It is starting to feel like fall with the leaves changing, cooler weather and games starting to mean more as we get set for Week 10 of the regular season. This week, the Philadelphia Eagles (6-2) visit the Green Bay Packers (5-2-1) on Monday Night Football.
The Eagles are coming off their bye and the extra week of rest has brought a ton of success under Nick Sirianni. Meanwhile, the Packers look to bounce back after a surprising 16-13 loss to the Carolina Panthers at home last week and keep pace with the Eagles for the top seed in the NFC.
Here are five key matchups to watch for in the game.
This arguably is the biggest matchup to watch that could ultimately dictate who wins this game. The Eagles offensive line has struggled throughout the majority of this season with the combination of starters missing time due to injuries and inconsistent play across the board. On Monday, the offensive line must know where Micah Parsons is at all times.
After shockingly being traded earlier in the season from Dallas, Parsons has helped elevate Green Bay’s defense.
“I think really he’s so dynamic in everything he does and they move him around a lot to where you’ve got to pay attention to him,” Kevin Patullo said earlier this week. “But they have a really good group of guys in general. Their front seven is really good, they’re playing really good team football right now when you watch them. Just as a whole, I think he brings the energy up, and the demand for who he is just elevates everybody around him.”
Through eight games the All-Pro has 6.5 sacks to go along with 14 quarterback hits. He had a three sack game against Arizona in their Week 7 win, capping off an impressive October where he was named the NFC Defensive Player of the Month.
In seven career games against the Eagles, Parsons has five sacks.
Although it was against the New York Giants, the offense for Philadelphia looked arguably its best in their Week 8 win at home over their NFC East rival. Most notably, it was the best the offensive line played this season and in turn, allowed Saquon Barkley to have his best performance of the season, rushing for 150 yards and a touchdown while also adding a receiving touchdown to his day.
Barkley left early in the fourth quarter with a groin injury, but it does not look like that will keep the talented running back off the field come Monday and he will look to build off that game.
Last year’s rushing leader enjoyed great success against Green Bay’s defense last season, shining in his Eagles debut racking up 109 yards and two touchdowns in the season opener in Brazil. In the NFC Wild Card game, Barkley had 119 yards on 25 carries in a 22-10 victory.
The Packers’ defense struggled to stop Carolina’s running back Rico Dowdle who rushed for 125 yards and scored both touchdowns for the Panthers. If the Eagles can continue to be efficient in the run it only makes the offense as a whole that much better.
The Packers suffered a huge loss in their setback against Carolina with tight end Tucker Kraft tearing his ACL, ending his season. Per NextGen Stats, the tight end accounted for 43.8% of the Packers’ receiving yards and five of their 11 touchdowns against man coverage. The Eagles have played man coverage on 35.4% of dropbacks this season which is the eighth-highest rate in the league.
They are also without perhaps their best wide receiver in Jayden Reed who is on the IR after needing surgeries on a broken clavicle and a Jones fracture in his foot.
That leaves Jordan Love with Romeo Doubs, rookie Matthew Golden, Christian Watson who recently returned from injury, and backup tight end Luke Musgrave who will look to try and fill the void of Kraft. Doubs leads the group with 441 yards and 34 catches. Watson has only played in two games but he is averaging 23.8 yards per catch hauling in six receptions for 143 yards and has shown big play ability.
Quinyon Mitchell presumably would be the one tasked with shadowing Watson throughout the majority of the game while the rest of the cornerbacks including Cooper DeJean, Kelee Ringo and newly added Michael Carter II and former Packer Jaire Alexander have also been added to the roster to add more depth to the position and will look to contribute.
The Eagles acquired the best pass rusher that was moved at the deadline in former Miami Dolphin Jaelan Phillips for a third-round pick. He is expected to help bolster a pass rush that is tied for 25th in sacks with 16.
That group however could improve as we hit the home stretch of the regular season with Brandon Graham expected to make his return to the field along with Nolan Smith who had his practice window open on Tuesday.
Smith could be instrumental in unlocking the full potential of the pass rush. In the Wild Card round against the Packers last season, he sacked Love twice.
Per NextGen Stats, Love ranks in the top two in the NFL in completion percentage (82.9%), yards per attempt (9.8) and passer rating (131.2) when throwing from a clean pocket. Simply put, if you give Love time to go through his reads and dissect the defense, he is one of the best in the game.
On the flip side, when facing pressure, the same cannot be said and he drops to near the league’s bottom in those three categories. The Eagles have a strong secondary, but the pass rush needs to get home in this one to have success.
Jalen Hurts has done an exceptional job protecting the football. He leads the NFL in touchdown to turnover ratio (20:2) and passing touchdown to interception ratio (15:1). He will look to continue that trend against a Green Bay defense that has generated the second-fewest turnovers in the NFL (5).
If Hurts continues to play to this caliber, it will set up the Eagles nicely for a win and help create more separation between them and the Packers for the No. 1 seed in the NFC.
