A rematch in the same place they played last year of one of last seasons biggest blowouts. The story there was Philadelphia running for 236 yards and 4 TD, running 46 times and only passing 16 times for 114 yards. That has been the glaring weakness for the Lions the past two years being 28th in the league giving up 135 per game last year, 134 per game in 2020. Last year Philly was tops in the league in percent of rushing plays at 49 %. With the addition of AJ Brown they now have two quality wide receivers so we will see how the play calling goes. The other “unseen” stat from that game was the 12 hits on the QB from the Eagles defense compared to 0 for the Lions D on Jalen Hurts.
The Lions have brought in some rookie talent on the d-line in Hutchinson and help at safety but will they be able to turn around the run defense? That’s a major question for them all season, as well as the pass protection. PFF has their O-Line ranked middle of the pack at 16th.
So the question is will the Lions be competitive here? The line Philadelphia -4, which considering they won 44-6 last year and 66% of the early consensus money is on them with no line move seems a bit low to the general observer. Like a game of chess no two games are the same and we won’t be seeing that same game from last year. While many have the Eagles winning the NFC East, almost everyone has the Lions at the bottom of NFC and not making the playoffs… that’s why they play the game, my prediction 24-22 Eagles, with a slight chance of a Lions upset.