The Eagles start off the second half of their season with a 1:00 game on a Sunday, their first since Week 5 against the New Orleans Saints. That’s 35 days in a row the Eagles have gone without playing a game on a Sunday afternoon. They’ve fared pretty well during that stretch, defeating the New York Giants and Dallas Cowboys but dropping a contest against the still-undefeated Carolina Panthers.
Right now, the Eagles are 4-4, but advanced metrics sites like Football Outsiders give the team a 59.3 percent chance of winning the NFC East title. Their tiebreaker over the Giants could be the difference, although realistically, the division will probably come down to the season finale, where the Eagles play the Giants on the road. That could be a winner-take-all game for the division title.
The focus right now is on the Miami Dolphins, a team that has been wildly inconsistent this season. A 1-3 start led to the firing of Joe Philbin. New interim head coach Dan Campbell led Miami to a pair of blowout victories, albeit against weak opponents, but the bottom has come out, and the Dolphins have now lost consecutive games to sit at 3-5 at the midseason point.
They’re well on their way to a fourth straight non-winning season in the Ryan Tannehill era, and if they want any chance of competing for a wild-card spot, they need to win on the road on Sunday. The Eagles can take control of the division with a win and a Giants loss to the undefeated Patriots. Below are five predictions for tomorrow’s game against the Dolphins.
1 – No turnovers for Sam Bradford.
Sam Bradford played his best game in an Eagles uniform on Sunday night, completing 25 of 36 passes for close to 300 yards, plus a dramatic walkoff overtime touchdown to Jordan Matthews. Most importantly, he didn’t turn the ball over once. It was the first game for the Eagles’ offense without a turnover since the Carolina blowout last November. I think Bradford’s success continues. The Eagles don’t need him to come out and win the game tomorrow. They just need him to manage the game efficiently, and not turn the ball over. If he can do that, there’s no reason the Eagles should lose this game.
2 – More than 200 rushing yards for DeMarco Murray and Ryan Mathews.
On paper, the Eagles should run all over the Miami Dolphins this week. The Dolphins rank 31st in the NFL in average yards allowed per carry, and they’re hurting without star edge-rusher Cameron Wake, who was lost for the season with a torn Achilles three weeks ago. The combination of DeMarco Murray and Ryan Mathews has been lethal over the last month, collecting at least 150 yards and a touchdown in four straight games. I still don’t think we’ve seen the true potential of the rushing attack, but I think the unit’s best showing of the season comes tomorrow, as Murray and Mathews combine for more than 200 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
3 – Breakout game for Nelson Agholor.
The Eagles’ first-round pick has been a massive disappointment through the season’s first eight games. He’s caught eight passes for 105 yards and no touchdowns. He hasn’t been able to consistently beat single coverage and he’s been limited recently by a high ankle sprain. Agholor was widely viewed as a safe pick when he was picked in the first round, but his early struggles have been alarming. I still have faith in the former USC star, and I think he turns in his best game of the season against a Dolphins secondary that has allowed 16 touchdown passes through the first eight games of the season. The Eagles desperately need a number two receiver right now, and if Agholor can catch four passes for 55 yards and his first career touchdown, he can take a major step toward establishing himself as a future building block on the offense.
4 – Two more sacks for edge-rusher Brandon Graham.
Although he was quiet in the first half of the season, Brandon Graham wreaked havoc on the Cowboys throughout the game last week. Specifically, he managed to twice beat dominant left tackle Tyron Smith for a sack-fumble. It was arguably Graham’s best game in an Eagles uniform since he was picked in the first round in 2010. Against a Dolphins offensive line that ranks as the league’s third-worst unit, per Pro Football Focus, Graham continues collecting quarterbacks, recording 1.5 sacks against Ryan Tannehill.
5 – Double-digit win improves Eagles to 5-4.
It’s really hard to see the Eagles losing this week. In fact, if they do, it’s a clear sign that this team may not be ready to compete for a division title after all. I have the Eagles winning handily, 27-17, in a relatively-boring, drama-free game. It won’t be the blowout that many are predicting, but it also won’t be a typically slow start followed by a furious second-half finish. Instead, I think the Eagles build a sizable lead by halftime, perhaps 17-10, and pound the Dolphins with their running game in the second half, en route to a convincing 27-17 victory. If, and likely when, the Giants lose to the red-hot Patriots, the Eagles will be leading the NFC East with seven games remaining in the season.
