NFL Picks 11/24 – Philadelphia Eagles @ LA Rams

NFL Picks 11/24 – Philadelphia Eagles @ LA Rams

by Thomas Quaynor for Wannamakeabet.com

The Philadelphia Eagles (8-2) visit the Los Angeles Rams (5-5) at SoFi Stadium on NBC’s Sunday Night Football. The teams faced each other last season with Philadelphia picking up a 23-14 victory in Los Angeles. Philadelphia has won six of the last seven against the Rams dating back to the 2005 season. Philadelphia has also won five in a row on the road against the Rams franchise. The Rams last win at home against the Eagles was in December 2004 when the franchise was located in St. Louis. Philadelphia is a 2.5-point favorite and the total is 49.

Philadelphia enters Sunday’s game on a mini-bye week as their last game was a 26-18 win over the visiting Washington Commanders on Nov. 14. Superstar running back Saquon Barkley powered the Eagles to victory yet again finishing with 146 yards on 26 carries and two touchdowns. He added two receptions for 52 yards. Both of Barkley’s touchdown runs came in the fourth quarter and broke the open for the Eagles. Philadelphia has won six in a row.

Los Angeles held on for a 28-22 win at New England last week. Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford had one of his better games of the season completing 18 of 27 passes for 295 yards with four touchdowns and no interceptions. The Rams also got huge games from the dynamic wideout duo of Cooper Kupp (10 catches for 106 yards, 2 touchdowns) and Puka Nacua (7 catches for 123 yards, 1 touchdown). Running back Kyren Williams finished with 86 yards on 15 carries. The Rams have won four of their last five games after getting off to a 1-4 start. 

GAME STORYLINES: PHILADELPHIA

The Philadelphia Eagles are currently on a three-year stretch of excellence that has seen them get off to dominant 10-game starts of 9-1 in 2022 and 2023, and 8-2 this season. The 2022 season culminated with a narrow 38-35 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in the Super Bowl while they imploded last season and finished 11-6. They appear to be peaking during this current 10-game start as they’ve won six in a row, three of the wins have been by 20 or more points. We’ll see whether the 2024 Eagles end up like the 2022 team that advanced to the Super Bowl or the 2023 team that collapsed.

Philadelphia signing star running back Saquon Barkley to a 3-year, $37.7 million contract last March may end up being the most impactful NFL transaction of the offseason. After a brilliant and somewhat injury-plagued 6-year career with the New York Giants where he suffered through a lot of losses, Barkley is now having the best season of his NFL career. He’s rushed for 1,137 yards with 8 rushing touchdowns along with 210 receiving yards and 2 receiving touchdowns through 10 games. Barkley has amassed an NFL-high six 100-plus yard rushing games and is on pace to set career highs in rushing yards, rushing touchdowns and yards per carry. 

NFL Picks 11/24 – Philadelphia Eagles @ LA Rams

Saquon Barkley’s monumental debut season with the Eagles is special for off the field reasons as well. Barkley grew up in Whitehall Township, Pennsylvania which is about an hour from Philadelphia. He was named 2014 Mr. Pennsylvania for football after a standout career at Whitehall High School. Barkley then went on to star at Penn State for 3 years before being selected second overall by the New York Giants in the 2018 NFL draft. 

Quarterback Jalen Hurts (2,197 passing yards, 12 touchdowns to 5 interceptions, 69.2% completions, 417 rushing yards, 11 rushing touchdowns) along with the terrific wideout duo of A.J. Brown (618 receiving yards, 3 touchdowns in 7 games) and DeVonta Smith (516 receiving yards, 4 touchdowns in 9 games) are all having great seasons alongside Saquon Barkley. Hurts has rushed for 10+ touchdowns for a fourth straight season. He needs 5 more rushing touchdowns to set a personal career high. A.J. Brown’s availability has been crucial for the Eagles as they’ve gone 7-0 with him and 1-2 without him when he missed about a month with a hamstring injury in September. 

Philadelphia continues to have one of the better defenses in the NFL. They lead the NFL in yards allowed per game (273.1), rank sixth in points per game allowed (17.9) and rank tenth in sacks with 28. The Eagles are allowing just 13.8 points per game during their current six-game winning streak. 

NFL Picks 11/24 – Philadelphia Eagles @ LA Rams

Leading the way for the defense is pro bowl linebacker Josh Sweat (23 tackles, 6 sacks, 7 tackles for loss in 10 games), safety Reed Blankenship (60 tackles, 3 interceptions in 10 games) and a trio of former University of Georgia Bulldog teammates — who won the 2021-22 National Championship — in linebackers Nakobe Dean (76 tackles, 2 sacks, 1 interception, 1 fumble recovery in 10 games) and Nolan Smith Jr. (24 tackles, 3.5 sacks in 10 games), along with defensive tackle Jalen Carter (29 tackles, 3.5 sacks, 7 tackles for loss in 10 games). Philadelphia currently has 5 former Georgia Bulldogs on the roster.

GAME STORYLINES: LOS ANGELES RAMS

In March 2021, the Los Angeles Rams made the somewhat surprising decision to trade their 26-year-old starting quarterback Jared Goff — who they selected with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2016 NFL draft — to the Detroit Lions in a trade package for prolific quarterback Matt Stafford. Stafford had put up phenomenal numbers in Detroit for 12 seasons but only made three playoff appearances in those 12 seasons and never won a playoff game. The Rams believed the strong-armed Stafford could be the final piece to a Super Bowl crown.

The addition of Matthew Stafford payed immediate dividends as the Rams finished 12-5 in 2021 and went on to win the Super Bowl as the No. 4 seed. It was the second Super Bowl in Rams franchise history. Stafford tied his career-high with 41 touchdown passes in his debut season with the Rams. Los Angeles hasn’t been able to duplicate the success of 2021 as injuries to Stafford — who missed 8 games — and other key players dropped them to 5-12 in 2022. Last season, the Rams won 7 of their last 8 games to finish 10-7 and secured the No. 6 seed but lost at Detroit in the Wild Card round.

Expectations for the 2024 Los Angeles Rams were subdued due to the limited success of the previous two seasons. The season got off to an inauspicious start as the tremendous wideout duo of Cooper Kupp and Puka Nacua (NFL rookie records of 105 catches and 1,486 yards, along with 12 touchdowns last season) both missed about six weeks with injuries during a stretch from mid-September to late-October. The absence of both players led to a 1-4 start for the Rams. Kupp and Nacua returned for the Rams Week 8 game where they upset the 5-1 Minnesota Vikings 30-20 on Oct. 24. The Rams have gone 4-1 since both players returned and are in a good position to win the NFC West. 

NFL Picks 11/24 – Philadelphia Eagles @ LA Rams

The 36-year-old Matthew Stafford continues to play well in his 16th NFL season. He’s thrown for 2,557 yards with 13 touchdowns to 7 interceptions while completing 66.5 percent of his passes. Star wide receivers Cooper Kupp (488 receiving yards, 4 touchdowns in 6 games) and second-year phenom Puka Nacua (373 receiving yards, 1 touchdown in 5 games) have been excellent when they’ve played together. Stafford has a 10:3 TD:INT ratio over the last 4 games with Kupp and Nacua on the field. He had a 3:4 TD:INT through the first 6 games when both players missed time.  

THE PICK: EAGLES (-2.5)

The Eagles are clicking on all cylinders as they head into the 2nd half of the season. The Rams have also been playing well since Cooper Kupp and Puka Nacua have returned from injuries but I don’t think they are ready to knock off a team as strong as the Eagles. Lay the Points…Eagles 31, Rams 23