Eagles Jets Preview - Three Keys To Victory
The Eagles find themselves right back in the same spot as they were a week before. A half game out of the wild card facing a very beatable opponent. Eagles got caught vulnerable last week by a Giants team with something to prove after firing former offensive coordinator Jason Garrett and after the mess that was week 17 of last season. Last week was a game circled on their calendar as soon as the 2021 schedule and you knew they would come out of the locker room with something to say and they did just that, defeating the Eagles by a score of 13-7 due to a miserable performance by the birds offense. But today Nick Sirianni's group gets a chance to bounce back and get this team trending back upward going into the bye week with a win today.
Gardner Minshew- As fans and those inside the NovaCare complex were wondering how Jalen Hurts would bounce back from his worst performance as a pro, that will seemingly have to be put on pause for now. ESPN's Adam Schefter reported Saturday night that Hurts isn't expected to play, he is a game time decision and the Eagles want to see how he is feeling before making a final decision on Hurts availability after birds beat writer Derrick Gunn reported that Hurts was out for today's game. If Hurts is indeed out Gardner Minshew will make his first career start as an Eagle. Don't expect an elite performance from Minshew, but if he can protect the football and make the right reads the Eagles should be able to walk out of MetLife Stadium today with a win vs. the Jets.
The Run Game- Philadelphia despite not having a single 100 yard rusher in a game all season, leads the NFL in rush yards per game and has been the teams formula to winning games. They need to keep it rolling today against a weak Jets defense. Even with Jordan Howard out, they will still have Miles Sanders and Boston Scott available to them today and have all the resources available up front on the offensive line to put up another big day on the ground as a unit. Look for Sirianni to rely heavily on the ground game today.
Jonathan Gannon- Gannon over the course of the season has been one of the hot talking points of the town due to his controversial and inconsistent defense. When his defensive scheme goes against competent or elite quarterbacks/ playcallers, it gets absolutely shredded. When Gannon's defense goes up against quarterbacks/ playcallers that operate on gamedays like they have two heads, it's phenomenal. Luckily today it's the latter of the two. I fully expect this group to take care of business against a rookie quarterback Zach Wilson and a rookie play caller Mike LaFleur ( brother of Packers head coach Matt LaFleur). Expect this defense to create multiple takeaways today.
Overall today shouldn't not go smoothly if all three phases of this team executes today. The Jets are one of the bottom three teams/organizations in football and after a loss the Eagles should use this as a tune up game going into the bye still feeling good about it's chances going forward. Score prediction today is 27-10 Eagles and player of the game prediction is Darius Slay. The Eagles need to take care of buisness today to remain in the hunt for the wild card, expect them to deliver. Go Birds and Fly Eagles Fly!