October 21, 2021
It's been six weeks of Eagles football. And for six weeks, the Eagles have been underdogs. Let's make it seven, shall we?
Sure, the Eagles are on the road this week as they travel to Vegas to take on the Raiders two weeks after the team parted ways with head coach Jon Gruden following the release of several racist, misogynistic and homophobic emails dating back at least 10 years, but they're once again playing the underdog role even if this spread is closer than it was last week when they hosted (and lost to) the defending champion Bucs on Thursday Night Football.
The Eagles should be well rested coming off a mini-bye week and will be getting Dallas Goedert back — and likely Lane Johnson as well — which should more than offset the loss of Zach Ertz, who will be playing for another team on Sunday for the first time in his career. Nick Sirianni will look to get his team back on track and avoid another losing streak — and he'll have to do so against a Raiders team that seemed to rally around each other in their first game without Gruden at the helm.
Can they pull off the upset like they did two weeks ago in Carolina? Or will the Raiders improve to 2-0 in the post-Gruden era and send the underdog Eagles flying back to Philly with their tails tucked between their legs? (That's right, a double animal metaphor.) Here's a look at how our writers see things playing out on Sunday afternoon...
TV: FOX (Kenny Albert and Jonathan Vilma)
RADIO: 94.1 WIP (Merrill Reese and Mike Quick)
| Book | Spread | Money Line | Total |
| DraftKings | LV -3 | PHI +140 LV -159 | 48.5 |
| FanDuel | LV -3 | PHI +136 LV -161 | 48.5 |
| UniBet | LV -3 | PHI +133 LV -145 | 48.5 |
| BetMGM | LV -3 | PHI +135 LV -161 | 48.5 |
So far this season, the Eagles have played three opponents — the Cowboys, Chiefs, and Buccaneers — with explosive offenses. They'll face another one on Sunday in Las Vegas, as Derek Carr leads a passing attack featuring TE Darren Waller and an intriguing trio of young wide receivers in Henry Ruggs, Bryan Edwards, and Hunter Renfrow.
In those three games against the Cowboys, Chiefs, and Bucs, Nick Sirianni has aired the ball out in hopes of matching points against those high octane offenses. He ran the ball with his running backs in those games a combined 22(!) times, or 7.3 times per game. That proved to be a nonsensical approach, particularly against a pair of teams in the Cowboys and Chiefs, whose defenses are ill-equipped to stop strong rushing attacks.
The Raiders are in the same boat as the Cowboys and Chiefs, in that they have struggled stopping the run this season. In their two losses, their opponents — the Chargers and Bears — each had 30+ non-QB rushing attempts. Game flow certainly factored into that, but those teams were effective in keeping the Raiders' offense off the field.
Will Sirianni adapt, and try to control the ball, while taking some pressure off of struggling quarterback Jalen Hurts? I doubt it. Based on the three-game sample size against other explosive offenses, the Eagles will try to beat the Raiders playing the type of game the Raiders would prefer.
I do believe that the Eagles are going to win some more games this season, and I don’t think the Raiders are that much better than Philly is — but going to face them in Vegas fresh off their emotional win last week, I think the Raiders’ momentum will carry them to a competitive victory on Sunday.
It feels like ages since the Eagles last played and they should be fresh coming off their mini-bye week following their Thursday night loss. Lane Johnson and Dallas Goedert are back and the offense should be better on paper to be sure. If they took the time off to reflect, and perhaps make some necessary changes to their scheme and plan of attack, maybe we’ll see a team that looks more like the dynamic offense that burst to a Week 1 win. But I think this team’s growing pains will continue into Week 7 as they’ll falter in a winnable contest. I do believe it will be a game they can build off of, in contrast to a game that makes fans want everyone to be fired and traded.
All of my colleagues see pretty much the same outcome on Sunday: a one-possession loss for the Eagles. I also see the game being close, as the Eagles aren't good enough to blow most teams, and the Raiders are one of those teams. Vegas isn't great but certainly isn't Atlanta (the only team the Eagles have handily beat this season). That being said, I don't think the Raiders are a very good 4-2 team, with wins over the likes of the Dolphins, Broncos and Steelers, and their Week 1 OT win over the Ravens looking more and more like an outlier each week.
Still, you have to give Vegas credit for going on the road last week and beating the Broncos despite all that turmoil surrounding them. But what have we seen happen all too often the following week to teams who rallied for a big victory in the face of adversity? They come out flat and wind up losing. Couple that with the Eagles coming off a long week following a loss that ended with a little positive second-half momentum, and there's at least a path to an Eagles victory here. I mean, they're only three-point underdogs on the road out west — and it's not hard to envision the team rallying behind Lane Johnson if he returns from his recent bout with anxiety. I'm picking this game purely on feel, and it feels like an Eagles win.
What an opportunity — I either get to pick the 2-4 team whose only win since the opener was a fluky, late-game comeback against Carolina, or the 4-2 team whose head coach quit in disgrace as a result of racist, homophobic, and sexist emails that came to light as part of a wide-ranging NFL investigation that is now being swept under the rug. A real Sophie's Choice.
I'm tempted to go with the Eagles here given the circumstances, and you're heartened by the fact that Philly has hung around in almost all of their losses, save for the Cowboys stinker. But picking against the local team has been a fruitful strategy this year, and beating the Raiders would likely hinge on committing to the run game. Anybody feel confident Nick Sirianni is willing to do that? Me either.
Derek Carr is mediocre at best, but he's better than Jalen Hurts at this stage in his career.
The Raiders did something I didn't think would be possible last week, something that will certainly carry over in front of a home crowd. Going on the road and beating up a good defense — after being left to deal with Jon Gruden’s mess — was impressive.
The Raiders were always talented on offense, despite not really running the football. Here’s the weird thing about this game, the Eagles are a short favorite against a Raiders team at home with all of the momentum. Normally, I would point to something with the Eagles and say how easily they can sneak up on Vegas and steal a victory on the road. The problem remains that Jalen Hurts has way too much on his plate and with no help from Nick Sirianni coming anytime soon.
The Eagles run defense may catch a break as the Raiders aren’t good enough to run — or simply refuse to try. Derek Carr has two speedy weapons and a monster target at TE, kind of like the Eagles. This game might come down to which team’s neglected run game shows up first. We shall see exactly how this plays out, but I like the Raiders to cover a 3-point spread after finding themselves last week. If anyone can locate the Eagles offense, that would be great.
How much self-reflection did the Eagles' coaching staff do during the mini-bye?
Maybe that's the biggest outlier heading into Las Vegas especially after the Raiders persevered last week in the aftermath of the Jon Gruden scandal. Interim coach Rich Bisaccia held things together and Las Vegas looked impressive in a 10-point win over Denver to extend to 4-2. The Eagles are the exact opposite but the losses — to San Francisco, at Dallas, Kansas City and Tampa Bay — were hardly the problem, it was the context of the setbacks, particularly the failure of the offense to grow.
Until that happens it's hard to imagine Philadelphia competing with teams that can score and the Raiders are in that category with a passing game fueled by quarterback Derek Carr, tight end Darren Waller and speedy receiver Henry Ruggs, DeVonta Smith's former roommate at Alabama. To date, the running game with Las Vegas had been a disappointment despite the presence of Josh Jacobs, but that could change at any moment. Sirianni's offense, meanwhile, is still searching for an identity. Until the Eagles actually find one, it's hard to tilt things in their direction.
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