Eagles-Rams player matchups to watch in Week 12 originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
The Eagles (8-2) will travel to Los Angeles to face the Rams (5-5) on Sunday Night Football.
Here are some key matchups to watch:
Eagles corners vs. Cooper Kupp and Puka Nacua
The Rams have been a completely different offense since both Cooper Kupp and Puka returned to the lineup. Here’s a look at their production the last few weeks:
10/24 vs. Vikings: Kupp – 5 catches, 51 yards, 1 TD | Nacua – 7 catches, 106 yards, 1 TD
11/3 at Seahawks: Kupp – 11 catches, 104 yards | Nacua – 1 catch, 11 yards
11/11 vs. Dolphins: Kupp – 7 catches, 80 yards | Nacua 9 catches, 98 yards
11/17 at Patriots: Kupp – 6 catches, 106 yards, 2 TDs | Nacua – 7 catches, 123 yards, 1 TD
“Yeah, two really good receivers,” DC Vic Fangio said. “They really have good [chemistry], both of them, with (Matthew) Stafford. They are strong at the catch point. Both of them are strong receivers. Both are excellent runners after the catch. They have played, I don’t know how many games, but more than a few without either one of them.
“For them to be at this point in the season with the injuries they have had speaks highly of their players and their coaching staff. Now they are back pretty much to full strength offensively and they will be a tough group to defend.”
Both Kupp and Nacua are coming off great games against the Patriots on Sunday afternoon. They combined to have 13 catches for 229 yards and 3 touchdowns in the 28-22 win. So if you’re going to stop the Rams, it starts with slowing down their two fantastic receivers.
It’ll take a group effort from the Eagles’ secondary, but especially from outside corners Darius Slay and Quinyon Mitchell and nickel cornerback Cooper DeJean.
This is a game where it really helps to have DeJean in the lineup because the Rams get both of their top wideouts inside quite a bit. Kupp plays inside on 67% of his snaps, while Nacua is inside on 28% of his offensive snaps.
Vic Fangio vs. Matthew Stafford and Sean McVay
The Eagles this season have the No. 2 pass defense in the NFL. Since the bye week, the Eagles have given up just 130.7 passing yards per game in their six-game winning streak. Opponents have a passer rating of just 68.2 against them since the bye.
While the Eagles have played some awful quarterbacks during this stretch, they did beat Joe Burrow, Jayden Daniels and Trevor Lawrence so it’s not like they’ve just been beating up on backups. Stafford is a really good quarterback still at age 36. He’s coming off a four-touchdown game against the Patriots and for the season has 13 TDs to 7 INTs. Before Sunday’s game, Stafford had thrown a pick in six straight games, though, so he will turn the ball over on occasion.
Fangio has been great this season and he has his defense playing at an extremely high level. Rams head coach Sean McVay has been very complimentary of Fangio in the past. In fact, back in an ESPN story from 2019, McVay, Kyle Shanahan and Matt LaFleur all said Fangio’s defense was the toughest to read and attack.
The last time Fangio faced McVay was Week 14 of the 2018 season when Fangio was still the Bears’ DC. The Bears throttled the Rams that day for a 15-6 win. The Rams ended that season as the No. 2 offense in the NFL but that day they managed just 214 yards and 6 points. Jared Goff threw four interceptions that day.
A big key in this game will be dealing with all the pre-snap motion the Rams like to use. They have used motion on 82% of their snaps this season. They also use motion at the snap on 70.3% of their snaps and multiple motions on 20.2% of their snaps, according to NextGenStats. The Eagles have to be ready for the eye candy.
“Well, No. 1, we’ve got to be able to react to it and adjust to it correctly,” Fangio said. “They do motion a lot at various tempos, and they are trying to get you out of position and back on your heels a little bit. We’ve got to be ready for it and be able to play correctly and not let the motion confuse us at all.”
Eagles DL vs. Rams ever-changing OL
Stafford was not sacked once by the Patriots and the Rams’ makeshift offensive line gave up just five total pressures in their win over the Patriots. The Rams finally benched big free agent pickup Jonah Jackson and got a better level of play at center from sixth-round rookie Beaux Limmer.
