Philadelphia Eagles: Previewing Week 1 meeting with Atlanta Falcons

When the Eagles are on offense

First and foremost, and most importantly, who will be the starting quarterback come Thursday night? According to NFL Network`s Ian Rappaport, the plan is for the Eagles to start Nick Foles against the Falcons, as Carson Wentz has not yet been cleared for contact.

After denying the reports initially, Eagles coach Doug Pederson confirmed everyone’s suspicions when he announced that Foles will start Thursday night’s game. Some believe it could be his way of misleading the Falcons, but unless some miracle happens, it will be Foles under center Thursday night.

Foles and the Eagles’ offense had a very lackluster preseason when in, but even though they struggled, it should not be a cause of concern for how they will look on Thursday night. Pederson was not catering his offense towards Foles like he did in the playoffs last year, and the Eagles were missing a lot of their playmakers throughout the preseason.

Philadelphia will be without Alshon Jeffery, but will get back the likes of, Jay Ajayi, Nelson Agholor, Corey Clement, and will, of course, have Zach Ertz‘s services for the season opener. So talent will not be lacking for the Eagles on offense.

As we saw last year, Pederson is going to put Foles in a position to succeed. The key to add is running a lot of run-pass options, also known as RPOs. Foles was extremely successful is running those last postseason, and it would be fair to see a lot of those come Thursday night.

There is also the potential for the running game to be potent this year, led by the one-two punch of Ajayi and Clement. Getting these two going is key for Philadelphia’s offense on Thursday night.

The thing to remember though is that the Eagles defense is going to be one of the best in the league, and add that to the raucous crowd there will be Thursday night, so Foles should not feel pressured to press anything that is not there. He just needs to be smart and play it safe until Wentz gets back.

Expect Pederson and the Eagles’ offense to be aggressive and take their shots as that is there calling card. But as long as they can avoid the big mistake, then they should be fine. If they can put up 20-24 points, then that should be enough for the defense to hold Atlanta to less.