The Eagles Don’t Need Style Points Tonight, Just Win

Warning! I don’t give a damn about style points when it comes to the Monday Night Football matchup with the Atlanta Falcons. There are many reasons to think the Eagles will live up to the pre-season hype after their impressive win over the Packers in Brazil. There are also many reasons for a more cautious approach to expectations. These are some of the reasons that I love the Eagles to come away victorious but would lean towards taking the 5.5 points with the Falcons.

The loss of AJ Brown with hamstring tightness most certainly impacts the Eagles' victory chances. They may have plenty of offensive weapons but without their largest, it could be more difficult sledding. Brown is the most likely player to receive two men in attention from the opposition so the Eagles become immediately easier to defend.

This may require them to lean on Saquon Barkley more and hopefully Dallas Goedert can step up and become more of an intermediate passing game threat. Davonta Smith will now become the primary focus and rookie Johnny Wilson is having hamstring issues so he probably won’t be a promising option.

Though he always tends to light it up with huge passing yards performances, Kirk Cousins seems to be blinded by the bright lights of prime time games. His turnover numbers usually escalate and the Eagles young secondary should have opportunities to put their offense on a short field.

Cousins is still slowly recovering from last year's Achilles injury but Atlanta says he is not suffering from any lingering effects. He was a sitting duck in the pocket last week vs the Steelers and the Eagles better be able to generate a pass rush against him.

The embarrassment of losing at home to the Steelers and only scoring ten points was a topic of discussion all week long in Atlanta. Their offensive line did a horrendous job of protecting their quarterback. They were particularly vulnerable up the gut and that should suggest to us that Jalen Carter could have a very disruptive night.

The edge rushers should also find themselves with chances to affect the passing game. The Falcons have weapons but without time to execute they won’t have a good chance to succeed. Will we see Bryce Huff make an impact? This would be the game to do it while the Falcons get things figured out.

If you are planning to build your same game parlay I would suggest starting with the Eagles money line. They should leave the Linc 2-0. What I wouldn’t do is lay 6.5 points to Atlanta. The Falcons should have a much better offensive plan after seeing all that went wrong the week before. I also don’t see the Eagles defense wreaking as much havoc as the Steelers did.

Devonta Smith enjoys a big night and Saquon Barkley accounts for another 100 yard plus night of offense. The Eagles secondary will be challenged and I expect a bumpy ride. I’ll figure they trail once or twice, but the Eagles prevail in a 27-23 victory.

Week 1 is in the books. It was not pretty, but it was a win. Eagles fans may still have some lingering PTSD from all the "ugly wins" last year, but we should not overreact to 1 week. It was a tough trip, vs a good team, on a bad field. You take the win. Now they have the Falcons coming to town for the 1st real home game of the season.

Related: Eagles Win Sloppy Game On Back Of Saquon Barkley

If you thought the Eagles looked ugly, the Falcons were disgusting. They played a worse team, at home, and looked lost. They fell to a mediocre Steelers team with Justin Fields at QB. It's not like the Steelers looked great, they were just better than the Falcons. With all that talent on offense the Falcons couldn't even move the ball.

The Eagles also get some extra rest before the game. They played Friday and then won't take the field again until the following Monday Night. A couple of extra days compared to the Steelers, though the crazy travel might even things out a bit.

There were good things to take away from game 1. The offense was not at its best, and they still scored 34 points. The defense gave up some big plays, but they held the Pakcers to being 1 of 4 in the Red Zone. New blood like Quinyon Mitchell and Zack Baun looked fantastic. And Saquon Barkley was as good as advertised.

On paper, it is a game the Eagles should win. They are currently 6.5 home favorites, and that number is moving in the Eagles' direction. Vegas money thinks the Eagles win.

Who needs to step up to make sure that happens though? Which players have the best matchups for Monday Night's game? What areas can the Eagles take advantage of the most?

AJ Terrell is a solid cornerback. He will likely shadow AJ Brown most of the game. Brown will certainly get his against Terrell, but he will at least battle a corner who stands a chance at covering him. After Terrell, the Falcons have no one capable of covering DeVonta Smith on the other side.

Mike Hughes? Dee Alford? These guys are not starting caliber corners. DeVonta Smith will dominate whichever guy they put on him. Brown will have a good game regardless of how covers him, but Smith could have a great game. We already saw him do damage against a much better secondary vs Green Bay. But Monday Night he should go off.

The Steelers D-Line dominated the Falcons O-Line last Sunday. They have a great line, but it was more than just that. Kirk Cousins was incapable of escaping, and the Line had no answers. Pass Rush was an issue in week 1 for the Eagles. But they need to improve week 2. It is clear the Eagles don't trust Bryce Huff or Nolan Smith. It needs to be Josh Sweat stepping up. 

Sweat didn't do much week 1. He was okay, but not an impact player. He is their most proven Edge Rusher though, outside Brandon Graham who is just older now. He needs to be the one to step up and make Kirk Cousin uncomfortable among the Edge Rushers. 

All the things I just said about Sweat, apply to Carter too, except he was actually really good in week 1. He never got to the QB, but we saw him blow up the pocket multiple times, and the Packers got away with a few holds on him. The inside of the Falcons line is especially vulnerable. According to PFF, they allowed 9 pressures, a sack, and 2 QB hits. This matchup is one for Carter to feast on. And while Love was mobile enough to avoid inside pressure, it is hard to see Kirk Cousins being able to do so with how immobile he looks right now.

I will admit I had very little faith in Baun. Them taking a rotation Edge Rusher, moving him to inside linebacker, and declaring him one of the best on the team, reeked of desperation to me. But 1 week in, he looked fantastic. Baun was everywhere in week 1. Tracking people down on the sideline, dropping back in coverage, and getting after the QB with the Eagles only 2 sacks of the game.

Was it a fluke, or was it for real? Maybe we should have just taken Fangio at his word the whole time he was praising Baun. he has been honest with us about everyone else. We see with Bryce Huff that if he does not think a player is doing good enough, he will say so. Maybe Baun is actually a legit LB.

They are gonna need him vs the Falcons. Bijan Robinson was held in check a bit in week 1. He had over 100 combined yards, but he was held to 3.8 yards per carry. The Packers' Running Game got the better of the Eagles a bit, and they are going to rely on guys like Baun, and Jordan Davis, to keep Robinson from hurting them in week 2.

After he was the team MVP in week 1, he had to get a shoutout here. Barkley started his career with a bang, finding the End Zone 3 times. Expecting him to do that every week would be unreasonable. But can he still get 100 yards and a TD? Absolutely.

The Falcons run D actually did a decent job in week 1 stopping the Steelers rushing game. They gave up 137 yards but on 41 carries. That includes a 10-yard loss for George Pickens, but even if you take that out, they still only gave up 3.7 yards per carry. With Saquon, and this O-line though, the Eagles should be able to run against almost anyone.

Mekhi Becton was amazing in week 1. As a first-time RG, he drew a tough test battling with pro-Bowler Kenny Clark. He shut Clark down, giving up no pressures, and the Eagles actually had their most success on the ground running between him and Lane Johnson. We got to see why he won the job so quickly in camp. Despite being new to Guard, he looked like a natural. The Falcons don't have a DT of Kenny Clark's caliber, so expect Becton to look good again on Monday night.