HIGH-FLYING EAGLES ABOUT TO SWOOP ON WEST COAST
Between dates with Seahawks and Rams, NFL’s top team will roost near the Pacific
For starters, our perspective on the big news.
If the 10-1 Philadelphia Eagles have any detractors left, the team has a great chance over the next two weeks to convince such folks of the error of their ways.
The NFL’s highest-scoring team, holders of the best record, have back-to-back games on the Pacific Coast: Sunday against the Seattle Seahawks, followed by a Dec. 10 showdown with the Los Angeles Rams that deserves to be flexed into prime time. The Eagles will stay on the coast all week, rather than fly cross-continent, back and forth, in between.
Philadelphia ought to extend its win streak to 10 in Seattle against a banged-up squad whose 7-4 record and playoff contention exist only because of the wizardry of quarterback Russell Wilson.
After that game, let the Carson Wentz-versus-Jared Goff hype begin. The top two overall picks in last year’s NFL draft headline a game featuring this year’s two surprise powerhouses.
The two teams are so much more than their ahead-of-pace quarterbacks. The Eagles are potent at every position group, but the secondary. Second-year head coach Doug Pederson has done a brilliant job of moulding Wentz into the NFL’s most prolific touchdown thrower this season (28), while Jim Schwartz’s attacking 4-3 defence somehow remains underappreciated.
Consider these top-line statistical measures: Philly ranks third in total offence, second in rush offence, sixth in total defence, first in rush defence, second in turnover differential (plus 9), first in red-zone offence (scoring touchdowns an amazing 72 per cent of the time inside the 20), third in third-down conversions offence (45.5 per cent) and second in third-down conversions defence (28.8 per cent).
While Eagles-at-Rams looms as maybe the showdown of this season, first games first.
“I definitely want to make sure that we’re focused on this week,” Pederson said. “I don’t want to get into worrying about the L.A. trip and staying out there. We are focused on Seattle this week.
“I want to make sure that these guys understand that the way we played (in Sunday’s 31-3 clubbing of the Chicago Bears), even though we won the game, some of the mistakes that were made — the penalties, the fumbling, the offsides — those things are unacceptable, and that we have to play our best ball in the month of December. Those are the things that have to get cleaned up.
“This is going to be a playoff-type atmosphere. It’s going to be a great opportunity for our football team.”
Win these next two out west and the Eagles probably won’t even have to worry about playing on the road in January. Owning the No. 1 NFC playoff seed would require winning two home-field playoff games, then off to Super Bowl LII in Minneapolis.
But first games first.
THE GREAT WHITE NORTH, DOWN SOUTH
Two Canadians started their first NFL games on Sunday: Tampa Bay Buccaneers rookie Antony Auclair of Notre-Damedes-Pins, Que., as the Bucs’ second tight end (who was not targeted by QB Ryan Fitzpatrick in a loss at Atlanta) and secondyear New Orleans defensive end David Onyemata of Winnipeg (who had two tackles in a loss to the Los Angeles Rams).
Fifth-year Seattle tight end Luke Willson of LaSalle, Ont., suffered a concussion against the San Francisco 49ers.
“He’ll be in the protocol because he did get hit in the head, but he was lucid and he was in good shape,” Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll said. “So there’s a real chance he could make it through and we’ll see (about this Sunday’s game against Philadelphia). We’re going to take care of him, first and foremost.”
FIVE FAST FACTS
The Kansas City Chiefs scored six offensive touchdowns in their Week 1 win over the New England Patriots.
K.C. has scored four offensive TDs in the last four games combined.
Philly has won three straight by at least 28 points, a franchise first.
Before Sunday, New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees hadn’t been sacked on back-toback plays since 2014.
Julio Jones set a Tampa Bay opponents’ single-game record with 268 scrimmage yards (253 receiving, 15 rushing).
KNOW YOUR HISTORY
The AFL and NFL fought ferociously for top college prospects until their 1970 merger was announced in 1966. Some bidding wars became legend. From the getgo, the AFL cut the NFL’s lawn in this regard.
This week in 1959, the Rams selected Heisman Trophy-winning running back Billy Cannon of LSU No. 1 overall in the NFL draft. But the AFL’s Houston Oilers signed him, and won the first two AFL championships with Cannon starring. The Rams wouldn’t field a winning team for seven years.