The Los Angeles Rams take on the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 4 for the fourth straight season. Los Angeles is searching not only for its first win over the Eagles since the 2020 campaign, but also for its first win over Philly with Nick Sirianni at the helm.
Ahead of an important matchup between NFC contenders who suffered bad losses last week, I spoke with Brandon Gowton from Bleeding Green Nation to get the inside scoop on Jalen Hurts working with yet another new offensive coordinator, Vic Fangio’s
defense and more.
Q – The Eagles were dreadful on offense against the Bears on Monday night, getting shut out in the second half of the 27-7 loss. Philadelphia has been inconsistent offensively since last year. With new offensive coordinator Sean Mannion in tow, what potential signs of life are you seeing from the unit, and where must they improve?
A – The Eagles are the only NFL team yet to score points in the first quarter. A season after leading the league in three-and-out percentage, no offense has a worse mark in that category in the second halves of games this season.
And, yet, it’s clearly not ALL bad. The Eagles wouldn’t have been able to win two games if that was the case.
Jalen Hurts carried the offense in the Eagles’ first two games. He also had a good first half against the Bears before falling off the rest of the night. While it’s always encouraging to see the quarterback play well, the problem is that they were relying on him too much. And by that I mean they were consistently getting into third-and-longs and then asking Hurts to bail them out by making high-leverage plays over and over. Again, it’s good that Hurts was able to do that, but it’s just not a sustainable way to go about playing offense.
The Eagles’ run game did show some promise in the first half against Chicago before also falling off as the team fell behind the Bears on the scoreboard. Saquon Barkley still looks pretty spry, so, maybe there’s hope this unit can get back on track.
Or maybe the lack of schematic cohesion continues to be a problem. BGN film guru Jonny Page noted that it looks like the Eagles are running two separate offenses.
Q – Quarterback Jalen Hurts received a ton of criticism this offseason for his leadership approach. Despite winning a Super Bowl, he still cannot shake the negativity. Mannion is Hurts’ sixth OC in the NFL, so how are those two clicking three games into their partnership?
A – As noted above, Hurts carried the offense over the first two weeks. He was especially crucial in the Eagles’ win over the Titans, leading a game-winning 65-yard touchdown drive.
He finished with a pretty rough box score against the Bears. But look at his first half numbers from that game: 10/13, 111 yards (8.5 average), 0 TD, 0 INT, 101.8 passer rating … two carries, two yards, one rushing touchdown. Also, Hurts was robbed of the opportunity for another touchdown when the concussion spotter pulled him off the field and took a long time to clear him (Nick Sirianni calling a timeout could’ve been nice). Before Hurts could return to the game, Andy Dalton threw an interception directly to a safety in the end zone.
So, he’s been good more often than not this season. Not sure exactly how to divvy up the credit here, I typically lean towards the player deserving most of it. But Mannion probably deserves some as well; he’s been very hands-on with Hurts since joining the Eagles.
The offense still has much to figure out. For now, the quarterback playing well is a reason for optimism.
Q – Vic Fangio’s defense had a rough showing in primetime as Bears backup QB Case Keenum completed over 70% of his passes with three total touchdowns in his first start since 2023. How do Matthew Stafford and company follow Chicago’s blueprint and come away with a much-needed win in Week 4?
A – Nice try! I refuse to answer since Sean McVay is going to read this.
OK, probably not.
I don’t know if there’s a blueprint as much as Ben Johnson is just a really great offensive mind and he was clearly one step ahead of Fangio all night long, just like he was when the Eagles hosted the Bears last year.
I’m guessing Rams fans are well aware that McVay is 0-4 against Fangio. But it’s not like the Rams haven’t had any success against him. They produced 402 yards of offense against him in their playoff loss in January 2025. They put up 356 yards against his defense last season.
If I’m the Rams, I’m looking to get rid of the ball quick (which Case Keenum did) and try to exploit the Eagles’ safeties. That’s a weak point on this defense. I would not be throwing towards Quinyon Mitchell, who’s very much a lockdown corner.
Q – Philly didn’t come close to defending their Super Bowl crown in 2025, given they lost in the Wild Card Round. Despite fielding one of the league’s top rosters, there’s still a lot of uncertainty about this team. How do you anticipate the rest of their season will play out?
A – The Eagles are 2-1 but they’re not exactly inspiring a ton of confidence right now. They’re not as strong in the trenches as they’ve been in the past, despite big investments in the lines. Their offense is overly reliant on the quarterback making plays instead of being a well-oiled machine. The defense is struggling to live up to lofty expectations.
Their winning record is disguising a team that’s looking like a below average group at this point in time:
Are they hopeless? Of course not. This team has earned some level of benefit of the doubt. They’ve never not made the playoffs since the Jalen Hurts/Nick Sirianni era began in 2021. They’re coming off back-to-back NFC East title wins, which previously hadn’t been accomplished by any team in this division since 2004.
In 2024, things were looking bleak for the Eagles after a 2-2 start. They got absolutely dominated by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 4 of that season … before then going on a massive run to win Super Bowl LIX.
Just because it happened then doesn’t mean they’re definitely going to be OK this year. It’s entirely possible they’re just not a very good team. I’m not yet ready to move off my preseason prediction that they’ll win around 11 games.
Q – Last week, Mile High Report asked Rams fans what they thought about the “super team” moniker. What is a separate question you have for the fanbase?
A – Hey, I like the framing you used here. Here’s my question for Turf Show Times readers, who are hopefully using the SB Nation app …
* Let’s say Nick Sirianni and Sean McVay swapped places. What would your expectations be for the Eagles and the Rams this season?
Bonus: You didn’t ask for a game prediction but I’d like to share one anyway.
The Eagles are underdogs in this game. They’re 0-5 straight up and 1-4 against the spread as home dogs since 2021.
The Eagles will make this game more competitive than they did against the Bears on Monday night. But the Rams will finally get a win at The Linc. Final score: Eagles 24, Rams 28.
