{"id":15483,"date":"2018-01-30T14:10:38","date_gmt":"2018-01-30T19:10:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patsfans.com\/patriots\/blog\/?p=15483"},"modified":"2018-01-30T14:10:38","modified_gmt":"2018-01-30T19:10:38","slug":"super-bowl-sneak-peek-eagles-patriots-evenly-matched","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patsfans.com\/patriots\/blog\/2018\/01\/30\/super-bowl-sneak-peek-eagles-patriots-evenly-matched\/","title":{"rendered":"Super Bowl Sneak Peek, Eagles and Patriots Are Evenly Matched"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This is shaping up to be a Super Bowl worthy of its name as the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.patsfans.com\" title=\"New England Patriots at PatsFans.com\"><strong>New England Patriots<\/strong><\/a> and Philadelphia Eagles are preparing for this Sunday\u2019s championship. And in the Super Bowl, you\u2019ll hardly find two teams more evenly matched.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Patriots scored one more point offensively than the Eagles 458-457, and the Eagles allowed one less point defensively than the Patriots 295-296. It doesn\u2019t get much closer than that points wise. Both are 13-3 and both are the #1 seed in their respective conference. Both have had to overcome serious injuries to get here.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Philadelphia lost MVP candidate, QB Carson Wentz late in the season, offensive tackle Jason Peters and running back Darren Sproles. The Patriots lost Julian Edelman, linebacker Dont\u2019a Hightower and tackle Marcus Cannon amongst others.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While the teams met in the 2015 season, both are very different from the ones who played in Gillette. We\u2019ll do a detailed break down of the key matchups later this week \u00a0But here is our quick look at the Philadelphia Eagles and what we\u2019ve seen in watching the film of some of their games this season.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Foles Shook Off Criticism to Play Very Well in the Playoffs:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Nick Foles is in his second stint with the Eagles and they are certainly glad he\u2019s back. After Wentz went down with a torn ACL, Foles stepped in and after some initial struggles to find his comfort level in the offense, he\u2019s been excellent in the postseason. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Foles has completed 77 percent of his throws in the playoffs with three touchdowns and more importantly zero interceptions. The important factor for Philly has been, they didn\u2019t have to change the offense with Foles at the helm. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With his comfort level in the pocket, the Eagles are clicking offensively. It will be the Patriots\u2019 defense to change that comfort level early in the game by disguising looks and pressures. Otherwise, it could be a long evening. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Run-Pass Option (you\u2019ll hear about this all week), RPO is NOT a New Star Wars Character: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One area of the Eagles offense that will be discussed a lot this week is the RPO. \u00a0Foles and the Eagles carved up Minnesota\u2019s defense with this badly in the NFC Championship game. They took advantage of the Vikings aggressive nature and shredded them with it. The keys were the quick slants off of them, much in the manner that Jacksonville ran. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Patriots, however, aren\u2019t an aggressive defense, but more of a read and react group. So the key from New England\u2019s perspective is maintaining gap integrity and setting the edge. Foles isn\u2019t as mobile as Wentz so he\u2019s not the threat to run that the starter was. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Linebacker play will be key here. With two good and very different styles of backs in LeGarrette Blount and Jay Ajayi, Foles will have the option of handing it off or faking it and passing the ball in the quick open field. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>The Eagles Run Defense is Excellent: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Philadelphia\u2019s run defense is #1 in the NFL allowing just 79.2 yards per game. It begins with the big men in the middle, Fletcher Cox, and Timmy Jernigan. They are the big, immovable objects in the center of the line. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They make things very tough to run in the middle of the field, exactly where the Patriots like to run. The stretch plays and the slow developing runs to the outside are very tough on this defense because of the way they flow to the ball. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Jaguars defense made running the ball tough last week on the Patriots offense. The opportunities will be there but Josh McDaniels will have to be creative. Which segways into our next topic\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>The Patriots Need to Find Success on Early Downs: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Philadelphia\u2019s subpackage defense is really tough. They go to a NASCAR type package in their pass rushers with Cox and moving Brandon Graham inside, then they still have Vinny Curry, Chris Long and Derek Barnett as their edge rushers. