On Sunday night, the Philadelphia Eagles upset the Los Angeles Rams 30-23. Now everyone is wondering what’s going on with the Rams. A few weeks ago, they were the blueprint of what every team should aspire to be. Everyone wanted to find the next Sean McVay to be their coach and Jared Goff was playing elite football. Now let’s not overreact. McVay is still a phenomenal coach and while Goff has struggled in recent weeks, you cannot forget about what he did the past two seasons. It has just taken a while for them to show the chinks in their armor. And how about the Eagles? They will not go gentle into that good night. Nick Foles made his return and the offense looked smoother than usual. Their defense looked closer to the elite unit we saw win the Super Bowl last season.
What’s up with Goff?
This is Goff’s third shaky game in a row. Primarily, what changed is defenses are starting to pressure him. According to Pro Football Focus, Goff’s passer rating under pressure from Weeks 11 – 14 was an abysmal 14.3. He ranks 27th out of 27 qualifying quarterbacks. His 25.0 % accuracy was also last. Sunday night certainly didn’t improve those ratings. He was 35 of 54 for 339 yards and 2 interceptions. He threw 7 interceptions in the past three games while fumbling at least once in each. Although the offensive line hasn’t been playing its best football, Goff is playing much jumpier than usual. He’s unnecessarily fading away on a lot of his throws, leading to some inaccuracy issues. For the Rams to have a chance at making a run during the playoffs, Goff needs to trust his offensive line more.
Return of Foles
BAH GAWD, that’s Nick Foles’ music! Are we experiencing the second coming of Foles? This situation is a little different from last year when Wentz was an MVP candidate and the Eagles were at the top of the NFC East. Now the Eagles are sitting on the outside looking in but still have a chance to win the division or take a wild card spot. The offense becomes simpler when Foles is running the show. Coach Doug Pederson says it himself. Foles isn’t as athletically gifted as Wentz, therefore, the game plan must be simplified. However, simpler isn’t always a bad thing. Foles was 24 of 31 for 270 yards and 1 interception. Foles does a good job of spreading the ball around while Wentz clearly likes to lean on Zach Ertz in the passing game. If Foles can lead the Eagles on another run, it will truly be one of the best stories in sports.
Eagles Defense Comes Up Big
The Eagles looked like their old dominant selves again. They went on the road and shut down one of the best offenses in football for a majority of the night. The Rams certainly made it interesting at the end but they were in Goff’s kitchen all night and Todd Gurley was held to just 48 yards on 12 carries, although he did reach the end zone twice. The front seven played great as they consistently suffocated the pocket and made Goff very uncomfortable. Cornerback Avonte Maddox provided some much-needed juice to the secondary after being sidelined for 3 weeks due to an injury and earned his second interception of the year.
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