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Your in-depth Eagles at Rams Week 15 preview

Adrian Fedkiw|

Here we go again, the underdogs are back!

Does Nick Foles have any magic left or will the 2018 Philadelphia Eagles season end with a whimper?

EAGLES PASSING GAME VS. RAMS PASS DEFENSE
PHI- 98.3 PASSER RATING (12/32), 255 YPG (12/32)
LAR- 95.0 PASSER RATING ALLOWED (18/32), 237 YPG ALLOWED (14/32)

Injuries have devastated the Philadelphia Eagles this season and the bug just bit one more time.

ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported Thursday that Carson Wentz has a fractured vertebra in his back and is not expected to play Sunday. He also could be shut down for the remainder of the season.

The Eagles had done CT scans throughout the season, Wentz popped up on the injury report in Weeks 6-8, but the fracture wasn’t discovered until this week, according to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport.

Eagles head coach Doug Pederson stated that Wentz was questionable for Sunday’s game during his presser conference Friday. I don’t think he’s fooling anybody. Pederson said the injury evolved over time.

“He has a stress injury evolved over time and requires no surgery. I’m not asking or answering any more questions about it. We’re playing the Rams in two days if you guys haven’t figured this out. He’s listed as questionable and that’s the way it is.”

Pederson was asked if he was concerned over Wentz’s injury history.

“I think you guys can sit here and say it’s probably a red flag. A lot of injuries occur because of the nature of the sport. The violent hits of this sport; guys know exactly what they are getting into, even at a young age and I think Carson is no different.

“But moving forward we need to make sure we do a better job of protecting him, starting with the offense line, starting with the backs. He does his part getting the ball out of his hand. I do my part by maybe incorporating more screens and quick throws to help that but it’s not in any way going to change the aggressiveness of my nature or his moving forward.”

Pederson definitely wasn’t in a mood to talk about Wentz, here’s the first few minutes of the presser if you’d like to watch for yourself.

OK then, let’s move on. It’s Foles SZN!

EAGLES RUNNING GAME VS. RAMS RUN DEFENSE
PHI- 4.1 YPC (26/32), 97.9 YPG (28/32)
LAR- 5.1 YPC ALLOWED (32/32), 124.2 YPG ALLOWED (23/32)

Josh Adams had seen 20-plus carries in consecutive victories, but was limited to just seven against Dallas after gaining 30 yards on three runs in the game’s opening drive. Philadelphia is 6-0 when it runs the ball 25-plus times this season compared to an 0-7 mark when it doesn’t eclipse 25.

Eagles offensive coordinator credited a lack of opportunities as the reasoning for Adams not getting the rock more.

“I think part of it was we didn’t have a good first half; 17 plays in the first half, and one of those drives was a two-minute drive. They were all passes there. That might have been four or five of those plays before the turnover. So we didn’t have a lot of opportunities, and that goes back to the third down question. We have to convert on third down, put ourselves in manageable third down situations to make.

“And then in the second half, again, we’re getting a lot of production out of the passing game. Carson (Wentz) was whatever, 10 of 14 or something like that in the fourth quarter. Two touchdown passes. You can’t ask for a better quarter than that from your quarterback. And two game-time drives.

“Again, we have to find that balance. We have to start earlier, start faster. We’ve talked about that a lot. We know the issues. It’s not just one thing. When we do that and start fast, the game seems to have a little bit more flow.”

The Rams are dead last in yards per carry allowed at 5.1, but are certainly more stout inside where Aaron Donald, Michael Brockers and Ndamukong Suh reside. Adams is more comfortable running between the tackles. The outside zone and sweep runs is what would work best against Los Angeles, that’s not necessarily Adams’ strength, however.

RAMS PASSING GAME VS. EAGLES PASS DEFENSE
PHI- 96.7 PASSER RATING ALLOWED (21/32), 277 YPG ALLOWED (30/32)
LAR- 101.1 PASSER RATING (6/32), 290 YPG (5/32)

The Eagles have obviously lost three of their four starters in the secondary since the beginning of the season. It’s going to be a tall task of attempting to limit the production of Brandin Cooks and Robert Woods.

Rasul Douglas comes off a big game in Dallas, despite the unfortunate game-ending touchdown by Amari Cooper. He tackled well and made a key interception.

