Los Angeles Rams vs Philadelphia Eagles: Matchups to watch

All Los Angeles Rams fans are accustomed to how much of a pain in the ass the Seattle Seahawks are, but the Rams may be thanking the Seahawks on Sunday. The NFL is a copycat league and I expect the Rams to take some lessons learned from Philadelphia Eagles loss to the Seachickens

Sammy Watkins vs Ronald Darby

Last week, Doug Baldwin had a modest 5 catches, but he averaged 16.8 yards on those catches against Darby. That bodes well for Watkins.

Watkins and Darby are former teammates who will know each other’s tendencies very well. Watkins is still adjusting to the Rams offense and Jared Goff, but he has the ability to beat Darby more often than not. I expect Sean McVay to toss at least 2 bombs to Watkins to keep the Eagles defense honest.

Rams Interior OL vs Timmy Jernigan and Fletcher Cox

This one is going to be tough sledding. Jernigan and Cox both fall in the top 20 in PFF’s defensive line rankings. They’re going to keep Rodger Saffold, John Sullivan, and Jamon Brown busy tomorrow. While the Rams OL has improved tremendously this season, I’m honestly not sure how they will hold up against the Eagles fierce DL.

I’d expect McVay to help the OL out by attempting to scheme around them. Some chip blocks from Todd Gurley in pass pro should be expected, as well as some misdirection in the run game to keep the Eagles DTs off balance.

Sean McVay vs Doug Pederson

Where their teams are battling for the #2 seed in the NFC, the two head coaches square off in what will likely determine the coach of the year. McVay has proven to be every bit the offensive genius he was billed to be and has creativity to spare.

That said, Pederson has his team at 10-2, which can’t be understated. This game is as much a battle of the minds as anything else. In the end, it boils down to Pederson’s extra year of experience vs the innovation of McVay.