September 17, 2020
The 0-1 Philadelphia Eagles will host the 1-0 Los Angeles Rams on Sunday at Lincoln Financial Field as they look to avoid their first 0-2 start since 2015, Chip Kelly's final season at the helm.
The Eagles' loss to Washington in Week 1 was their first in a season opener under Doug Pederson, but one thing the Birds have made a habit of in recent years is bouncing back from bad losses the following week. Whether it's Pederson's ability to re-focus his players and forget about the loss or something else entirely, it seems to be something the Eagles coach has been very good at during his tenure.
This week, however, the Birds won't have the Philly faithful there to cheer them on, erasing some of the advantage they would typically have in their home opener. That being said, the prospect of an 0-2 start should be plenty of motivation for this team, especially if they have still have plans of making the postseason this winter. An 0-2 record with two losses against NFC teams, including one in your division, is not great. And making this matchup even more important, despite how early in the season it still is, is the fact that the Birds and Rams could be battling for one of the NFC's wild card spots come December.
There are a lot of questions heading into this one. Like can the Eagles offensive line stop Aaron Donald — and, more importantly, keep Carson Wentz upright? How healthy will Miles Sanders be, and how much of an impact will he and Lane Johnson have on the offense? Will the defense slow Jared Goff and the Rams offense? Or will it be another disastrous day for Philly and its fans?
We'll find out on Sunday afternoon when these two teams meet in what TheLines.com's consensus odds say is a pick-em. In the meantime, let's take a look at how our writers see Sunday's game against the Washington Football Team playing out, as well as how to watch and the latest betting lines...
TV: FOX | RADIO: 94.1 WIP
| Book | Spread | Total |
| DraftKings | LA -1 | 45.5 |
| FanDuel | PHI -1.5 | 46 |
| Bet Rivers | LA -1.5 | 44.5 |
| Consensus | PICK | 46 |
Carson Wentz had a terrible game Week 1, and his play has rightfully been criticized all week. In my opinion, that was his worst game as a pro. Does that mean he's now a bad quarterback? Of course not. If those bad performances continue, then we'll re-evaluate, but for now, he probably deserves the benefit of the doubt playing behind a predictably bad offensive line that the team mismanaged leading up to Week 1, especially after he dragged a group of practice squad players to the playoffs last season.
On Wednesday, Lane Johnson, Miles Sanders, and Derek Barnett practiced in full. If Johnson and Sanders both play this week (it's likely they will, since they were full participants so early in the week) they will be huge upgrades.
Yes, Aaron Donald is a phenomenal player, and yes, the Eagles' offensive line was over-matched by the Football Team last week, and as such, it's easy to envision Donald lifting Eagles linemen over his head and throwing them at Wentz.
However, I believe that the matchups in this game generally favor the Eagles. Perhaps contrary to perception, the Rams want to be a running team. When they can run it, their offense has been effective. When you get them into long downs and distances, that's when Jared Goff becomes a less effective quarterback. The Eagles have been a great run team in recent years, especially against the types of power attacks that the Rams want to employ. That's the first key in slowing down the Rams' offense.
As far as the Eagles' chances of rebounding, I tried to think of their worst losses since they became a contender in 2017, not including Week 1. I came up with the following:
They won the next game all five times. The Titans overtime loss in 2018 was really bad, too, and the Eagles did lose the following game as well, but you get my point.
Do I think the Eagles are better than the Rams? I am not entirely sure. But I didn’t think Washington was better than Philly either and you saw what happened.
I do think that the Eagles will bounce back with healthy(ish) returns from Miles Sanders, Lane Johnson and Derek Barnett. The Birds are a borderline (at best) playoff team right now in my mind, but I expect more from this offense and I think if Wentz makes smarter decisions and perhaps plays a little more conservatively, letting his skill players make plays rather than forcing it himself, they will be just fine.
The injuries will only get worse, so banking some wins before the practice squad takes the field again in Week 14 will be critical. I am not sold on them being better than L.A. but I think they’ll eek out a win in Week 2.
They say hindsight is 20/20, and if we had known this time last week that Miles Sanders and Lane Johnson would both be sidelined against Washington, I would have certainly picked an Eagles loss. Such is life.
This week, it's looking more and more like Sanders and Johnson will suit up on Sunday, as will a couple other injured Birds, which will certainly help the Eagles against the Rams. The problem is, the Rams are a much better team than the one the Eagles allowed to run off 27 unanswered points in Week 1, and we don't really know if the return of two players will be enough to make up for that difference.
On offense, the Eagles should see a boost with with Sanders in the lineup. Their rushing attack was non-existent against Washington, and their inability to move the ball on the ground led to Carson Wentz facing rusher after rusher. Assuming Sanders (and Johnson) will be able to help their ground game get going, we should see a much more balanced attack from the offense. Of course, the passing attack will have to deal with Aaron Donald up front end and Jalen Ramsey on the outside. The good news for the Eagles is that they don't really have one stud receiver that Ramsey can neutralize. Wentz and Doug Pederson like spreading the ball around, which will be a big help in this one assuming the quarterback has enough time to get the ball out.
