As the Philadelphia Eagles look to take on the Atlanta Falcons with Nick Foles at the helm, a look at five bold predictions for the NFC’s No. 1 seed.
Throughout the majority of the 2017 NFL regular season, the Philadelphia Eagles looked like a team of destiny. They were the class of the entire league, succeeding on both sides of the ball and dominating most everyone in their path. However, that’s when a cruel stroke of fate took them by surprise and took Carson Wentz, who was playing like an MVP, out for the rest of the season with a torn ACL.
Even still, the Eagles were able to secure the top seed in the NFC for the 2018 NFL Playoffs. They were on the bye for Wild Card Weekend and now will welcome the No. 6 seed Atlanta Falcons to the City of Brotherly Love on Saturday. Nick Foles will be at the helm, but that doesn’t mean Philly doesn’t have a shot.
As dangerous as the Falcons, last year’s NFC Champions, can be, they have also been inconsistent throughout the season. What’s more, there are areas where they’re vulnerable. With that, let’s take a look at five bold predictions for the Eagles on Saturday in their Divisional Round matchup with Atlanta.
5. Matt Ryan goes down 8+ times
Despite how handily the Falcons topped the No. 3 seed Los Angeles Rams last week, one thing that plagued them all game was pressure on Matt Ryan. While the talent of Aaron Donald had a great deal to do with that, it’s also been a theme for Atlanta all season as they’ve been experiencing injuries on the interior of their offensive line, something still affecting this team.
Fletcher Cox and Timmy Jernigan may not be Donald, but they are top-tier interior defensive linemen that are more than capable of wreaking havoc. If the Falcons guards don’t step up and scheme to stop them, Ryan could again face a great deal of pressure. And with the edge rushers that the Eagles also can throw at them, that could very well translate to the Falcons quarterback spending a lot of the afternoon on the turf.