Eagles will face Falcons in Divisional Round after Rams exit playoffs early

With the Atlanta Falcons defeating the Los Angeles Rams in the Wild Card Round, the Philadelphia Eagles will face the defending NFC champions in the Divisional Round.

With the Philadelphia Eagles enjoying the benefits of having a bye week, there were questions surrounding who their opponent would end up being in the Divisional Round of the NFL Playoffs 2018. Thanks to the Los Angeles Rams ending up on the losing end Saturday night 26-13, Doug Pederson and company will now face the defending NFC champions in the Atlanta Falcons next Saturday, which should make for an interesting battle.

Even though the Falcons represented the NFC in the Super Bowl last year, and were considered one of the early favorites to earn a trip to Minnesota this season, it was clear the offense wasn’t nearly the same from their epic run from a season ago. Losing Kyle Shanahan to the San Francisco 49ers was a crushing blow to the offense, and despite having one of the top units on paper, Atlanta just hasn’t looked the same on offense. But with weapons like Julio Jones and Devonta Freeman for Matt Ryan to work with, the Eagles understand the Falcons aren’t a team to take lightly.

Many believed Atlanta would be in for a rude awakening traveling across country to take on Los Angeles since Sean McVay‘s squad would be well rested after a majority of the starters sat in Week 17, but obviously that was far from the case. Instead, the Falcons hope to remain hot against an Eagles team that has looked anything but impressive over the last few weeks, as Nick Foles has been struggling to fill the void left by Carson Wentz at quarterback.

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On paper, Philadelphia may seem like they would have an advantage facing an Atlanta team as the No. 6 seed, but also keep in mind this is a team on a mission looking to redeem themselves after suffering the worst Super Bowl collapse in NFL history last February when they blew a 28-3 lead to the New England Patriots. Not only will Foles need to play at a high level when looking at how the Falcons managed to hold the Rams to scoring just 13 points after averaging 29.9 points per game during the regular season, but the Eagles’ defense will need to keep Ryan and company in check on offense. Otherwise, Philadelphia will be facing an early exit like Los Angeles, which is the last thing Pederson’s squad wants to see after all of the success from the regular season.