The Philadelphia Eagles (8-4) are once again playing in primetime when they take on the Los Angeles Chargers (8-4) on the road at SoFi Stadium on Monday night. Both teams are currently positioned to make the playoffs, with the Eagles sitting as the No. 3 seed in the NFC and the Chargers as the No. 5 seed in the AFC.
The Chargers need to keep winning to keep pace in the AFC playoff picture. A loss would plummet their playoff chances to just 52% while a win would boost their current playoff odds from 61% to 76%.
For the Eagles, they currently have a 96% chance of making the postseason, and a win would all but lock them into another playoff appearance under Nick Sirianni, moving them to 98%. Yet, a win is more important for the Eagles to increase their lead over the Dallas Cowboys in the NFC East and to stay within striking distance of the Rams and Bears for a potential chance at reclaiming the top-seed in the NFC.
The Eagles are looking to avoid losing three games in a row for the first time since the final three games of the 2023 collapse after their brutal loss to Chicago. The Chargers have won five of their last seven games, but those wins have come against Miami, Minnesota, Tennessee, Pittsburgh, and Las Vegas.
Here are five matchups to keep an eye on in the Monday Night Football clash:
This battle could dictate who wins this game. The Chargers lead the NFL in third-down conversions per game at 6.9. The Eagles allow the fifth-most third-down conversions per game (5.9). On the season, Philadelphia has allowed opponents to convert on 43% of third downs this season.
That number ballooned on the Eagles when the defense let Caleb Williams and the Bears’ offense convert 10 of the 17 third downs they faced in the 24-15 loss on Black Friday.
“We have no control of how and when we get on the field. We can only control how we get off the field. We didn’t do a good enough job doing that in this past game," Vic Fangio said, “We had been in the previous games. We have to get back to where we are playing better defense.”
The defense has been on the field a lot this season, most notably for 40 minutes in the loss against Chicago where the Bears ran 85 plays.
The Chargers have struggled up front this season to protect quarterback Justin Herbert and have used 14 different offensive line combinations for at least 10 snaps this season, the second-most in the NFL.
Per NextGen Stats, Herbert has been pressured on 42.7% of his dropbacks this season which is the fifth-highest pressure rate by any quarterback with 375+ pass attempts in a season in the NextGen Stats era.
The Chargers' offensive line did a much better job protecting Herbert in their win last week against Las Vegas, allowing a 26.9% pressure rate, which was his second-lowest of the season.
However, Herbert was still sacked three times and suffered a left-hand fracture.
He has been sacked 40 times this season, tied for sixth-most in the NFL. Herbert has been sacked three or more times in a game seven times this season.
The Eagles pressure the quarterback at a 34.3% clip and had a good two-week stretch against the Packers and Lions, but in their two straight losses, the pass rush has not been nearly as effective. Against the Cowboys and Bears, the Eagles only sacked Dak Prescott once and Caleb Williams twice while the pass rush was unable to disrupt plays on a consistent basis as it did against Green Bay and Detroit.
Jalen Carter has been ruled out for the game and potentially longer after going for a procedure to help his shoulder issues he’s been dealing with all season. It is expected that Moro Ojomo and Jordan Davis will take the bulk of the defensive snaps while Bryon Young will get an increased workload and perhaps even fourth-round pick Ty Robinson could see more snaps in the rotation while Carter is out.
The Chargers implement a heavy zone defense which has given the Eagles’ offense trouble throughout the season. Los Angeles’ secondary has allowed the third-fewest yards and only six touchdowns to wideouts this season.
They also lead the league with passes of 20+ yards allowed with just 24 while second in opposing passer rating (78.0).
This could be a tough matchup for the talented duo of A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith. Brown has put together his best two games in succession over the last two weeks racking up 242 yards in 18 catches while seeing 22 targets to go along with three touchdowns including a two-score game in the loss to Chicago. Despite the strong performances, the Eagles have dropped both games.
Brown, who lines up on the outside 90% of his routes, has had much more success against man-to-man defense. According to NextGen Stats, Brown’s 298 yards against man-to-man coverage is the fourth-most while his five touchdowns are tied for fourth-most. Brown will likely draw Donte Jackson, who has allowed just a 44.1% completion percentage in coverage, good for the third-lowest among cornerbacks targeted at least 25 times this season, per NextGen Stats.
DeVonta Smith, has done well against zone coverage totaling 44 catches for 634 yards which is 11th-most. His plus-172 receiving yards over expected against zone are the second-most in the NFL trailing only Seattle’s Jaxon Smith-Njigba per NextGen Stats.
Smith, who was banged up going into the game on Black Friday, had five receptions for 48 yards on eight targets. He still leads the Eagles with 802 yards, ranked 12th in the NFL, and is projected to finish with over 1,300 yards for the season. Lining up in the slot at just under 60%, he will match up against Tarheeb Still.
When Herbert does have enough time to throw the ball, he has plenty of weapons to choose from. Future Hall of Famer Keenan Allen, dangerous slot man Ladd McConkey, deep threat Quentin Johnston, and rookie tight end Oronde Gadsden II make a formidable quartet for the Chargers.
McConkey, in his second season, leads the way with 683 yards and has five touchdowns. He has been held in check in each of the last two games, combining for just 52 receiving yards and a touchdown on seven catches after racking up 107 yards on just four receptions against Pittsburgh three weeks ago.
Allen is second on the team with 622 receiving yards and four touchdowns. He currently ranks 34th all-time with 11,896 receiving yards and is just 250 yards shy of moving inside the top-30 on the all-time list. He is also the franchise leader in receptions, surpassing Antonio Gates earlier this season. The 13-year veteran can still high-point the ball with the best of them.
Johnston is having a strong season with a team-best seven touchdowns, which is tied for fifth-most in the NFL, after finding the endzone just 10 times in his first 32 games as a pro. He has 525 yards on the season and presents a legitimate deep threat down the field.
Gadsden II had an impressive month stretch in October and early November where he hauled 24 catches for 377 yards, including a 164 receiving yard performance against Indianapolis in Week 7. Since then, he has cooled off quite a bit, failing to reach 50 yards in a game over the last three weeks, but he is still seeing a good amount of the target share in the offense.
Similar to the Bears who did not have a superstar receiver that could constantly beat the Eagles, the Chargers will rely on spreading the ball around through the air and Philadelphia’s secondary will need to be ready to defend all four options.
It seems like this has been a weekly matchup to watch all season long and for good reason. When the Eagles can run the ball successfully, that’s when the offense is at its best. Unfortunately for Philadelphia, the run game just has not been nearly as effective as last season.
Barkley is averaging just 3.7 yards per carry after his 2,000-yard season last year and has only hit or surpassed the century mark once in 12 games this season. The Chargers are average in stopping the run, allowing 106.9 yards per game which is 13th while in the bottom half of the league allowing 4.6 yards per carry which is 24th in the NFL.
Barkley seemed poised to have success against Chicago’s bottom rush defense and averaged 4.3 yards per carry, but he only had 13 carries for 56 yards. He and the offensive line will look to get on track finally this week against a Chargers team that did only allow 31 rushing yards to Las Vegas, but before that was gouged for 192 yards two weeks ago in a 35-6 loss at Jacksonville where rookie Bhayshul Tuten had 74 yards and a touchdown and Travie Etienne Jr. added 73 yards and two scores.
The Eagles and Chargers square off for the first time since 2021 on Monday Night at So-Fi Stadium. Kickoff is 8:15 p.m.
