Coming into the season, not many Eagles fans were too excited to have the earliest possible bye, but it came at a great time. AJ Brown hasn't played since Week 1, and DeVonta Smith and Lane Johnson missed the game against Tampa Bay. After a week off, all three players will return for Week 6. The game before the bye was awful for the Birds, so hopefully, some major adjustments were made. This game will also be in Philly, so many positives are coming into this week.
The last time the Eagles faced the Browns was in November of 2020, and the Browns won 22-17. All-time Cleveland has Philadelphia's number, with an all-time record of 32-17-1 in favor of the Browns. However, only 14 of those 32 wins are on the road. Obviously, these are two entirely different teams than they were in 2020, and all-time records don't matter, but it's fun to take a look at how this matchup has gone down historically.
Game Info
Date: October 13th, 2024
Start Time: 1:00 PM ET
Location: Philadelphia, PA
Stadium: Lincoln Financial Field
TV Info: FOX (Kenny Albert and Jonathan Vilma on the call)
Eagles Uniform Info: Green helmet, green jersey, white pants
Buccaneers Statistical Rankings 2024
Points Per Game: 15.8 (30th)
Points Allowed Per Game: 24.2 (23rd)
Offensive Yards Per Game: 239.4 (32nd)
Passing/Rushing Yards Per Game: 142.8 (30th) | 96.6 (27th)
Defensive Yards Allowed Per Game: 326.0 (13th)
Passing/Rushing Yards Allowed Per Game: 184.4 (8th) | 141.6 (25th)
Third Down Offensive/Defensive Conversion Rate: 18.18% (32nd) | 34.8% (12th)
Red Zone Offensive/Defensive Conversion Rate: 75.0% (T-2nd) | 55.5% (19th)
Penalties: 43 (T-30th)
Penalty Yardage: 302 (24th)
Players Already Ruled Out
Browns: RB Nick Chubb, DT Mike Hall Jr, RB Nyheim Hines DE Alex Wright, DT Maurice Hurst II, LB Mohamoud Diabate
Eagles: CB James Bradberry, WR Britain Covey, WR Jacob Harris, S Sydney Brown, WR Ainias Smith
Cleveland Browns
Defense
The Browns give up 24 points per game and are matchup against a Philly offense that scores 21 points per game. Their main focus should be the Eagles run game. They rank within the bottom 10 in rush yards allowed and give up five yards per carry, going up against Saquon Barkley, who is averaging six yards per carry, but he's averaged over eight per pop the last two weeks. Denzel Ward will have his hands full guarding AJ Brown this week; he's had a good year so far, leading the league in pass deflections with nine. He's allowed less than 50% of passes thrown his way to be caught, giving up 12 receptions on 28 targets.
The Browns rank 12th in third down conversion percentage allowed, and Philly ranks 13th in offensive third down conversion rate, so if the Browns defense can force some third downs, they have a good shot at getting Jalen Hurts and company off the field. Cleveland gives up a touchdown in the red zone 55% of the time, but Philadelphia has tended to stall their drives out or end in red zone turnovers. The Browns' defense will have to capitalize on red zone trips and hold Philadelphia to as few points as possible, which goes without saying, but it's especially true for this Browns team, whose offense has been stale all season, which I'll get into now.
Offense
This offense is arguably missing its best player in Nick Chubb, who has been sidelined since Week 2 of the 2023 season. Jerome Ford has been holding down the run game while Chubb has been gone, but he only has 250 yards and one touchdown on the year. The only other player to have a rushing touchdown for Cleveland is Deshaun Watson, who has one. Their two rushing TDs are tied for the second least in the league, with only Atlanta having less. As a team, Cleveland has the seventh least rushing yards in the league with 483, under 100 yards per game. They're facing a defense that gives up 128.8 rush yards per game on five yards per carry, which ranks 28th in the league.
In 2022, the Browns signed Deshaun Watson to a five-year, $230 Million contract, and they're probably regretting it by now. Watson ranks 26th in passing yards with 852, 23rd in passing TDs with five, and 28th in rating with a rate of 74.8. The Browns' leading receiver is Jerry Jeudy, who has just 213 yards in the season and ranks 55th in the league. The Browns' offensive line has allowed Watson to be sacked more than any other quarterback, with Watson being taken down behind the line of scrimmage 26 times. The second most sacked quarterback is Geno Smith, who has been taken down 18 times. The Eagles pass rush hasn't been scary, totaling just six sacks on the year, which is tied for second least in the league. Despite this being a feeble offense so far, they match up quite nicely against Philly's D.