The Rams also played that game without starting tackles Rob Havenstein and Joe Noteboom. In their place, the Rams started Alaric Jackson and Warren McClendon. It was a good game from the offensive line and we’ll see what five they decide to put out there on Sunday against the Eagles.
When under pressure this season, Stafford is completing just 47.3% of his passes and averaging 5.5 yards per attempt. Those are his lowest numbers under pressure since 2018, per NextGen Stats.
The Eagles, meanwhile, have been getting good play from several players up front this season, starting with Jalen Carter. The defensive tackle is coming off a game where he played 100% of the Eagles’ defensive snaps and was constantly in the backfield. And while the Eagles don’t have a top-end edge rusher like Haason Reddick anymore, they are getting contributions from Josh Sweat, Nolan Smith and Brandon Graham.
Eagles OL vs. Rams DL
The one guy who might be standing in the way of Quinyon Mitchell winning the Defensive Rookie of the Year is Rams rookie Jared Verse. The 24-year-old, who was the 19th pick in the draft, has been playing well all season. In 10 starts, he has 4 1/2 sacks, 2 forced fumbles, 14 quarterback hits, 11 TFLs and 42 total tackles. And on the other side, Byron Young leads the Rams with 6 sacks this season. They form a formidable 1-2 punch for the Rams, who have generated a pressure rate of 45% or higher in five of 10 games this season, per NextGen Stats. They had a pressure rate of 47.8% against the Patriots in Week 11.
For the most part, Young lines up over right tackles more often and Verse over left tackles. That sets up Young vs. Lane Johnson and Verse vs. Jordan Mailata in this game. The Eagles’ have the best pair of offensive tackles in the NFL.
The Rams also have a couple of disruptive interior rushers with Kobie Turner and Braden Fiske. That will create some more important matches with those guys on Landon Dickerson, Cam Jurgens and Mekhi Becton on the interior of the trenches.
A.J. Brown vs. Rams corners
The Rams’ pass defense isn’t great. They are ranked 22nd in the league in yards but are 29th in net yards per attempt, giving up 6.8 yards per passing attempt. They got Darious Williams back a few weeks ago and he is out there with Ahkello Witherspoon, Cobie Durant and Quentin Lake at the position group.
There are definitely some matchups the Eagles can try to exploit on Sunday.
The last time the Eagles got A.J. Brown some 1-on-1s against Witherspoon was in that Steelers game in 2022; according to PFF, he had 4 for 74 and 2 touchdowns against Witherspoon in that Week 8 game. So if he ends up with Witherspoon on him in this game, I like Brown’s chances. Chuck it deep.
Of course, it might help to get DeVonta Smith (hamstring) a little more involved if he’s healthy enough to play. He has not seen the volume of targets or catches as we’re used to since the Week 5 bye week.
3 games before the bye: 28 targets, 21 catches, 239 yards, 1 TD
6 games since: 28 targets, 20 catches, 277 yards, 3 TDs
Saquon Barkley vs. Rams run defense
The Rams’ run defense is fine. They rank 18th in yards, 10th in yards/attempt and 13th in EPA/rush. They’re also giving up just 1.22 yards before contact per rushing attempt, which ranks 10th in the NFL. That’s an area where the Eagles have been so good this season. They’re second in the NFL before contact, averaging 2.36. They’ve been so good at opening up major holes for Barkley.
The things we’ve noticed since the bye week is that the Eagles are going to stick with the run and for good reason. They have a powerful offensive line and one of the best running backs in football. After going under center for just 8.7% of their plays before the bye week, they have been under center 21.3% of their snaps since the bye, per NextGen Stats.
In 10 games this season, Barkley already has 1,137 rushing yards and 8 touchdowns. He’s averaging a ridiculous 5.8 yards per attempt after he was under 4.0 per attempt with the Giants last season. He also hits home runs quite often.
It’s worth noting that the Rams stack the box on 17.4% of their snaps, according to NextGen Stats. That’s 24th in the NFL. They’ve been able to stop the run despite that but that might change against the Eagles in this one.
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