Hey, Mobsquad!! Another victory in the books for the Rams! Welcome to this week’s edition of Talking Touchdowns. The Rams had a huge road win against the Cardinals. But they have another BIG matchup this week. The Rams return to Los Angeles to host the Philadelphia Eagles and here’s a look at the matchup.

Los Angeles Rams vs. Philadelphia Eagles

Last week the Rams put on an awesome show against the improved Cardinals. Heading into the game we knew that it was important to force Blaine Gabbert into passing situations in hopes that he would make poor decisions and that he did. The Rams were able to take advantage of TWO Gabbert interceptions in the first quarter and solidified their grip on first place in the NFC West.

They managed to stay in the lead the entire game getting points on the board in every quarter. Jared Goff went 21 of 31 for 220 yards and two touchdowns. It wasn’t his highest scoring game but you can tell he is getting smarter with the ball each week.

Like we say, the Rams go as Gurley goes and Gurley went. He put up 74 rushing yards on 19 carries and added another 84 yards on six receptions. Sammy Watkins made it to the end zone when he caught an 11-yard pass from Goff.

The Rams defense had quite the day as the squad showed they are here to finish the season in the first place spot. Alec Ogletree had a 41-yard interception return for a touchdown and Lamarcus Joyner’s interception allowed the offense to get back on the field and score.

The Rams need to continue with the momentum as they are about to take on the super hot 10-2 Philadelphia Eagles.

The playoff bound Eagles are coming off of their first loss in nine weeks! They had a hard fought battle against the Seattle Seahawks but they just couldn’t pull it out. Carson Wentz has been phenomenal for this Eagles offense and team as a whole.

The Eagles headed into the game averaging 32.9 points per game since week 7, but this high powered offense took about 22 minutes to get something on the board. Most, like myself, probably thought that this seemingly unstoppable offense would put on quite the show against a depleted defense that only has one member left from the legion of boom. Well, not the case.

But, the Rams will need to look at how the Eagles have performed overall throughout the season.

Carson Wentz is having an MVP caliber season under center, yet he leads a very balanced offensive attack which makes them incredibly difficult to game plan for and stop. Carson ranks 1st in passing touchdowns with 29, 10th in passing yardage with just over 3,000 yards and his QBR of 102 ranks 6th among NFL quarterbacks. Wentz’s incredible play has led the Eagles to the #3 ranked offense in the league and sit atop of the NFC standings.

The two things most understated about the Eagles success are their defense and rushing attack. One of the team’s biggest concerns coming into the season was the defense and the acquisition of running back LeGarrette Blount. Well, the Eagles defense ranks 4th best in the NFL this year and a LeGarrette Blount lead running back group ranks 2nd in total rushing so far this season, both of which are major reasons for their success and why they pose such a difficult match up for opposing teams.

The key to beating the Eagles is to clearly stop their rushing attack first. Although Carson has had an amazing season thus far, most of his success comes from working the play action pass off of their run game, which allows them to wear out a defense over the course of a game and eventually opens up the passing game.

If you can limit their rushing attack, that equates to less offensive plays and shorter drives, which means less plays the Rams defense will be on the field and the fresher they will be throughout the game. Although the Rams defense has been great so far this year, they have shown some weakness against the run, so we are going to need big games from Aaron Donald, the defensive line and linebackers to make sure they put Carson Wentz in long 3rd down situations and make him beat them from the pocket. It’s going to be an incredible matchup between two NFC leading teams and the Rams defense will most definitely be put to the test against this potent Eagles offense.

Game Prediction

Now for my game prediction. You know what, I’m giving it to the Rams. The Eagles are not unstoppable as we just saw last week and I think the Rams offense will have quite the day on Sunday!

[NFL-Rams-footer]

Photo Credits:

• Los Angeles Rams on Wikimedia Commonsby SportsLogos.net
• Arizona Cardinals on Wikimedia Commonsby Moe Epsilon
• Eagles on Wikimedia Commons by Philadelphia Eagles
• Jared Goff on wikimedia commonsby Jeffrey Beall
• Carson Wentz on flickr by Keith Allison
• Aaron Donald on Wikimedia Commons by Keith Allison