The Philadelphia Eagles (1-0) head to Nashville to take on the Tennessee Titans (0-1) in a Week 2 matchup that will be played in extreme heat with temperatures expected to be pushing 100 degrees.
The storylines heading into this interconference battle are not nearly as heated, but there are some intriguing matchups to keep an eye on in this game.
While the Eagles only sacked Jayden Daniels once in their 24-22 win in Week 1, the defense was able to get some pressure on the dual-threat quarterback, but not to the liking of defensive coordinator Vic Fangio.
“I thought our pass rush overall, when our guys that mainly rushed the passer, was inconsistent and really wasn’t good enough,” the veteran defensive coordinator said.
The Eagles were without their $100 million pass rusher in Jonathan Greenard who is working his way back from his strained pectoral muscle. Nolan Smith had the best performance Sunday from the pass rushing group where he had four pressures and a 16.7% pressure rate. Jalyx Hunt, who is anticipated to have a big year, finished with just three pressures and an 11.5% pressure rate in 24 pass rushing snaps. Depth EDGE’s Arnold Ebekitie was the primary third option and did not provide much while A.J. Epenesa saw just 12 snaps.
Philadelphia will look to do a better job against another dual-threat in second-year quarterback Cam Ward who was pressured on 41% of his drop backs last Sunday according to Next Gen Stats.
The Eagles offensive line struggled most of the game last week against a revamped Washington defense. Simmons is one of the best defensive tackles in the NFL and will certainly warrant attention at all times.
Simmons had a bit of a peculiar quip regarding Jalen Hurts regarding how they need to win this game.
“We just need to make Jalen Hurts be a QB. Stop his runs, make sure Hurts doesn’t get out of the pocket and make plays,” Simmons said on Wednesday.
Just making Hurts a QB is the eyebrow raising part of the quote there. Last time these two teams met in 2022, the Eagles quarterback torched Simmons and the Titans defense for 380 passing yards and three touchdowns, mainly throwing from the pocket.
The Eagles offensive line also neutralized the star defensive tackle in that win with Simmons recording a lone tackle.
However, that was nearly five years ago. This Eagles’ offensive line has added a lot more wear and tear and miles and also will be without Landon Dickerson at right guard with second-year lineman Drew Kendall expected to take over.
It was an odd game for Saquon Barkley to open up the season. On the surface if you look at his stat line of 15 carries for 83 yards with a 5.5 yards per carry average one would assume he was carving up the Commanders. However, nearly half of his yardage came on a 42-yard gallop while it was rather tough sledding for Barkley who couldn’t get into a rhythm with the offensive line struggling to stay in sync most of the game, resulting in the running back being contacted in the backfield on half of his 15 carries in the game.
Tennessee, led by defensive minded head coach Robert Saleh was gouged for 152 yards on the ground against the Jets last week allowing Breece Hall to rush for 102 yards and a touchdown on 22 carries.
Barkley and the Eagles hope to have similar success on the ground to make it an easier path to victory against an inferior team.
Hurts was the reason why the Eagles snuck out the two-point win to open up the season against their NFC East division rival. Now with a Titans team trying to end a streak of four straight losing seasons and dominated by the Jets in Week 1, Hurts has a chance to continue his strong start to his year.
While the Titans limited Geno Smith to 215 yards passing and zero touchdowns, Hurts has a chance to put up another big game against the AFC South foe like he did a few years ago.
As part of spending the most money in free agency this offseason, the Titans added cornerback Cor’Dale Flott. The former third-round pick by the Giants in 2022 had a career-best 11 passes defended while forcing a fumble and one interception. According to Next Gen Stats, Flott allowed a 42.9 completion percentage as the field-side cornerback which was the fourth-lowest among players targets at least 20 times from that alignment.
Right side cornerback Alontae Taylor also was a new acquisition this season. The former second-rounder in 2022 started his career with the New Orleans Saints. Last season, he tallied 83 tackles, a pair of interceptions, two sacks and 11 passes defended. He has 52 total passes defended in his career, just one shy of Riq Woolen for 32nd most in the NFL among active leaders.
In addition, the Titans used zone coverage on 85.2% of dropbacks against the Jets last week which was up from 78.1% in 2025 (ninth-highest in NFL) per Next Gen Stats. Hurts averaged 7.4 yards per attempt against Cover 3 and Cover 4 last season which was 17th-highest). Last Sunday he completed four of his eight passes for just 16 yards and sacked twice when facing those coverages against Washington.
DeJean had a tough opener to the season and appeared to be banged up during the game, seen grabbing at his abdomen area after making a tackle on Stefon Diggs. The talented slot cornerback appeared on the team’s injury report and did not practice on Wednesday with a calf/abdomen injury designation.
After practice, DeJean said he is fine and will be ready to go this Sunday.
He will likely see Robinson a decent amount. The former Giants wide receiver followed his former head coach Brian Daboll to Nashville, signing a four-year, $78 million deal with $38 million guaranteed.
According to Next Gen Stats, since Robinson entered the league in 2022, he has racked up 1,592 yards in the slot, good for 10th-most among wide receivers.
Last week, Robinson paced the Titans with five catches for 38 yards on six targets with two of his catches going for 18 yards lined up in the slot.
With the Giants a season ago, Robinson was not targeted across 16 slot matchups against DeJean, making the third-year cornerback the only defender with at least 10 slot matchups against Robinson to go untargeted.
DeJean said his eyes were not as sharp in the win against Washington last week and will look to trust his instincts and technique to bounce back in Week 2.
MORE: Eagles vs Titans: Keys to the game & storylines to watch