Eagles defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz commented about his performance.

“My heart breaks for him in that last play, because he took points off the board with a great interception. He tackled really well; made some really good plays for us. If he makes that last play, I mean, that’s sort of an NFC player of the week type game. But, he wasn’t able to make it. Was in position, got his hand on it, and sort of a bad break. They were able to turn it into the game winner.

“But the last couple weeks I think he really has had some bounce-back games. I have been most happy with the way he’s tackled. He’s had some rough starts early in the season with some tackles and he’s playing physical and he’s playing with a little bit of confidence.”

Sidney Jones was the other starter at cornerback and was eventually taken out due to his hamstring injury. Schwartz spoke of his play as well.

“He was going good early in that game. Another guy who made some good tackles for us. Had a big PBU, and then he started feeling a little bit. Trainers took him in. After the half they thought he would be ready to go again. He was out and made a couple nice plays for us, and then it was pretty obvious that he wasn’t running the way he could.

“I don’t think on the touchdown that was the issue. I think he was in good position and just the guy made a great throw and he didn’t really finish it. You could really tell on the next one the guy sort of ran right past him and Sid was off. It was obvious then that he couldn’t run well enough to do his job, so we had to take him back out again.

“Like all our other players, he’s game and he’s out there battling trying to do whatever he can to help the team. He knows the position we’re in with our corners, and he’s trying his very best. But it’s up to us at times to be able to say, “Okay, let’s call it a day,” and that’s what we had to do late in that game.”

If Jones can’t go, it’ll be De’Vante Bausy on the outside again.

The Rams are in 11 personnel (1 back, 1 tight end) about 99 percent of the time. Schwartz explained why they’re able to maintain a high level of production despite staying in one personnel grouping for essentially the entire game.

“All their guys are sort of interchangeable. They can use their tight ends as wide receivers. You’ll see their wide receivers line up in block, sort of like tight ends would. You’ll see them close to the offensive tackle.

“Not many teams you see wide receivers stay in the protection and protect; the Rams do. So even though they’re in one personnel group, it really plays like four different personnel groups for them because of the interchangeable — all their tight ends can be a wide out; most of their wide outs can be a tight end; the running back can be a wide receiver, he can be a running back, and he can also line up in some tight end positions in some of their empty stuff.

“To say they stay in one personnel group, yeah, the jersey numbers stay the same, but the way they’re using them — you guys know how much we value multi-dimensional players in defense. It gives you the ability to able to play a lot of different ways. They’re sort of the offensive counterpoint to that.”

The way to disrupt the flow of the Rams’ offense is to get pressure on Jared Goff, something that Fletcher Cox and Michael Bennett have been able to do in recent weeks. It’s how the Bears were able to shut down LA last week. Bennett continues to see an increase in snaps and continues to thrive.

RAMS RUNNING GAME VS. EAGLES RUN DEFENSE
PHI- 5.0 YPC ALLOWED (29/32), 103.7 YPG ALLOWED (10/32)
LAR- 4.7 YPC (7/32), 131.5 YPG (6/32)

Todd Gurley leads the NFL with 19 rushing touchdowns and his 1,203 rushing yards is second, but he only received 14 touches in the loss to Chicago. He gained just 28 yards on 11 carries, while also catching three passes for 30 yards.

Rams head coach Sean McVay explained this week that when the ball is in Gurley’s hands “good things happen” and regretted not getting him the ball more in the Windy City.

Gurley spoke about the loss.

”That’s just being a part of the NFL. Take the ‘Ls’. Sometimes they’re clean ass whoopings and then there’s just those close games and last week was just one of those games. It’s in the past. You learn from it and just try to come back and bounce back the next week.”

Gurley posted a pair of touchdowns and 96 yards on 13 carries in the loss to the Eagles in Week 14 last season.

PREDICTION: There won’t be an underdog run, it’s not meant to be.I’d feel better in Foles if he had a couple games under his belt heading into LA, but he doesn’t have that luxury.

31-20 Rams.

 

You can follow Adrian Fedkiw on Twitter (@AdrianFedkiw) and e-mail him at [email protected]. Subscribe to The Bitter Birds on YouTube here.

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