NFL Week 16 Saturday

EAGLES @ COMMANDERS - 5 PM

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So Jalen Hurts hasn't had problems with Washington... but the Commanders have kept it within reason several times.

This is the first meeting between these team teams since the NFC Championship game. Eagles clinch the NFC East with a win here.

So I guess the question we need to ask is... do we think the Eagles offense is good to go? Do we just erase everything we've seen the previous 5 games?

I'm not sure they're out of the woods yet. There's still no Lane Johnson.

Now the good news is Washington's defense is one of the worst in the NFL.

I wouldn't be surprised if they can limit Philadelphia on the ground. The Eagles offensive line has had problems all year. Luvu and Wagner can make open field tackles on Barkley. The problem is the secondary.

We just saw Jalen Hurts exploit a bad Raiders secondary that had just lost its best corner for the season. He didn't drop back to pass much in the game... but when he did, it was very efficient.

Washington likes to run some 1H... mix in some man coverage... they're probably not gonna be able to do much of that against Hurts and the Eagles WRs with that secondary.

Weather's supposed to be fine. Perfect football weather. I don't see any reason Jalen Hurts doesn't have a really efficient game throwing the ball.

The question is the other side of the ball... this is a much more interesting matchup than you'd think.

Key injuries on both sides here.

Brandon Coleman actually played really well last week coming in for Tunsil. In fact, according to PFF, he was the highest rated lineman on the team by far.

The Eagles did a solid job against the run in their last two games without Jalen Carter. But if you rewind back to the two games before that... we saw the Bears run the ball all over Philly... and the Cowboys were running the ball on em too. And that was with Jalen Carter.

Remember... stopping the run was a problem for Philly early in the year.

This Washington team has run the ball pretty consistently all year. Look at the last 4 games. They were running the ball on Denver... Minnesota.

If Washington can run the ball, that would take a lot of pressure off Mariota. I like Mariota against the blitz... but the Eagles don't blitz much.

Are the Eagles heating up again or did they just play the Raiders?

EAGLES AND UNDER 44.5 I GUESS? This is a pass.

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PACKERS @ BEARS - SAT PM

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Rematch.

Teams went in opposite directions since that game though. Green Bay gave up 20 unanswered points to Bo Nix.

That put the Bears back in the driver's seat.

Gotta be the biggest game at Soldier Field in nearly decade.

So the Bears did not have problems running the ball on Green Bay at Lambeau.

In fact, the story of that game was really a tale of two halves for Caleb Williams.

Death, taxes, and the Bears running the ball efficiently.

And look at the recent opponents. It doesn't look like anybody can stop this rushing attack.

Here's the thing... with the injuries at WR, we already know exactly what Green Bay's gonna do defensively in this game. They're gonna load the box and completely sell out to stop Chicago from running the ball in this game.

The question is... even if the Packers do sellout to stop the run, are they capable of it? It doesn't look like Evan Williams is gonna play either.

Cuz we kinda saw that already. Remember, stopping the run has been a problem for Green Bay. It's the weakest aspect of the team. Last week, they went on the road in Denver. They did what they could to take away the run and it worked.

So what's the problem? Well look what happened in that game when they committed to taking the run away. Bo Nix went off.

I personally think the Bears can probably run the ball in this game either way because they seem to be running the ball on everybody. But if the Packers do load the box and sellout to take that away, how much does that open up for Caleb Williams in the passing game? Should open up opportunities for DJ Moore to get into open space.

Now what about the other side of the ball? This is obviously where Green Bay has the huge advantage.

The injuries to the Green Bay offense might be too much to overcome.

And the Bears defense might be the healthiest its been all year.

Now we can't just ignore the fact that Green Bay moved the ball pretty fluently against the Bears just a couple weeks back.

But they were actually getting some pressure on Jordan Love. Green Bay was running the ball well in that one. Without Zach Tom on the offensive line, with Tremaine Edmunds back... with Jacobs banged up. You'd have to say this Bears defense is in a much better situation for this one.

DA BEARS