The Eagles saved their season in Week 4 when they went into Lambuea Field and beat the Green Bay Packers, recovering from a 10-point deficit to even their record at 2-2.
The task on Sunday should be a lot easier.
There is reason the Eagles are favored by two touchdowns against the New York Jets, their Week 5 opponent on Sunday at Lincoln Financial Field. The Jets are one of the worst teams in the league and are without their starting quarterback in Sam Darnold. Forget losing the game — the Eagles should expect to have their way with the Jets all afternoon and get their first convincing win of the season.
How can they make that happen?
Here are three keys to making sure the Eagles spend Sunday afternoon celebrating and enjoying an easy victory.
Get an early lead: Getting a lead is always important no matter who the opponent is. That being said, the Jets are a team that will absolutely give up if they fall behind early. Both the New England Patriots and Cleveland Browns, the Jets last two opponents, jumped out to 13-0 lead on the Jets in what both turned into blowout victories. They sent a clear message early — they were way better than the Jets and Sunday was not going to be a contest. The Eagles need to do the same on Sunday. If they don't, the Jets' confidence will only grow — as will the already serious concern about the Eagles' first-quarter offense.
Demoralize Luke Falk: It is pretty simple — there is no excuse to lose a game to Luke Falk. A sixth-round pick in 2018, Falk has never thrown an NFL touchdown and has attempted just 47 passes. Perhaps Falk will one day develop into a quality NFL quarterback, but he isn't one yet. The Jets have an underrated group of receivers lead by Robby Anderson and Jamison Crowder, which could be an issue considering the injuries the Eagles are dealing with in the secondary. One way to make sure those injuries don't come back to haunt the Eagles is getting the Falk's face early, rattling his confidence and prevent him from ever getting comfortable. The Eagles need to make sure they take advantage of a terrible Jets offensive line and demoralize Falk early on.
Stop the run: It takes disfunction at all levels to be as bad as the Jets are on offense, so there isn't really anything they do at a high level. Considering the have Falk at a quarterback and Le'Veon Bell at running back, however, chances are they are going to try to get Bell going and run their offense through him. The Jets haven't had much success doing that so far — they 29th in yards-per-attempt on the ground and 28th in total rushing yards per game. The Eagles' run defense has been very good this season, so they should be able to completely shut down the Jets' rushing attack, putting the ball in Falk's hands.
You can reach Eliot Shorr-Parks on Twitter at @EliotShorrParks or email him at esp@94wip.com!
