November 20, 2015
According to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com, the Philadelphia Eagles will be without talented but injury-prone backup running back Ryan Mathews this week against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, due to a concussion.
With #Eagles RB Ryan Mathews out with a concussion for Sunday, Kenjon Barner will get his first carries since 2013. Will be fascinating.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) November 20, 2015
In addition to "fascinating," I will add that Barner's first carries (if he even gets any) will be engrossing, riveting, captivating, and dare I say... enchanting?
As we mentioned in the five matchups to watch this week, the Buccaneers do a great job defensively against the run:
As we've seen this season, the Eagles go as their run game goes. When the Eagles have not been able to run the football successfully, Sam Bradford has not shown that he can put the team on his back and get wins. The same can probably be projected for Mark Sanchez.
This Sunday, the Eagles will face a Bucs D that allows the third-lowest yards per rushing attempt in the NFL, at 3.6. They have also allowed no runs of 40+ yards, and only three runs of 20+ yards. Only one team has allowed fewer. In that sense, this is a bad matchup for the Eagles offense.
Getting something going on the ground will become even more challenging with Mathews out.
Follow Jimmy on Twitter: @JimmyKempski
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