Philadelphia Eagles: 3 keys to a Week 2 win over the Los Angeles Rams

1. Screen passes to neutralize the rush

Look, I’m going to level with you; the Philadelphia Eagles are going to have a pretty rough time dealing with the Rams’ pass rush in Week 2.

Sure, getting back Lane Johnson and Miles Sanders will help, as the duo are unarguably the best available pass blockers at their given positions, but we’re talking about a front seven featuring Aaron Donald, Leonard Floyd, Samson Ebukam, Michael Brockers, and Rutgers alum Sebastian Joseph. That’s… a lot.

But hey, why throw in the towel right before the opening kickoff? Will it be hard to run between the tackles? Yes. Is Donald going to disrupt the gameplan? Yes. But are the Eagles doomed? Yes…. wait, no, no they are not.

Why? Two words, my friends: Screen passes.

I know, yes, the Eagles tried a few screens with little success in Week 1, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the plays are useless. When you have a fearsome foursome charging down a quarterback who was sacked eight times in the week prior, you have to get creative.

While screen passes are far from the big, home run swings the Eagles wanted oh so bad to hit in Week 1, flicking a lateral pass to a receiver out of the backfield like Miles Sanders and Boston Scott, or a shifty receiver like Jalen Reagor is an easy way to keep a pass rush guessing and move the ball forward a few yards at a time.

It’s not like the Rams are particularly flush with coverage linebackers capable of taking out a ball handler in space. Micah Kiser, the Rams’ top interior linebacker, missed seven tackles in Week 1 and his mate, Kenny Young, is still incredibly raw in coverage, and I say that as a loving UCLA fan.

And as for the Rams’ stable of safeties? Well, they could help around the line, especially Taylor Rapp, Tarrell Burgess, and John Johnson, but I have a feeling they’ll have their hands full with Zach Ertz and Dallas Goedert (more on that here).

In parts of the 2017, 2018, and 2019 NFL seasons, Doug Pederson found great success running a fast-paced, read-and-react offense built around the RPO. Will the Eagles revert to what works again in 2020? Almost certainly, and hopefully, it happens in Week 2 because running your traditional West Coast, zone blocking looks just aren’t going to work against Donald and company.