Philadelphia Eagles
Defense
The Birds will have a new face in the starting lineup defensively this week. Cooper DeJean will start at Nickel over veteran Avonte Maddox. DeJean was Philly's second-round pick in the 2024 draft, but a pre-season hamstring injury stalled his progress. The Eagles' other rookie CB, Quinyon Mitchell, has been one of the best, if not the best, defenders on the team through four games.
This should be a good move for the defense, as Maddox hasn't done anything impressive to start the year. He has 10 tackles and four pass deflections. He's been targeted 19 times, allowing 10 receptions with a PFF grade of 52.6. The Eagles' secondary ranks within the top five in completion percentage allowed with 59.6%; however, they allowed Baker Mayfield to complete 30 of his 47 attempts in their last contest.
The Eagles pass rush hasn't been the best to start the season, getting to the QB only six times this season. Last week, Josh Sweat and Brandon Graham got their first sack of the season. Milton Williams, Jalen Carter, and Zach Baun are the only other Eagles to record a sack this season, with Baun being the only player with multiple, both of which came in Week 1. The Eagles' run defense has been confusing, allowing 163 rush yards in Week 1 and 152 in Week 2, allowing a league-worst 6.6 yards per carry through two weeks. Then, in Week 3, against the team's hottest offense, they held the Saints to just 89 yards on 3.1 ypc. Against the Bucs, the Eagles got torn up in the passing game but not so much in the run game. They allowed Rachaad White and Bucky Irving to have identical stat lines with 49 yards on 10 carries each. Irving also had his first rushing touchdown in the year in the game. The Browns average 4.4 ypc, and Philly allows five ypc.
Brandon Graham will be playing in his 200th career game for Philadelphia on Sunday, making him the first and only Eagle in franchise history to do so!
Offense
The Philadelphia offense hasn't scored a first quarter touchdown all season, however, Cleveland's defense has given up a first quarter touchdown in three of their five games played. One of the main reasons Philly struggles to get started early is that they don't come out running the ball. Saquon Barkley has NINE rushing attempts in the first quarter this season. I probably sound like a broken record since I've been saying it since Week 3, but Philly needs to establish the run game early. It will open up the passing game and, more importantly, take some pressure off Hurts, who hasn't been the greatest to start the season. Saquon is also the best player on that roster this season, and when the Eagles consistently give him the ball, great things happen, so why not start early on? The Browns defense allows the seventh most rush yards per game in the league, and Barkley is third in rushing yards even after taking a week off, so the game plan should be FEED SAQUON.
This will be the first time the Eagles offense is fully healthy since Week 1 against the Packers, where the Birds scored a season-high 34 points. They are also coming off a bye week, so they're rested and are hopefully better prepared moving forward. Jalen Hurts said it's his young career's most efficient bye week. Despite many Eagles fans putting Nick Sirianni on the hot seat, Hurts said about his coach, "I'm happy and fortunate that we were able to come together in harmony and have the same goal in mind and try to get this thing right." AJ Brown 119 yards and reeled in a TD in his only game played this season, and DeVonta Smith has over 75 receiving yards in every game he's played in, so having both back should do wonders for this offense that looked lost in almost every way in their last contest against Tampa Bay.
Betting Info
Points Spread: PHI -1 (-110) | TB +1 (-110)
Moneyline: PHI (-120) | TB (+100)
Over/Under: O 42 (-110) | U 42 (-110)
Lines Via Draft Kings as of September 28th
Prediction
There's no excuse this week for Philly. The Browns are 1-4 and haven't even scored 20 points in a game yet, and their defense hasn't been as good as it has in years past, allowing two teams to put 30 on them this season. The Browns only have one interception on the year, so Hurts should be able to have his first turnover-free game of the season, as long as he holds on to the ball since Cleveland has four fumble recoveries on the year, tied for second most in the league. Regardless of how bad play calling and decision-making have been this season and how many mistakes Jalen Hurts and this offense make, they would have to try to lose this game seriously. Well rested, fully healthy, allegedly very prepared, and back at home, all signs point to an Eagles bounce-back game.
Final Score: Eagles 24, Browns 13
Main Image via
Comments