Eagles vs. Cardinals: Complete Week 8 Preview for Philadelphia

The Philadelphia Eagles will face the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday in a battle between two of the NFC's finest teams.

The 5-1 Eagles have had an extra week to prepare for a talented Cardinals team that quietly holds the NFC West lead over the Seattle Seahawks or San Francisco 49ers. That's good, because this is a tough Arizona team, and the two squads match up well.

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Cardinals are 3 point favorites over Eagles. Philly is 10-4 ATS last 14 games as road underdogs.

— Brandon Lee Gowton (@BrandonGowton) October 23, 2014"

For the first time this season, Philadelphia is in second place, but it’s by just half-a-game behind the surprising 6-1 Dallas Cowboys. Winning this one, coupled with a Dallas loss, would put the Eagles back in first place and keep Philadelphia in the running for home-field advantage throughout the NFC playoffs.

Here is everything you will need to know leading up to week’s battle of the birds.

Eagles’ Week 6 Recap

Michael Perez/Associated Press

The Philadelphia Eagles are fresh off a bye week, but before that they rolled over division-rival the New York Giants by a 27-0 score in prime-time football. Quarterback Nick Foles threw two more touchdowns (although he did throw two picks), and LeSean McCoy got back on track with 149 rushing yards on just 22 carries.

The defense was dominant, sacking Eli Manning and Ryan Nassib a combined eight times while recording the first shutout in Philly in nearly 20 years. The Eagles won the battles in the trenches, with the defensive line making its mark on Manning and All-Pro left tackle Jason Peters holding off New York pass-rusher Jason Pierre-Paul.

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Coach Kelly: We still have things from the Giants game that we can improve upon. We played well, but not a complete game. #FlyEaglesFly

— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) October 21, 2014"

News and Notes

Michael Perez/Associated Press

Eagles Looking to Keep Up in Competitive NFC East

Before the season, many experts assumed the Philadelphia Eagles would win the NFC East crown simply by showing up. Instead, the Dallas Cowboys have been the surprise of the season.

The offense has flourished behind arguably the game's best offensive line and the trio of Tony Romo, Dez Bryant and DeMarco Murray. But the defense, which many expected to be awful, has been strong this year.

Beating the Seattle Seahawks on the road showed that the Cowboys are a legitimate team. If the Eagles lose this game, all of a sudden they could be two games back of a Dallas team that gets a favorable Week 9 Monday night matchup against Washington.

LeSean McCoy… to the Oakland Raiders?

Ok, so it won’t happen. But ESPN.com’s Greg Garber proposed this idea in a wild trade rumor.

Raiders get: LeSean McCoy, Brandon Graham, 2015 second-round pick, 2015 fifth-round pick

Eagles get: 2015 No. 1 overall pick

This would mean Oakland would have to get the No. 1 overall selection, which is no guarantee. But they likely wouldn’t draft a quarterback since Derek Carr has shown promise, and this would allow Chip Kelly to get Marcus Mariota from Oregon and allow Nick Foles to play out 2015 and then walk.

Regardless, it won’t happen. But it’s interesting to think about.

Chip Kelly to Coach at University of Florida?

Rumors are everywhere, and it’s very likely that’s all this one is.

But per ESPN’s Colin Cowherd, Chip Kelly’s name has been linked to the head coaching job at the University of Florida. It’s highly unlikely this would happen, considering the NFL is the world’s biggest stage for football and Kelly is doing extremely well there so far.

Kelly still hasn’t won a national championship at the collegiate level, and he would probably like to add that to his list of accomplishments. But he’s also never even won a playoff game in the NFL, and he’s got it pretty good with the Philadelphia Eagles.

Don’t expect him to go anywhere.

Injury Report

Michael Conroy/Associated Press

The Philadelphia Eagles will be hoping to have both Darren Sproles and Mychal Kendricks back from injury this week, although neither is a certainty.

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Darren Sproles (knee) and Mychal Kendricks (calf) were once again limited at #Eagles practice.

— Jeff McLane (@Jeff_McLane) October 23, 2014"

Player	Position	Injury
Mychal Kendricks	ILB	Calf (Questionable)
Jason Kelce	C	Hernia (Doubtful)
Brad Smith	WR	Groin (Out)
Chris Polk	RB	Hamstring (Probable)
DeMeco Ryans	ILB	Groin (Questionable)

Don’t expect Jason Kelce to be back, but if he is, that would be a major boost to the offensive line. Both Kelce and Evan Mathis are still targeting the Monday night Carolina game for their return, although earlier would be idea.

