Earlier in the week, The Ringer's Mike Lombardi went on "The Ringer NFL show" and called the Eagles a "horrendous" matchup for the Patriots.
Appearing on Ordway, Merloni and Fauria with Ben Volin and Alex Reimer in for Merloni and Fauria Friday, he explained why.
"Look, it's hard. Offensively, they have two weeks to prepare so it gives you some time because I don't think the Eagles — they have gone for it 27 times on fourth down during the regular season," Lombardi said. "That makes them very unpredictable and as a defensive coordinator and as a strategist you can't just prepare for three downs, you have to prepare for four downs. What makes this team so frustrating and what makes this such a horrendous matchup is the Eagles are incredible. They really are an interesting team.
"Let me tell you an interesting stat about the Eagles: they are the seventh-ranked team on third-and-6 or more. That is not a good stat to be seventh in because your company is Denver, Buffalo, Cleveland, Detroit, Arizona — bad offensive football teams. However, when you watch the games and when you watch Nick Foles on Sunday's and in the playoffs, he's only thrown three incomplete passes on third down. They make these plays when you least expect it."
He added: "They really don't have an identity offensively. They are very unpredictable and they play left-handed. [Bill] Belichick is so good at making a team play left-handed, but it is kind of hard to make a left-handed team play left-handed."
The Patriots and Eagles will meet Feb. 4 in Super Bowl LII.
