The Eagles will receive the perfect trampoline for their current three-game free fall: The woeful Las Vegas Raiders. Las Vegas is No. 31 in the NFL in offense and enter Lincoln Financial Field on Sunday at 1 p.m. riding an AFC-high seven-game losing streak, tying them with the New York Giants, and a game behind the Washington Commanders, who currently have the NFL’s longest losing streak at eight-straight games.
The Eagles are 11-point favorites, and their problems should be glossed over for at least
one week against arguably the NFL’s worst team. The dysfunctional Raiders fired their offensive coordinator Chip Kelly, the former Eagles head coach, in late November. That came after they fired their special teams coordinator, Tom McMahon, earlier in November.
The Raiders’ 31st-overall offense is last in the NFL in rushing and scoring, and defensively ranked No. 16 overall, No. 16 against the run, and No. 24 in scoring defense, allowing 25.5 points a game.
But the awful Raiders do have one very good player, Maxx Crosby, one of the NFL’s best edge rushers. Compounding that is Eagles’ Pro Bowl right tackle Lane Johnson is still out recovering from a foot injury, replaced by Fred Johnson, who has done a credible job as a stopgap. The Eagles are 0-3 without Lane Johnson on this current slide and are 14-27 overall when Lane Johnson is out of the lineup.
Crosby, a four-time Pro Bowler, has a career-best 25 tackles for losses this season, with 52 of his 63 tackles in 13 games run stops, according to Next Gen Stats. In his last six games, Crosby has five sacks and 15 tackles for loss. He can ruin a game by himself.
Crosby will be a problem—perhaps the only problem the Eagles should face on Sunday. The Eagles will probably double-team him and chip him. Another solution is to run at him, even though Crosby is good against the run. By running to his side, it will slow down his pass rush and make him think whether to play the pass or the run.
Jalen Hurts needs a confidence boost after turning the ball over five times in the Eagles’ 22-19 overtime loss to the Los Angeles Chargers on Monday night. But the Eagles did gain over 200 yards passing (231) and over 100 yards rushing (134) in a game for the first time this season. This game should snap the Eagles’ skid, despite its leaking quarterback, who made NFL history against the Chargers by turning the ball over twice on one play.
The Eagles need a reset—and the Raiders could be it.
Against the Chargers, the Eagles ran layered pass routes, getting away from the single isolation routes where they became too dependent on their receivers to beat the defender covering them. There was semblance of a flow against the Chargers that was not too present in the previous 12 games the Eagles played.
The last three teams the Eagles faced were a combined 24-14-1. These next three (Raiders, Buffalo Bills and Washington) are combined 14-24.
The Eagles have turned the ball over seven times in their last two games, a number that should be down against the Raiders, who have only created 14 turnovers this season against 17 giveaways.
The Eagles should walk over the Raiders, possibly riding Saquon Barkley, who rushed for over 100 yards for only the second time this season, gaining 122 yards rushing against a good Chargers’ defense, including a season-long 52-yard touchdown run.
