October 01, 2017
It's October, and that used to mean one thing in the NFL: Pink!
This year, you won't be seeing quite as much pink on the field, but we're still going to begin finding out which teams are for real, and which ones are going to fade into the background as the season rolls on.
For the Eagles, they're hoping to solidify their position as the former, while proving their opponent on Sunday, the 0-3 San Diego Chargers of Los Angeles, are the latter.
Here are five numbers to keep an eye on as these two teams square off on the West Coast in Week 4.
That's the current total being offered over at Bovada. It's right around where the Eagles projected totals were in each of the first three games – not to mention that it's pretty darn close to their actual scoring average so far this season. With point totals of 47, 47 and 51, respectively, the Birds and their opponents are combining for an average of 48.33 points.
The Chargers, meanwhile, have scored more than 40 points just once all season.
The Eagles will be without some key players again on defense, including Fletcher Cox, and that's going to make Jim Schwartz's job quite difficult against Philip Rivers and the Chargers offense. That being said, the Eagles offense hasn't inspired a lot of confidence when it comes to putting up a ton of points. I predicted 44 points as the total in our weekly predictions, and I'm sticking with that number for this one.
UNDER.
After two weeks struggling on the ground, including a Week 2 game against the Chiefs that saw ZERO carries for LeGarrette Blount, the Eagles rushing attack broke out against the Giants last week.
The Birds ran for 193 yards. More importantly, 171 of it came from their running backs.
The bad news for Doug Pederson and the Eagles is that they'll be without arguably their most explosive backfield weapon in Darren Sproles, who is done for the season after breaking his arm and tearing his ACL in Week 3.
Sproles won't get a chance to face his former team on Sunday, but it shouldn't hurt the Eagles too much against a Chargers defense that is one of the worst in the league against the run (31st in yards allowed and 27th in YPA). Sproles only accounted for 11 yards on three carries last week, so if Pederson again deploys a ground-heavy attack, the Birds should be able to do some damage with their three remaining running backs – Blount, Wendell Smallwood and Corey Clement.
At least, that's the plan.
OVER.
This one is going to be interesting. Rivers didn't get off to his best start this season but has shown flashes of his old self each week. Against the Birds on Sunday, however, I have a feeling that Rivers is going to not only have time to throw but also going to be able to find some open receivers.
Eli Manning threw for 366 yards and three touchdowns last week at the Linc. I don't know if Rivers will be able to replicate those numbers – his receiving corps isn't nearly as talented – but he won't need to be that good in order to hit the over here.
OVER.
After recording eight sacks through their first two games of the season, the Eagles defense failed to bring down Manning last week.
The Eagles already have a banged-up secondary, something that likely made Jim Schwartz hesitant to blitz against the Giants. Add in no Fletcher Cox, and you begin to wonder how the Birds will get the disruption up front they'll need to sack Rivers without sending extra men (and leaving the defensive backfield even more exposed than it already is.
Remember last season, when the Eagles went what seemed like an entire month without recording a sack after being among the league's most productive in that area for the first part of the season?
UNDER.
Jake Elliott may have wound up playing the hero last week, but he was dangerously close to playing the villain for the second week in a row. After missing once in his debut against the Chiefs, the Eagles rookie who was forced into action following a Week 2 injury to Caleb Sturgis, missed again last Sunday before hitting the game-winning 61-yarder at the buzzer. He's 4-for-6 on the season.
But even if he's able to keep a clean sheet this time around, there's still a decent chance we see a missed FG in this one. Chargers rookie YoungHoe Koo is just 2-for-5 this season ... and just 1-for-4 on kicks beyond 30 yards.
For those doing the math at home, that's a combined 6-for-11 so far for these two rookies. And through five combined games, they've averaged one miss per game ... each.
OVER.
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