Philadelphia is playing in their second straight Prime Time game this week as they travel to LA to face the Rams on Sunday Night Football. The Birds are riding a six-game win streak, and the Rams have won four of their last five, the only loss being a one-possession loss to the Dolphins. Of the Rams' five losses on the season, only one was by more than six points, a 31-point blowout loss to the Cardinals. The two teams faced off in Week 5 of last season, with the Birds walking victorious, winning 23-14. Hurts put up 375 yards and two touchdowns, but he did throw a pick. Matthew Stafford was without an interception, tossing two touchdowns and passing for 222 yards. The elite WR duo of Cooper Kupp and Puka Nacua totaled 189 receiving yards plus a Puka TD—Philadelphia's elite duo combined for 133 yards, only six of them coming from DeVonta Smith.
Game Info
Date: November 24th, 2024
Start Time: 8:20 PM ET
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Stadium: SOFI Stadium
TV Info: CBS (Mike Tirico and Chris Collinsworth and on the call)
Eagles Uniform Info: Green helmet, white jerseys, white pants
Rams Statistical Rankings
Points Per Game: 21.3 (21st)
Points Allowed Per Game: 23.9 (22nd)
Offensive Yards Per Game: 336.0 (17th)
Passing/Rushing Yards Per Game: 240.6 (T-7th) | 95.4 (26th)
Defensive Yards Allowed Per Game: 350.1 (23rd)
Passing/Rushing Yards Allowed Per Game: 222.8 (22nd) | 127.3 (18th)
Third Down Offensive/Defensive Conversion Rate: 43.9% (27th) | 37.9% (16th)
Red Zone Offensive/Defensive Conversion Rate: 50.0% (25th) | 50.0% (11th)
Penalties: 57 (6th)
Penalty Yardage: 490 (14th)
Players Already Ruled Out
Rams: OT Rob Havenstein, OT Joe Noteboom, CB Charles Woods, DT Neville Gallimore, TE Tyler Higbee
Eagles: CB James Bradberry, WR Britain Covey
Los Angeles Rams
Defense
LA's defense has been the key to their victories. They allow 20.2 PPG in their wins, compared to their 27.6 PPG allowed in their losses. They have only given up 30+ points once this season, which was in Week 2. The defense has a takeaway in all but one of their wins and has two games with three interceptions. The Rams have 15 takeaways on the year, 10 interceptions, and five fumble recoveries, which resulted in defensive touchdowns. They give up 223 pass YPG, and the QB is facing passes for just 219 a game. The main struggle is going to be stopping the run game. They're not great or horrible against the run, but Philadelphia has the top rushing attack in the league, averaging 181.3 YPG.
Looking more individually at this defense, the LB core has arguably been the strongest part. Three of their top five sack leaders are LB, being their leader Byron Young, rookie Jared Verse, and Michael Hoecht. Young is also second on the team with 10 of the team's 52 TFLs, right behind Jared Verse, who has 11. IDL Kobie Durant is having a strong season, totaling five sacks, seven TFLs, and three PDs. They'll have their hands full with the Eagles' high-powered offense, but you can't count them out.
Offense
It could be a rough week for Matthew Stafford and the company, as they are facing a ferocious Philly defense firing on all cylinders. Stafford is having an okay year, throwing for 2,557 yards, currently the seventh most in the NFL, and 13 touchdowns. He has had seven interceptions in the year and is tied for 12th most in the league. He also has been without his two best weapons most of the year, but both are back now. Cooper Kupp still leads the team in receiving yards with 488, and he has the second most TDs with four. Demarcus Robinson currently leads the team with five TD receptions and has the fourth most yards. Puka only has one touchdown all season, and it'll be difficult for him to get another this week as he'll be facing Quinyon Mitchell a fair amount, who has yet to allow a TD all year.
Kyren Williams could be the recipe for success for this offense. The Eagles' run game has been top-notch, but Williams is still one of the stronger backs in the league. He's struggled somewhat this season, having 750 yards and eight TDs. He's struggled to create big plays, only having one of the team's two 20+ yard rushes on the season. He's still taking almost all the workload on the ground, having 191% of the team's 249 rushing attempts, which is 76%. No other player has more than 30 rushing attempts.
Philadelphia Eagles
Defense
The Eagles defense has been arguably the best in the league this year, minus a few games early in the season. They give up the fewest yards per game of any team and hold their opponents to 4.7 yards per play, which is second-best. They allow 17.9 points per game, which is the sixth fewest in the league, and have only given up more than 23 points twice all season, both coming in the first four weeks. It has also been extremely hard for teams to find the end zone against this defensive unit that gives up 1.8 touchdowns per game and has the 5th best red zone defense in the league, allowing a touchdown within the 20 only 46.4% of the time.
The biggest upgrade from last season to this season has been the secondary, which will probably have its toughest task against a top-tier receiver duo in Cooper Kupp and Puka Nacua, who a gunslinger in Matthew Stafford feeds. They pass the ball 59.8% of the time, but seeing a heavy air attack is familiar for the Birds, whose opponents have passed on 59.4% of the time. Despite this, they have held teams to the second least pass yards per game at 173.2. They also allow the least yards per pass at 6.1 per completion. Quinyon Mitchell hasn't allowed a touchdown all season. He has held some of the best receivers in the league to under 30 yards when lined up across from him, including current triple-crown receiver Ja'Marr Chase.
Offense
Philly's offense has gotten a lot of help from the defense this year, but it's still a unit that should not be overlooked especially their run game. They run the ball more than any other team in the league, going to the ground on 55.2% of offensive snaps and rushing for 181.3 YPG, also the most in the league. They also rank first in rushes per game at 36.4 and rushing touchdowns per game at 1.9. They average five yards per carry, which ranks third. Saquon Barkley is currently second in the league in rushing yards, totaling 1,137 yards, just 48 yards behind Derrick Henry. Jalen Hurts is third among QBs with 417 yards and has DOUBLE as many rushing TDs as any other QB with 11, which is the second most of any player, two behind Derrick Henry.
Hurts can still sling it, though, currently completing 69.2% of his passes, a career-high as of right now. He currently has the 16th most passing yards and touchdowns, but a big reason is the Eagles' run volume. Despite not having as many opportunities to pass, Hurts has the 11th-best QBR at 62.0. His two best weapons, AJ Brown and DeVonta Smith have both struggled with injuries this season but still produce when they're on the field, especially Brown. The Birds are undefeated when he's on the field, and he currently has 618 yards and three TDs. The only Eagle with more receiving touchdowns is DeVonta Smith, who has four. Saquon Barkley is the only other player with two or more; Dallas Goedert, Paris Campbell, and Johny Wilson each have one.
Betting Info
Points Spread: PHI -2.5 (-122) | LAR +2.5 (-102)
Moneyline: PHI (-155) | LAR (+130)
Over/Under: O 49 (-110) | U 49 (-110)
Lines Via Draft Kings as of 11/22/24
Prediction
I see Philly continuing to soar with another convincing win this week. The Eagles' defense has been playing out of their minds, and as we saw against Washington, having a strong and balanced offense doesn't work. Quinyonamo Bay and company should be able to neutralize, if not shut down, the Rams WR duo and Kyren Williams is gonna have a tough day against a defense that has given up the sixth least rushing yards on the season. If all goes as planned, Philly will walk away with their seventh straight win and move to 9-2 on the season.
Final Score: Eagles 27, Rams 13
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