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Your In-Depth Eagles vs. Cardinals Week 5 Preview

Adrian Fedkiw|

The Arizona Cardinals have been giving the Philadelphia Eagles fitz for the last decade, pun intended.

Arizona has won five of the last six matchups between the teams, but both of these rosters are vastly different than the ones who did battle before.

 

EAGLES PASSING GAME VS. CARDINALS PASS DEFENSE
PHI- 90.5 PASSER RATING (15/32), 250 YPG (11/32)
ARI- 97.0 PASSER RATING ALLOWED (22/32), 215 YPG ALLOWED (12/32)

Carson Wentz came into the Los Angeles Chargers’ game just 4-of-16 on his attempted passes over 20 yards and finished 2-of-6 on Sunday, but the ball placement was a lot better. The Eagles exploited the Chargers’ Cover 3 on a couple occasions down the field with a trio of seam passes, two of which were perfectly thrown to Nelson Agholor and Zach Ertz and another to Torrey Smith, which was dropped.

Speaking of Smith, he was on the field for 57 snaps on Sunday and registered just a single catch for nine yards. He has five drops so far on the season and leads the NFL in the category over the last five seasons. Mack Hollins on the other hand, saw just nine snaps after lighting it up in the preseason and showing signs of encouragement in the loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. Marcus Johnson saw nine snaps as well. Whether he’s taking Smith or Johnson’s reps, Hollins needs to be out on the field more.

Eagles head coach Doug Pederson, however, says he’s going to ride it out with his veteran Smith during his press conference on Monday.

I think with the veteran players it is different (than if he was a younger player). You just keep firing the ball at them, keep shooting. That’s something we’ll continue to do. We’ll keep him in the mix, keep him coming. And he’s a guy that works extremely hard during the week, and he’ll get that fixed.

Alshon Jeffery currently has 17 receptions on 34 targets for 215 yards and two touchdowns. He’s also struggling against the top cornerbacks in the game and it doesn’t get easier Sunday with arguably the best corner in the game in Patrick Peterson. Against the quartet of Josh Norman, Marcus Peters, Janoris Jenkins and Casey Hayward, Jeffery has totaled eight of his receptions for 67 yards. If Jeffery wants to get paid like a No. 1, he needs to beat the No. 1’s on a more consistent basis.

I also think that Wentz and Jeffery have yet to build the proper rapport, especially on the back-shoulder throws, which Jeffery is adept at snagging at. Here was an example of an attempt during the Los Angeles game. Wentz’s trajectory is too flat and he doesn’t put the ball high enough to allow Jeffery to box out his defender, leap up and snag it with his strong hands.

 

EAGLES RUNNING GAME VS. CARDINALS RUN DEFENSE
PHI- 4.7 YPC (5/32), 143.0 YPG (3/32)
ARI- 3.2 YPC ALLOWED (6/32), 88.0 YPG ALLOWED (10/32)

Will Pederson have the sticktoitiveness to continue running the football if the Eagles struggle with it to start, because that hasn’t been the case the last two weeks going against bad rush defenses. The Chargers are 28th in yards per carry allowed at 4.9 and the Giants are 25th at 4.6. The Cardinals on the other hand are sixth at 3.2.

Can Philly maintain its steady rushing attack against a better run defense?

LeGarrette Blount had 136 of the Eagles’ 214 rushing yards and Philadelphia ran the final 6:44 off the clock to hold off the Chargers last week. What a final trek it was, especially considering the Eagles’ defense had no answer for Philip Rivers and Los Angeles’ passing attack down the stretch. The Chargers posted consecutive 75-yard touchdown drives prior to Philadelphia’s 6:44 march where it moved the ball 59 yards in 13 plays and picked up a trio of third downs, two by Corey Clement and the other by Blount.

