On Sunday, the reigning Super Bowl champions, the (3)Philadelphia Eagles(11-6), will host the (6)San Francisco 49ers(12-5) in the Wild Card Round of the playoffs at Lincoln Financial Field.
For the Eagles this season, the defense has been consistent, but the offense, not so much.
Philadelphia is near the bottom in many offensive categories, including yards per game (24th), points per game (19th), andpassing yards (22nd). Also, the team had the highest rate of three-and-outs in the NFL.
Furthermore, the Eagles have had two games this season where they had zero passing yards in the second half.
Earlier this week, despite all the struggles the team has had offensively, which is anchored by first-year offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo. Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni said he believes that the team has found an identity.
“I do, I do,” he said. “I think we are continuing to get better through that, and I think that it’s shown in some of these last games, and obviously Buffalo, we had a bad half where we didn’t do a good enough job at coaching. We didn’t do a good enough job playing. But yeah, I think we have.”
On Friday, Sirianni was asked to expound on his comments about the offense finding its identity.
“I won’t get into that with scheme stuff or anything like that,” he said. “But identity are things and themes that you want to be able to do, and you want to be able to do them well, and you are still working on that. You’re still trying to play your best game by the end of the year, and you’re still growing every day.”
Before the second half against Buffalo, the offense did play better in the previous two games against the Raiders and Commanders, but it’s the Raiders and Commanders. However, any level of success can help the team get into a rhythm, and they will need to do so offensively if they want to get back to the Super Bowl.
Prediction:
The 49ers are banged up, and their defense is not very good. However, they have a very good offense, with head coach Kyle Shanahan, a great play-caller, but Philly’s strength is its defense.
We saw last week what a good defense, as they have in Seattle, can do to this 49ers’ offense, and yes, they didn’t have LT Trent Williams and WR Ricky Pearsall, who are both listed as questionable for Sunday’s game, so they might not have them again against the Eagles. Even if they do, despite having Christian McCaffrey and Brock Purdy, Philadelphia’s defense is elite and will be ready.
Expect the Eagles to have enough success on offense with Jalen Hurts and Saquon Barkley, and the defense to get the job done.
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