Are the Eagles Ripe for Picking in Week 7?
This season, the NFL has seen the league’s landscape shift on a weekly basis. There doesn’t appear to truly be a juggernaut, and the Minnesota Vikings’ gauntlet of a schedule, including the Philadelphia Eagles, over the next four weeks, looks less daunting than it did just a couple of weeks ago.
The Minnesota Vikings get the Philadelphia Eagles this weekend, and they are less of a threat than they once perceived earlier this year.
On Sunday, it’s the Eagles coming to U.S. Bank Stadium. It’s Minnesota’s first home game since Week 3, and they will be looking to defend their turf in a way they did against the Cincinnati Bengals rather than the Atlanta Falcons.
The Eagles Have Lost 2 Straight — with the Vikings up Next
The reigning Super Bowl champions were an opponent that appeared to be an inevitable loss when the schedule was released. Nick Sirianni’s team has since lost two straight, and they look like a mess on offense.
ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler said, “I was at the game against the Giants on Thursday night and definitely sensed concern. One player told me that this is starting to feel like the 2023 meltdown all over again (when Philadelphia lost five of its last six games), and the team needs to use this week to figure things out and avoid a full-blown repeat. Right tackle Lane Johnson, whose words carry weight, told reporters that the offense felt predictable. The issue is pretty clear: The Eagles aren’t dominating in the running game the way they did a year ago.”
The Eagles used four straight tush pushes against the Giants just to find the end zone. They are running a rugby scrum to compensate for the fact that their ineptitude has been glaringly evident across the board. A.J. Brown has not been used the same, and Saquon Barkley isn’t just dominating everyone.
The Vikings’ pass defense has actually been a strength this season. Whether that continues remains to be seen, but they’ll be tested on the ground Sunday. They have been gashed in the run game, and Minnesota can’t afford to be the team where Philadelphia gets things going while carrying the rock.
Philadelphia certainly is focused on stopping the current skid, but the Vikings are more well-positioned to keep it going than they were perceived to be early in the year.
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