitimate reason to believe otherwise.
All the issues they have now were from last year and were supposed to be fixed over the offseason, and yet they're still here.
MORE: Five matchups to watch
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