December 29, 2023
Jamie Sabau/USA TODAY Sports
Cardinals head coach and former Eagles DC Jonathan Gannon will return to the Linc this Sunday with a banged-up and undermanned group.
The Eagles remain ahead in the NFC East and still within the hunt for the conference's No. 1 seed in the playoffs thanks to a win over the Giants and coinciding losses from Dallas and San Francisco.
They likely need to win out over the final two weeks to stay with it though, and despite a Christmas Day win over a division rival, the Birds don't look any steadier on either side of the ball than they did the week prior.
But the return of Jonathan Gannon and a banged-up, undermanned Arizona Cardinals team are on deck. Maybe this is the perfect time for a tune-up? That or a game where lingering problems continue to persist.
Here are our thoughts...
TV: FOX (Joe Davis, Daryl Johnston, Pam Oliver)
RADIO: 94.1 WIP (Merrill Reese, Mike Quick)
| Sportsbook | Spread | Money Line | Total O/U |
| DraftKings | PHI -11 | ARI +440 PHI -600 | 48.5 |
| FanDuel | PHI -10.5 | ARI +400 PHI -520 | 48 |
| BetMGM | PHI -10.5 | ARI +425 PHI -600 | 48 |
| UniBet | PHI -10.5 | ARI +410 PHI -560 | 48 |
| PointsBet | PHI -11.5 | ARI +450 PHI -625 | 48 |
The Cardinals' Week 1 defensive starters, with players on IR in red, players on the injury report in orange, and players no longer on the team or who have lost their starting jobs crossed out:
• DL: L.J. Collier (IR)
• NT: Leki Fotu (IR)
• DL: Jonathan Ledbetter (injury report)
• OLB: Victor Dimukeje (injury report)
• LB: Kyzir White (IR)
• LB: Josh Woods (IR)
• OLB: Zaven Collins (injury report)
• CB Marco Wilson
• CB Kei'Trel Clark
• S Budda Baker
• S Jalen Thompson
That defense was never good to begin with, and now they're also extremely depleted. They have been especially bad against the run in recent weeks:
| Opponent | Rushes | Yards | YPC | TD |
| Bears, Week 16 | 39 | 250 | 6.4 | 2 |
| 49ers, Week 15 | 26 | 144 | 5.5 | 1 |
| Steelers, Week 14 | 31 | 130 | 4.2 | 0 |
| Rams, Week 13 | 33 | 228 | 6.9 | 1 |
That would be 188 rushing yards allowed per game.
The Cardinals' offense isn't awful. They have a talented quarterback and some decent offensive weapons. But they have arguably the worst defense in the NFL.
Arizona has three wins this season. The Eagles absolutely need this game. I think it’s a win for sure. Will it be pretty? Probably not. “A win is a win” is the story of this season for this team.
The Eagles are in desperate need of a pre-playoff tune-up game. Last week against a woeful Giants team was supposed to be that, but was ultimately an unimpressive outing. The return of Jonathan Gannon and facing a bottom-feeder Cardinals defense (isn’t he supposed to be a defensive head coach?) might finally provide the formula to get the Birds’ offense looking like its 2022 self.
At this point, I don't really trust the coaching staff to put together a cohesive offensive gameplan nor the defense to reliably get a stop. The Eagles are going to win this because they're more talented and they have to, but this is going to be the ugliest, most unnecessarily hard-fought 30-17 victory you'll ever see. And much like after the Giants game, I'm not so sure anyone's going to leave this Sunday feeling any better about the team.
The Eagles are back to their winning ways – in their own way at the very least. They take on a beaten-down Cardinals team, both in the box score and through injury. There are a couple of factors that probably keep this game too close for comfort but with Philly ultimately prevailing. The two biggest external concerns are a mobile QB in Kyler Murray being able to extend plays and force some tough decisions by defenders in coverage. The other is a former DC in Jonathan Gannon who is familiar with Jalen Hurts and knows his tendencies from coaching with him.
Philadelphia is just more talented than Arizona so don’t expect an upset, just don’t bet the Eagles to cover.
Follow Nick on Twitter: @itssnick
Like us on Facebook: PhillyVoice Sports