The Eagles had 36 designed runs for the running backs, which totaled 200 yards and 5.55 yards per carry. This is on the heels of a 171-yard rushing performance against the Giants where Philly had 33 totes for the backs, averaging 5.18 yards per carry. The left guard spot should belong to Stefen Wisniewski. He and Chance Warmack both saw snaps last week again on a rotational type basis.

The Cardinals have a very athletic defense that moves well going sideline to sideline with players such as Tyrann Mathieu, Deone Buchannan and Hasson Redick flying around. I believe the Eagles will have more success running the ball up the middle with Blount, who led the Birds with 16 carries last week. I’m expecting to see him get a bulk of the load. Wendell Smallwood might miss Sunday’s game with a knee injury, which would open it up for Clement to see more playing time.

 

CARDINALS PASSING GAME VS. EAGLES PASS DEFENSE
PHI- 97.0 PASSER RATING ALLOWED (22/32), 285 YPG ALLOWED (30/32)
ARI- 78.2 PASSER RATING (25/32), 292 YPG (2/32)

Larry Fitzgerald is an Eagles killer, posting 50 receptions for 845 yards and 11 touchdowns in his last eight meetings between the teams, which includes the postseason. He’ll be used out wide and in the slot. Patrick Robinson has been quietly impressing since struggling to start Training Camp, but Fitzgerald will provide an entirely different test for the 30-year-old.

Cardinals head coach Bruce Arians likes to utilize an aggressive deep passing attack and stress defenses vertically, but the problem with Arizona is it doesn’t keep Carson Palmer upright long enough for those downfield routes to develop. Arizona is tied for the league lead in sacks surrendered with 17. If Arians elects to call a lot of deep passes Sunday, the Eagles’ ferocious pass rush will terrorize Palmer. Philadelphia had eight sacks the first two weeks, but just two in the last two as opposing offenses have called more quick passes to negate the rush.

Even if Fletcher Cox is held out again, there’s plenty of depth along the Eagles’ front to disrupt Palmer all afternoon.

It’s no coincidence that the Chargers stormed back last Sunday once they resorted to quicker drops. They had just four over their first five possessions and scored seven points, but tossed 18 quick passes over their final four series and put up 17 points. The secondary also allowed another deep touchdown pass. Sterling Shepard raced through the secondary for a long score two weeks ago, and Tyrell Williams hauled in a 75-yard touchdown catch last Sunday.

Rasul Douglas also took a step back last week with his tackling. Keenan Allen obliterated him at the line of scrimmage here and Douglas didn’t show the catch-up speed to take him down from behind following the reception.

 

CARDINALS RUNNING GAME VS. EAGLES RUN DEFENSE
PHI- 4.3 YPC ALLOWED (22/32), 70.8 YPG ALLOWED (2/32)
ARI- 3.4 YPC (24/32), 57.0 YPG (32/32)

Without David Johnson, the Cardinals’ rushing attack has obviously taken a big hit. Chris Johnson is the current starter, but was picked up off the street a few weeks ago and is only averaging 2.6 yards per carry. Andre Ellington and Kerwynn Williams will also see snaps.

The Eagles are a great run defense when you take the big plays out of things, but they have allowed a 53-yard TD run to Kareem Hunt and this 35-yard score to Austin Ekeler last week. You take those runs away, the Birds are giving up just 3.03 yards per tote. It’s 4.3 when you leave them in. Timmy Jernigan and Beau Allen stepped up in run defense during Cox’s absence last week.

 

PREDICTION

Arians seems like the stubborn type and if he lets it get the best of him on Sunday, Carson Palmer might be leaving in an ambulance. Arians likes the implement the deep passing attack and in order for that to work to full effectiveness, the Cardinals’ shaky offensive line will have to keep Palmer upright against a defensive line that salivates getting after the quarterback. If Arizona doesn’t go to a quick passing attack, which is the Kryptonite of the Eagles defense, I think it’s going to be difficult for the Cardinals to move the ball consistently. I’ve got the Eagles winning comfortably.

23-9 Eagles

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