Philadelphia Eagles v Green Bay Packers: Complete Week 11 Preview for Green Bay

Lambeau Field has been a fun place to play—for the home team, at least. The Green Bay Packers (6-3) have been unbeatable at home this season, winning their four contests by seven, 32, 21 and 41 points, respectively. The offense has been unstoppable; the 41.5 points averaged by the Pack at Green Bay is tops in the league, and it’s not even close—the Patriots are a distant second with 5.5 points fewer at New England, per ESPN.com’s Rob Demovsky. 

Looking to halt the Packers’ torrid pace are the Philadelphia Eagles (7-2), who enter Sunday’s 4:25 p.m. ET contest tied with Detroit for the NFC’s second-best record behind Arizona (8-1). Philly laid a whoopin’ on Carolina in Week 10, defeating the Panthers 45-21 (and it wasn’t that close) in the City of Brotherly Love on Monday Night Football.

At quarterback for Philadelphia will be Mark Sanchez, who starts in place of the injured Nick Foles (collarbone). Sanchez played well in the win over Carolina, throwing for 332 yards and two touchdowns without a turnover. It marked the first career game with at least 265 yards passing and no interceptions for the former New York Jet, according to the Associated Press (via the NY Times).

It’d be a massive understatement to call this matchup just one of 16.

From Bleacher Report’s Zach Kruse:

"

Why is Sunday vs. Eagles so important for the #Packers? Green Bay has won 2 (!) games vs. NFC playoff teams since 2012. Both vs. MIN in '12.

— Zach Kruse (@zachkruse2) November 13, 2014"

From the Green Bay Press-Gazette’s Todd McMahon:

"

For the first time this season, #Packers get top @NFLonFOX crew of Joe Buck, @TroyAikman & @ErinAndrews for Sunday's game vs. #Eagles.

— Todd McMahon (@ToddMcMahon23) November 11, 2014"

This will be a fun one.

Packers Week 10 Recap

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The only disappointing result from Week 10 was Aaron Rodgers not making (more) NFL history.

With six touchdown passes in the first half of a 55-14 slaughtering of the visiting Chicago Bears, just two more in the second half would be a cinch. Mel Tucker’s sorry excuse for a defense wasn’t stopping anyone, but Mike McCarthy pulled Rodgers after just one second-half drive that resulted in a field goal.

Sure, history would have been nice but after Rodgers tweaked a hamstring injury and didn’t look the same in a 44-23 Week 8 blowout loss at New Orleans, it wasn’t a worthy risk to take.

Rodgers still made a bit of history that night, tying Daryle “The Mad Bomber” Lamonica’s 45-year old record of six touchdown passes in a single half of football.

And perhaps more important than the ridiculous stats put up by Rodgers was the move made at inside 'backer. Clay Matthews, who has terrorized NFL offenses from the outside since 2009, was instead inserted opposite A.J. Hawk on the inside, and the results were sparkling. Matthews totaled a career-high 11 tackles—nine solo—to go along with two sacks, though one was wiped out due to a penalty.

But, McCarthy hesitated to call Matthews an inside linebacker. “He’s a football player,” McCarthy said, according to ESPN.com’s Rob Demovsky.

News and Notes

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Run Defense Trending

Heading into Green Bay’s Sunday night showdown with the Bears, the Packers had allowed a league-worst 153.5 yards per game. Matt Forte and Ka’Deem Carey gashed the Pack for 122 and 72 yards in the teams’ first meeting, respectively. But, with the infusion of Matthews and a big lead that forced Chicago into pass-heavy mode, the aforementioned tandem totaled just 67 yards on 19 carries (3.5 ypc). Green Bay is now 30th in total run defense (142.6 yards/game).

Less confident Clay?

According to younger brother Casey, older brother Clay Matthews was less than thrilled about his move inside, wrote Tom Silverstein of the Journal Sentinel. Clay said he got some grief from teammates but that Casey’s assertion was incorrect. “No, there’s not much truth to that,” Clay said. “I think any time there’s a position change—as I mentioned last week—there’s some hesitation obviously with what I was comfortable doing.”

Big Play Picks

In 2013, the Packers defense intercepted just 11 passes. And they did little with those 11 interceptions, averaging 3.3 return yards. Fast forward to 2014, and Green Bay’s defenders have upped that average to 24.3 yards per interception return, for fifth-best in the NFL and the best mark under Dom Capers, wrote Ty Dunne of the Journal Sentinel.

Injury Report

USA TODAY Sports

Player	Position	Injury Status
Brandon Bostick (Hip)	TE	Out
Jayrone Elliott (Hamstring)	LB	Out
T.J. Lang (Ankle)	G	Probable
Josh Sitton (Toe)	G	Probable

Source: Packers.com

Lang and Sitton both suffered injuries in the team's loss to New Orleans but both players battled through and played (well) in the win vs. Chicago, toughing it out in a gritty, old-school effort. 

Expect both players to go Sunday. 

Mike McCarthy didn't go so far as to call it a challenge for Bostick to go Sunday, but the Packers head coach insinuated as much at his Wednesday press conference, wrote ESPN.com's Rob Demovsky. Bostick recorded his first touchdown and second catch of the season in the win over Chicago. 

UPDATE: Bostick and Jayrone Elliott have both been downgraded to out and will not play this Sunday. 

X-Factors and Matchups to Watch

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LeSean McCoy vs. Packers Run Defense

Maybe it was the key to the Panthers’ game plan, but Carolina absolutely shut down McCoy and the Eagles’ run game last week. McCoy and fellow back Chris Polk totaled just 30 yards on 17 carries. That’s less than two yards per carry for you non-math majors out there. The sixth-year back out of Pittsburgh nicknamed “Shady” is averaging a career-worst 3.7 yards per carry but a matchup against the porous Packers rush defense (last week notwithstanding) might be just what the doctor ordered.

Clay Matthews vs. Chip Kelly

The headline from ESPN.com’s John Clayton says it all—“Chip Kelly making case as elite head coach.” I mean, he made Mark Sanchez look good. That’s got to make you elite, right? “His system might be so good that it doesn't matter who is under center,” Clayton wrote. Against the Bears, we didn’t see Cutler and the Chicago offense go after Matthews very often—targeted three times, one completion for three yards per ProFootballFocus.com (subscription required)—but expect mad scientist/wizard/hypnotist/greatest coach ever Chip Kelly to do so.

Darren Sproles

Who’s picking up Shady’s slack? It’s Darren Sproles. The former Saint/Charger back has been a great pickup—just like everyone thought.

"

#PHIvsGB Game Note presented by @RicohTweets: Darren Sproles and Aaron Rodgers tied for @nfl lead with three Player of the Week awards.

— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) November 13, 2014"

Though Sproles has totaled just 36 carries so far this season—just 4.5 per game—he’s made the most of his opportunities, rushing for four touchdowns and 236 yards, a 6.6-yard per carry average. That’s in addition to his 257 receiving yards on 21 catches and two punt returns for touchdowns.

Prediction

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This will be the eighth Packers prediction I’ve made for Bleacher Report (was brought on after Week 2). I’ve picked Green Bay each time—for varying reasons—and I’m not about to stop now.

At home, against Mark Sanchez, with the roll Aaron Rodgers is on and coming off the performance vs. the Bears, I can’t think of a good reason to pick Philadelphia.

But they have a better record, Peter!

I don’t care.

They don’t have Rodgers.

Prediction: Packers 35, Eagles 27.

Odds, via Odds Shark: Green Bay -4.5