The Philadelphia Eagles are heading back to the site of their Super Bowl LII win to take on the Minnesota Vikings.
In order to preview this Week 7 matchup, I reached out to our enemies over at Daily Norseman. The cunning Christopher Gates kindly took the time took the time to answer my questions about this upcoming battle. Let’s take a look at the answers.
[For my answers to Christopher’s questions about the Eagles, stay tuned to DN.]
1 – What’s going on with the Vikings’ quarterback situation? Who’s going to start on Sunday? Who should start in your opinion? How’s old friend Carson Wentz doing?
Based on what was said at Wednesday’s press conference, it seems like the lean at this point is toward Carson Wentz getting the start against his former team. It just sounds like the team is more confident in his health at this point than they are in J.J. McCarthy’s ankle being at 100%. If both of them were healthy and ready to go, I would want McCarthy to get the start, just because we haven’t seen nearly enough of him yet and the Vikings still obviously feel that he’s the quarterback of the future. But, as I said about yesterday’s press availability, it seems like the team is leaning toward Wentz getting the start. If I were placing a bet on it, that’s the way I’d be leaning.
2 – It’s been an up and down season for the Vikings. Win, loss, win, loss, win. What’s the confidence level in this team like? How good are they?
Given some of the issues they’ve been dealing with on the injury front, some inconsistency is to be expected. The team invested heavily in the offensive line this offseason, and the five projected preseason starters have played zero snaps together through the first five games of the season. Throw in the suspension to Jordan Addison, injuries to Blake Cashman and Andrew Van Ginkel on the defensive side, and you’ve got a team that’s still trying to find its identity early on in the season. I think that if the team can get some of these players back and get themselves into a groove they’re still a very good football team, but right now they currently have the hardest projected remaining schedule in the league. They need to come out of this bye week strong to see if they can get some actual momentum going forward.
3 – What’s the Vikings’ biggest weakness right now? What should the Eagles be looking to attack?
The Vikings’ biggest weakness, at this point, is unfortunately aligned with what appears to be the Eagles’ biggest strength, and that’s their inability to stop the run. The team focused quite a bit on improving their pass rush, particularly on the interior, this offseason. Unfortunately, that appears to have come with the trade-off of having a drop off from a run defense that has been pretty good over the past few seasons. They got absolutely ripped apart against Atlanta on the ground, and the Steelers (who haven’t run the ball decently against anyone all season) managed to do well against the Vikings on that front. I know the Eagles’ offense hasn’t been clicking completely this season, but having to face Saquon Barkley and Jalen Hurts is not something I can feel good about for this team defensively right now.
4 – If you could steal one player from the Eagles’ roster to put on the Vikings, who are you taking? Why them?
I would have to flip a coin between their two big defensive tackles, Jalen Carter and Jordan Davis. Honestly, I might have to lean toward Davis, given the choice. As I mentioned in the answer to the previous question, the Vikings’ biggest issue this year has been their inability to stop the run. They could use a big, space-eating defensive tackle on the interior to aid them with that, and that’s where I think Davis would be able to provide them a bit more help than Carter would. Not that Carter isn’t decent against the run, but Davis is the bigger player and would be more of what the Vikings need in their defensive front with the way their roster is currently constructed.
This entire game is going to hinge on how much the Vikings can slow down the Eagles’ ground game. If the Vikings can slow down Barkley and company on their early downs, they could keep themselves in this game by making things difficult for Hurts in the passing game in longer down and distance situations. Unfortunately, I don’t know how good I feel about their chances of doing that. Even teams that haven’t been great running the ball this season have managed to move the ball on the ground against the Vikings. The Vikings might get Blake Cashman back for this one, and that would certainly help their case, but I just have a bad feeling that it isn’t going to be enough. The Vikings’ offense should be able to find some plays against the Eagles’ secondary if they can keep Wentz or McCarthy (whoever it is) upright, but in the end I don’t think it will be enough. I think the Eagles pull out a close one here. We’ll call it 23-20 on the final score.
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