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Eagles-Ravens player matchups to watch in Week 13 originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
The Eagles (9-2) will drive to Baltimore to face the Ravens (8-4) on Sunday afternoon.
Here are some key matchups to watch:
Eagles run defense vs. Derrick Henry, Lamar Jackson
This is not the Ravens you remember with Ray Lewis and Ed Reed and a defense that put fear in you. These days, it’s the Ravens’ offense you have to worry about. And it’s one of the best offenses in the NFL, ranking No. 1 in yards and No. 2 in points. It all starts with Derrick Henry and Lamar Jackson.
The Eagles have the best rushing offense in the NFL, averaging 193.4 yards per game but the Ravens are second at 180.2. While the Ravens run a different scheme, they also have a fantastic running back and a quarterback who is a threat to beat you with his legs.
Let’s start with Henry. He is second in the league in rushing behind Saquon Barkley with 1,325 yards (6.0) and is still really tough to bring down. At 247 pounds, Henry is averaging 3.9 yards after contact per attempt and 2.0 yards over expected per rush, per NFL NextGen Stats. The good news for the Eagles is that after their early-season struggles with missed tackles, they’ve really cleaned that up since the bye week. They are now 24th in missed tackles this season with 56, according to Stathead.
It’ll be interesting to see how the Eagles handle the Ravens because they have loaded the box at the 7th-lowest rate in the NFL this season (41.2%), while the Ravens has seen the 4th-highest rate of a loaded box, even though Henry is doing a lot of his damage on the outside. He has a league-high 886 yards on outside runs this season to lead the NFL. The other wrinkle in the Ravens’ run game is fullback Patrick Ricard. The Ravens use the two-back offense at the second-highest rate in the NFL.
And then there’s Jackson, who has rushed for 599 yards this season and 31 first downs. After playing Matthew Stafford, who is basically a statue in…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/eagles-ravens-player-matchups-watch-120000959.html
Author : NBC Sports Philadelphia
Publish date : 2024-11-29 12:00:00
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