Eagles open up as sizable favorites vs. Rams in NFL Divisional Round Playoffs

Oh, so look who’s coming to the Linc on Sunday—the Los Angeles Rams, fresh off their first playoff win since 2021. Congrats, I guess? All of us Eagles fans here knew the Minnesota Vikings were total frauds, so bragging about beating them is pretty lame. Especially, given the fact that you West Coast boys have to travel all the way here on the East Coast to play real Playoff football.

With that said, it was an impressive 27-9 victory for the Rams, who were underdogs against Minnesota in the WildCard Round. Spoiler alert: they’re underdogs. Again. Depending on what sports book you check, they mostly have the Birds as 6-point favorites, and honestly, that feels generous to LA. I don’t care if they smoked the Vikings by 18—this is the Eagles we’re talking about. At home. In January. With that crowd.

Never Forget: Saquon Barkley set Eagles rushing record vs. Rams

Saquon Barkley and the Eagles will host the Rams Sunday at 3 PM

Saquon ran for an Eagles record 255 rushing yards in November in LA. The Eagles beat the Rams 37 to 20.

The Eagles were expected to be -6.5 point favorites
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— John Clark (@JClarkNBCS) January 14, 2025

As juicy as that 6-point spread sounds, it’s not even the biggest one of the weekend. The Texans are getting slapped with an 8-point underdog line against the Chiefs, and the Commanders? A respectable 9-point dog to the Lions. Meanwhile, Ravens vs. Bills is practically a coin flip at Ravens -1, the tightest matchup on the board. That game right there may just be a straight up “for the love of the game” watching experience, as I have no idea who i’d pick in that one.

Anyways, the Rams already got their tails handed to them by the Eagles back in Week 12, taking a 37-20 beating. But sure, now they’re talking about “revenge.” Cute. Good luck with that in Philly, where dreams of revenge go to die, and the only thing they’re taking home is another L. similarly to the Packers and all their fans who were parading around social media all week, claiming they were going to beat us this time.

The Birds handled the Packers in Brazil, and they handled the Rams in LA. What makes these fanbases think a second stab at the Eagles, especially in Philadelphia, will be any easier? No clue.

Humble Pie

Maybe it’s my Philadelphia/East Coast bias, but I’m going to be completely honest with all of you, I didn’t even know there were actual LA Rams fans. Like seriously, I don’t recall ever meeting one. And if I did, it was most likely an extreme casual fan who was just rooting for Kurt Warner back in the day.

But, that doesn’t change the fact that Sean McVay is the opponent this weekend, and even tough we’ve had our way against him over the years, I still believe he’s one of the few coaches I do fear in the postseason. McVay didn’t seem to take the loss to the Eagles earlier in the season very lightly, and I’d imagine he’s going to give us his best gameplan Sunday afternoon.

Sean McVay following Rams Week 12 loss to the Eagles

“I thought we came out ready to go. The turnover really hurt us, obviously. I thought when it’s a one possession game, they ended up scoring quickly coming out of the half and then we were able to match it and then it just kind of got away from us. But there’s humbling nights like this in football. It’s all about how you respond.”

I thought Matthew Stafford had a very solid game the first time against the Birds. Stafford had a solid performance, hitting 24 of 36 passes for 243 yards, two touchdowns, no picks, and finishing with a passer rating of 104.3. The guy’s a veteran who’s seen just about every defensive look a team can throw at him. For the Eagles, the real challenge will be mixing things up late in the play clock—waiting until the Rams are ready to snap before shifting their coverage and forcing Stafford to rethink the play on the fly. It’s all about keeping him guessing.

The Rams receivers are always a handful between Cooper Kupp and Puka Nacua who both excel against zone defenses, especially in the intermediate areas. It will truly be a chess match between Eagles defensive coordinator Vic Fangio and Sean McVay.

Eagles X-Factor?

The true x-factor in this game may come down to the Birds defensive line and their ability to generate a pass rush. They have to make sure Stafford is not able to sit back and there and pick apart our secondary. Not to mention just try to muck up all the pre-snap motion and quick passing game concepts that they like to deploy.

Luckily for the Eagles Nolan Smith may have had his best game as a pro last weekend against the Packers where he had two sacks. You combine that rush on the edge with the utter dominance up front by Jalen Carter, that will be the start of the Birds having success slowing down this Rams offense. And do I really need to get started on Philly’s offense? I mean I’d probably suggest leaning on the running game that absolutely carved the Rams up earlier this season.

Jalen Hurts should feel more confident in this game, now that he got any rust out last weekend against Green Bay. So, I truly have full confidence in this offense to have it’s way against the Rams and control this game. But most importantly control the clock, so that our defense can stay off the field. So, if it’s not clear already, I have indeed bet the Birds -5.5 this morning on FanDuel.

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