Philadelphia Eagles: 3 keys to victory over Washington

2. Continue to Bottle up the Run

Last week in Carolina, the Eagles’ defense was absolutely lethal against running backs. In the game, Jim Schwartz‘ defense only gave up 80 yards on 25 carries. To put that into perspective, quarterback Cam Newton had 71 yards on 11 carries. So the Eagles defense gave up nine yards on 14 carries to Carolina’s running backs, good for an absolutely insane 0.64 yards per carry.

The Redskins currently rank 15th in the NFL in rushing offense, while the Eagles rank second in the NFL when it comes to rushing defense. Odds are Cousins will not be carrying the ball 11 times like Newton did, so the bulk of the Washington rushing offense will come from the backs.

Washington’s committee of running backs, Robert Kelley, Chris Thompson, and Samaje Perine, can all attack opposing defenses in a variety of ways and will keep the Eagles front seven busy for much of the evening. Kelley is more a bruiser and can fight for those tough yards, while Thompson can hurt teams in the passing game.

The Eagles must be aware of all three.

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If the Eagles’ defensive front can continue to do what they’ve done best in stopping the run, then they can pin their ears back, make the Skins’ offense one dimensional and go after Cousins. The Washington offense has a lot of options in the passing game, so getting to the quarterback will be a major key in slowing down Cousins down.

Possibly getting Ronald Darby back could definitely help the Eagles’ passing defense, but if they can shut down the run and make Washington one dimensional, then that will be huge for their defensive success on Monday night