Why Bob Grotz thinks Eagles will prevail in Minnesota
The venue will bring back memories, particularly the visiting locker room where the Eagles celebrated their Super Bowl LII title with a group dance.
The nostalgia ends there. The Eagles begin the toughest stretch of their season against the favored Minnesota Vikings Sunday at U.S. Bank Stadium (1 p.m., Fox 29, WIP 94.1-FM). It’s the first of three straight road games against winning teams.
“Honestly, I think these next four weeks is going to define this team,” defensive tackle Fletcher Cox said. “It’s going to define this locker room. There’s a time where we always come together and we know what we’ve got ahead of us. But right now, the main thing is to focus on the game on Sunday and see where we’re at.”
The combined records of the next six Eagles opponents is 23-8 (.678). The schedule gets progressively tougher as the Eagles oppose Dallas and Buffalo on the road before entertaining Chicago, New England and Seattle.
“Three tough tasks,” Eagles defensive end Brandon Graham said. “Every week is tough. I try not to clutter my mind with too much. The Vikings are in the way. We’re going (up) there and they’re going to be trying to run on us. I’ve got to make sure I’m prepared and we’re prepared.”
Make no mistake, the blueprint for victory in this matchup of 3-2 teams starts up front, where the Eagles think they have the edge over a Vikings offensive line not nearly as talented and just as banged up.
Win the battles in the trenches and running back Dalvin Cook will have that deer in the headlights look he showed the Bears a few weeks ago. They were the only team in the league to hold
Summary: The Vikings could quadruple-team Fletcher Cox and he’d be disruptive. He and Brandon Graham will be a reoccurring nightmare for Kirk Cousins, who already has a mental hurdle to defeat — he’s just 4-27as a starter against teams with a winning record.
The pick: Make it, Eagles 23, Vikings 20. .
— Bob Grotz
him under 100 yards.
“He can get people out of their gaps just by wiggling,” Graham said. “He’s got a unique skill set and we’ve got to make sure that we stay in our gaps and stay disciplined. When you get your oneon-one with him you’ve got to make sure you get him on the ground or at least take your shot so we can rally to the ball. You’ve just got to have that mentality to get him on the ground.”
If the Eagles are unable to slow Cook, it will allow quarterback Kirk Cousins to throw play-action passes to one of the top receiver duos in football. The Eagles don’t have the personnel right now to stop Adam Thielen and Stefon Diggs. Cook also leads the Vikings in receiving.
Eagles linebacker Zach Brown, who played with Cousins at Washington, believes the way to defeat the Vikings is to make the quarterback put the ball in the air. Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer may have revealed that same thing when he ditched the bombs away pass attack for the run game, despite the considerable resources invested in the quarterback and his receivers.
Cousins is prone to turnovers. He has four in five games. The stat that shocks the Eagles is Cousins’ 4-27 record as a starter against teams with winning records.
When the Eagles have the ball, Carson Wentz has to solve a Vikings defense with an exceptional front and an A-gap blitz scheme that not only prevents the quarterback from stepping up but limits his peripheral vision. And it must be done without a vertical threat, which has made Wentz susceptible to pressure.
With DeSean Jackson sidelined, the Eagles have turned to running backs Jordan Howard and Miles Sanders, along with two tight-end sets featuring Zach Ertz and Dallas Goedert.
With 10 touchdown passes and just two interceptions this season, Wentz has limited the giveaways that haunted the Eagles last year. Vikings defensive tackle Linval Joseph returned a Wentz fumble 64 yards for a touchdown in a 23-21 triumph over the Birds at the Linc.
“Take care of the ball,” Wentz said. “Last year that’s something we didn’t do well against these guys. We were able to move the ball. We did a good job of that but we’ve got to just take care of the ball and stay ahead of the chains to be able to do that. It can be hard to sustain long 12,
13-play drives, especially against good defenses. But if that’s what it takes, that’s what we’re going to do.”
The Eagles and the Vikings have a nasty history dating to the
2017 NFC title game at the Linc. The Vikings grabbed a 7-0 lead and had momentum before a defensive play turned the game around. Patrick Robinson’s picksix ignited a run of 38 straight points by the Eagles. Chris Long got a piece of Case Keenum’s arm to help make it happen.
The Eagles registered 10 sacks, including three by Graham, and two return touchdowns to rip the New York Jets last week. Graham should feel comfortable Sunday in the building where his stripsack of Tom Brady solidified the Eagles’ first Super Bowl title.
“I’m going to have my moment,” Graham said. “I’m going to enjoy just being there. But I’m going to be focused on the Vikings. This is when teams start to separate themselves. This is when the good stuff starts to happen. We’re 3-2 and we’ve had some nail biters, some crazy finishes. But for us I love the fight that we have, and I love the preparation that we have going into these games. I like our chances.”