On the other side, the Eagles defense should be able to slow down the Rams rushing attack and force Jared Goff into some third-and-long situations, where they've been able to take advantage in their past meetings. The defense, for the most part, looked pretty good against Washington and only really allowed them to score when the offense gave them a short field to work with. They'll get a tougher test this weekend, and we should know a lot more about them after facing a much better opponent.
Unfortunately, the one big advantage the Eagles should have for this game, the crowd, won't be a factor. Still, there is a bit of a home-field advantage for the Birds in this one as the Rams are forced to fly across the country for a 1 p.m. game. That's never an easy task.
My gut is telling me this is an Eagles win, and that they can bounce back against L.A. in Week 2, even if my head is struggling to see that path. While it's hard to not worry about some carryover after blowing a 17-point lead, I don't think they're as bad as they played in the second half of that game. And, as Jimmy alluded to above, this feels like the kind of game the Eagles come out and win after a clunker in the opener. Furthermore, Pederson and Wentz are 2-0 against Sean McVay and Goff, and Philly is 6-0 against the Rams over the last 15 years.
I wound up kicking myself for not following my gut last week and picking with the Eagles instead. I'd be dumb to make the same mistake twice, right? I guess we'll find out...
In the opening week, you saw exactly who Carson Wentz and Jared Goff are. One is a single-read passer that looks electric when the read is there and poor when it is not, the other is a mercurial talent who can string together eye-popping drives and head-scratching lows. They get there in very different ways, but inconsistency is the name of the game.
The question for me is if we really know who the Eagles are. With Miles Sanders and Lane Johnson both expected to play this week, the Eagles should get a big boost to the ground game, which in turn makes Wentz’s life easier. Wentz didn’t miss by much on a few deep bombs to his new weapons, and one or two more connections could make all the difference in the world.
I feel more pessimistic than I expected to about this game. It’s a winnable game at home, so I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt, but there needs to be vast improvement from last week in any case.
Because their 27-17 loss to Washington was so embarrassing, there is no justification for picking the Eagles to win this game. In the past, the Eagles under Doug Pederson have shown a remarkable ability to bounce back from adversity, especially when it comes after trash heaps like the one piled in Washington. Getting Miles Sanders and Lane Johnson back helps enormously. But maybe not enough.
This is early, and could be monumental for the Eagles. After this, the Eagles host Cincinnati, then it’s at San Francisco, at Pittsburgh, and they host Baltimore on Oct. 18. That says 1-3 right there. If the Eagles don’t beat the Rams, they could start 2020 1-5, considering the Bengals are still the Bengals.
The Rams have too much in game-breaker Aaron Donald to be stopped. Carson Wentz looks skittish, and if he doesn’t watch himself with all of the bowing and ducking, he could get hurt. Donald is too much of a road block to bypass.
And while everyone is looking at the failure of the offense, don’t forget this defense gave up 27 points to Dwayne Haskins—Dwayne Haskins, whose accuracy is so bad he couldn’t win a kewpie doll at a carnival. Jared Goff is not great, nor is he as good as Wentz, but he’s certainly better than Haskins, who was right at the right times against the Eagles last week.
I’m diving headfirst into the deep end with my prediction here. The Eagles aren’t going to magically fix some deeper issues simply with the return of Lane Johnson. I can’t rely on a “full workload” – whatever that is – from Miles Sanders. The kid was day-to-day for a month!
Aaron Donald is going to do Aaron Donald things, which is going to make life incredibly difficult for the Eagles. Not just the rush but how many bodies it’s going to take just to slow down Donald himself. The good news for Carson Wentz is that he’s not the only QB who will turn over the football. Both Wentz and Jared Goff can’t wait to cough it up. 0-2.
The Eagles have had the Rams number when Los Angeles was really good so there is no reason to think that should change now that L.A. has come back to the pack a little bit.
For whatever reason fans get really upset when some rando throws out a list of best NFL coaches that has Sean McVay on top of Doug Pederson but the real foundation to Philadelphia's success in 2017 and 2018 against what was a really high-powered offense was more than head coach vs. head coach.
Jim Schwartz preaching discipline and getting his guys to ignore the eyewash that is the DNA of McVay's mindset better than most was an important factor as well and there is no reason to think that shouldn't continue now that the organization now has Nickell Robey-Coleman to lean on. The veteran corner spent the last three years practicing against that offense and knows where all the bones are buried and what McVay is trying to accomplish on the most minute of details. Schwartz already understands as well but NRC can communicate things player to player on-field and is already spilling secrets.
Offensively, expect the Eagles to get back Lane Johnson and Miles Sanders, which should calm down a lot of the issues by simply upping the talent level on the field. Aaron Donald is going to wreck plays, however, so you have to factor that into the game plan and that's a concern because neither the Eagles coaching staff nor Carson Wentz handled getting behind the sticks positively against the Washington Football Team.
No fans will also hurt Philadelphia in a big way. Typically, the Rams coming went to east on a body-clock game with 70,000 screaming in their faces would have made this one a fait accompli. Now the Eagles will have to earn everything they get to start climbing out of an 0-1 hole they weren't expected to be in.
The guess here is they get it done if they clean up the turnover issues that have been drilled into Carson Wentz's head ad nauseam this week.
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