The Philadelphia Eagles continue to find ways to win after a shaky 2-2 start to the 2024 season. Head coach Nick Sirianni has his team riding a franchise-record 10-game win streak with Super Bowl aspirations. The Eagles will head to Landover, Maryland, to take on their NFC East rival, the Washington Commanders, in Week 16. Philadelphia can clinch the division with a win. Here are three bold predictions for the divisional clash:
Saquon Barkley had a quiet game for his standards in Week 15 against the Pittsburgh Steelers. The NFL’s leading rusher carried the ball 19 times for 65 yards and caught two passes for nine yards. The odds were stacked against Barkley who was facing an elite Steelers run defense. He also spent most of the second quarter on the sideline with an apparent injury.
Barkley is averaging a league-leading 120.6 rushing yards per game in 2024. He rushed for 146 yards and two touchdowns with 52 receiving yards when the Eagles last faced the Commanders in Week 11.
The Commanders have allowed the eighth most rushing yards and the sixth most rushing plays of 20 or more yards this season. Barkley needs 418 rushing yards to pass Hall of Fame running back Eric Dickerson as the NFL’s all-time single-season rushing yards leader. Look for the MVP candidate to bounce back in a favorable matchup as he chases history.
The Eagles’ defense is elite. Defensive coordinator Vic Fangio’s unit completely turned the season around after being the talk of the town through the first four weeks of the season because of their poor performance.
The Eagles’ defense is tied with the Steelers for the most forced fumbles (17) in 2024. They also have eight interceptions on the year. The Eagles held the Commanders to 264 total yards of offense in the Week 11 matchup, and star wide receiver Terry McLaurin had only one catch for 10 yards. The Commanders have had a good season in terms of protecting the football, but rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels threw an interception the last time he faced the Eagles’ stout defense.
The Eagles traded for wide receiver Jahan Dotson before the start of the season. The Penn State product was selected by the Commanders with the 16th overall pick in the 2022 NFL Draft. He had back-to-back 500-yard seasons in Washington, including seven touchdown receptions in 2022. He has failed to make an impact in his first season with the Eagles.
Dotson has 12 catches for 122 yards this year. The 24-year-old caught only one pass for eight yards in the previous matchup against his former team. Eagles wide receivers A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith had big games last week against the Steelers, so look for the Commanders to pay a lot of attention to the duo in the passing game. Week 16 might finally be the week that Dotson finds the end zone for the first time as an Eagle. What better way to do it than against his old team?
If you saw the bold prediction piece from last week, you would’ve noticed that all three were almost spot on. Brown was 15 yards and one touchdown away from a perfect three for three. This week’s bold predictions also have a good chance of becoming a reality. Dotson scoring a touchdown might be overshooting it a bit, but hey, any given Sunday.
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