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Jason Kelce is ahead of schedule and could play vs. Texans on Nov. 2, a week from Sunday, per @EvanMathis69.

— Geoff Mosher (@GeoffMosherCSN) October 20, 2014

 

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Key Matchups to Watch

Michael Perez/Associated Press

TE Zach Ertz vs. S Deonne Buccanon

The Philadelphia Eagles have themselves a top talent in second-year tight end, Zach Ertz, a mismatch nightmare who can cause serious problems in the red zone. He will face off against an Arizona defense that is without a handful of key players in the front seven, which will provide Nick Foles with even more time in the pocket to find open targets.

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"For some reason the #Cardinals have had trouble covering tight ends down the field."— @mikejurecki says about Cards defense.

— 97.3 ESPN FM (@973espn) October 23, 2014"

Ertz, who was averaging over 23 yards per catch after the first two weeks of the season, hasn’t had quite the same success since, but he is still a borderline top-10 NFL tight end. Two weeks ago when the Cardinals faced athletic Washington Redskins tight end Jordan Reed, they utilized rookie first-round safety Deonne Bucannon in coverage. Reed was targeted 11 times—Bucannon was responsible for four completions on four attempts, per Pro Football Focus (subscription required).

Bucannon has struggled mightily this season. Per PFF, he’s the 77th-rated safety among 82 qualifiers, and he’s been particularly ineffective in pass coverage. Bucannon has been targeted 20 times by opposing quarterbacks; 19 of those passes have been complete for a league-worst 95 percent.

Bucannon is a good-sized safety at 6’1”, 208 pounds, but Ertz outweighs him by a solid 30-plus pounds. In this one, the clear advantage goes to Ertz.

CB Cary Williams vs. WR Larry Fitzgerald

Philadelphia Eagles cornerback Cary Williams isn’t the same player he was a year ago, but fortunately, Larry Fitzgerald isn’t the same receiver that torched the Eagles in the 2008 playoffs or 2011 regular season.

After allowing an 80.6 passer rating in 2013, Williams has been lit up to the tune of a 108.5 passer rating this year. He’s given up three touchdowns without recording an interception.

Williams typically plays the left side of the field, while Fitzgerald lines up on the right. After burning the Eagles for three touchdowns in the ’08 title game and then 13 catches and two more scores in a 2011 regular-season matchup, Fitzgerald currently is the third or fourth option on this Cardinals team. Quite simply, the eight-time Pro Bowler doesn’t have the same ability to separate from man-to-man coverage as he once did.

Fitzgerald caught just four passes for 21 yards last week against Oakland. He’s reached the end zone just once in 2014. He’s currently tied for just 52nd among receivers with 283 yards, which puts him on pace for just 755 for the season.

But Fitzgerald is a huge target at 6’3”, 220 pounds. He’s still capable of beating cornerbacks for contested catches, and Williams is one of the more heavily-targeted corners in the league.

Chip Kelly vs. Bruce Arians

Chip Kelly gained national recognition last year for his innovative style of offense and unique training regime for the entire Philadelphia Eagles team.

What went largely under the radar was the stellar job Bruce Arians did for the Arizona Cardinals. Arians—fresh off a Coach of the Year award as an interim coach for the Indianapolis Colts—went 11-5 with the 2013 Cardinals. While Arizona managed to miss the playoffs, the bottom line is that his ’13 campaign certainly doesn’t look like a fluke.

The Cardinals are 5-1 this year. Simply put, Arians just wins football games. He’s worked his magic with Carson Palmer, a quarterback who both the Cincinnati Bengals and Oakland Raiders felt was washed up.

Last year, Kelly’s Eagles outdueled Arians’ Cardinals, 24-21, in a game the Cardinals nearly won at the end. This year, will be just as tough of a game.

Prediction

Michael Perez/Associated Press

This matchup puts two excellent football teams squaring off against each other.

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Since Week 8 of last season, the Eagles, Cardinals and Broncos are tied with the NFL's best record at 12-3. pic.twitter.com/KGAhvJ64bp

— NFL on ESPN (@ESPNNFL) October 23, 2014"

The Arizona Cardinals will likely make things extremely difficult for All-Pro running back LeSean McCoy, who has been enduring a rough 2014 campaign as it is.

The Cardinals defensive backs are prone to giving up the long touchdown, but they’re also capable of grabbing an interception or two. Look for Nick Foles to throw for over 300 yards, a few touchdowns and an interception.

Philly’s overachieving defense has a handful of tough weapons to cover in Michael Floyd, Larry Fitzgerald and Andre Ellington. Expect the Eagles to win a close one by a 30-27 score.