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While the Eagles don\u2019t blitz a ton but will send safeties or corners on third and long situations and don\u2019t rack up huge sack numbers, they do rack up a ton of QB pressure. Consistent pressure is what drives the defense and they\u2019re very good at it.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So from a Patriots perspective, they need to be successful on first and second down. Mix things up, use play-action passes which should be very effective against their linebackers and use the hurry up once they get a first down to keep the Eagles from substituting. Of course, they\u2019ll need to produce as well. Otherwise, it is just getting the Philly offense back on the field that much quicker. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Eagles front four is deep and talented, arguably the best in the NFL. Getting in obvious passing situations on third down is inviting trouble and they\u2019ll respond by bringing the pressure. In their last four games, Philly\u2019s defense hasn\u2019t allowed more than 10 points. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>The Tight Ends for Both Teams are the Focus:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While both offenses operate quite differently, the tight end in each is a big part of what makes them go. The Eagles boast three good tight ends with Zack Ertz, Brent Celek, and Trey Burton. Ertz was their leading receiver in 2017 and was Foles\u2019 go-to guy against the Vikings, completing first down after first down. He\u2019ll be matched up with Pat Chung and if New England is going to be successful, Ertz can\u2019t be allowed to become that kind of target again.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For New England, Rob Gronkowski (if he\u2019s healthy) is the gold-standard for TEs in the NFL. While Malcolm Jenkins will probably see him a lot in this matchup. The Eagles may try to pull a page out of Jacksonville\u2019s book and double up Gronk with Jenkins and Corey Graham. If that is the case, then the WRs will have to win one-on-one matchups.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Philly played a lot of zone coverage this year, Brady will pick those apart. Look for them to match up in man coverage. Their corners are ok but not great, they look better because of the pass rush, much like the Pittsburgh corners used to be in years past. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is just another interesting piece of the chess match. We\u2019ll be back later this week with the full matchups and our prediction.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Follow me on Twitter <\/span><\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SteveB7SFG\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">@SteveB7SFG<\/span><\/i><\/a><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> or email me at <\/span><\/i><a href=\"http:\/\/patspub.patsfans.com\/stevebpatsfans@gmail.com\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">stevebpatsfans@gmail.com<\/span><\/i><\/a><\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Listen to our <\/span><\/i><a href=\"http:\/\/www.blogtalkradio.com\/patriotsfourthandtwo\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Patriots 4<\/span><\/i><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">th<\/span><\/i><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and 2<\/span><\/i><\/a><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> podcasts on blog talk radio as the writers Russ Goldman, Derek Havens and I from <\/span><\/i><a href=\"http:\/\/www.patsfans.com\/\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">PatsFans.com<\/span><\/i><\/a><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> discuss the latest Patriots news Wednesdays at 12 noon.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Patriots scored one more point offensively than the Eagles 458-457, and the Eagles allowed one less point defensively than the Patriots 295-296.  It doesn\u2019t get much closer than that points wise.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":3200,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1674,1198,1519,11,10],"tags":[1333,1109,34,1693,18,204,154,209,732,17,348,1695,44,1692,379,117,1354,1696,13,35,1694],"class_list":["post-15483","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-2017-patriots-postseason","category-nfl-commentary","category-nfl-news","category-patriots-commentary","category-patriots-news","tag-2017-patriots-season","tag-alshon-jeffery","tag-bill-belichick","tag-carson-wentz","tag-danny-amendola","tag-dion-lewis","tag-donta-hightower","tag-james-harrison","tag-jay-ajayi","tag-julian-edelman","tag-legarrette-blount","tag-nelson-agholor","tag-new-england-patriots","tag-nick-foles","tag-philadelphia-eagles","tag-rob-gronkowski","tag-stephon-gilmore","tag-super-bowl-lii","tag-tom-brady","tag-trey-flowers","tag-zack-ertz"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.4 (Yoast SEO v27.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Super Bowl Sneak Peek, Eagles and Patriots Are Evenly Matched<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Patriots scored one more point offensively than the Eagles 458-457, and the Eagles allowed one less point defensively than the Patriots 295-296. 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