Philadelphia was defeated 27-13 by Green Bay on Monday night. Cincinnati continued their slide with a 19-14 loss to Baltimore last Sunday.
Eagles’ rookie QB Carson Wentz hasn’t been as productive lately as he was earlier in the year but catches a break here. The Bengals are in freefall mode and their defense has had to deal with short offensive series and TOs by the offense. This in turn has worn them down and while Philly doesn’t have an explosive offense, they have enough to move the ball this week. Wentz has developed a good rapport with WR Jordan Matthews and he leads the team in catches, yards and TD receptions. TE Zach Ertz and RB Darren Sproles are also players that need to be accounted for on every pass play. Mercurial WR Dorial Green-Beckham is starting to show flashes and has seen his role increase on offense. Cincinnati gives up 246 passing yards per game and has only 21 sacks on the year. RB Ryan Mathews is expected to miss this contest leaving the RB duties to Sproles and rookie Wendell Smallwood. The Bengals’ run defense hasn’t been good in 2015 as they allow 120.5 ypg and 4.4 ypc.
Cincinnati’s offense has produced 12 points in each of the last 2 games and no more than 23 in 9 of their 11 games this season. The absence of WR A.J. Green has greatly impacted the passing game as has the season-ending injury to RB Giovani Bernard (2nd on the team with 39 catches). WRs Brandon LaFell and rookie Tyler Boyd are nice compliments but neither will cause opposing DCs to compensate for them. TE Tyler Eifert’s return from injury has helped but his biggest impact is near the goal line. Philadelphia’s pass defense has shown real improvement this year and they should keep the offense and QB Andy Dalton in check. Dalton has thrown only 6 interceptions but has fumbled 8 times, losing 3. He had 4 fumbles last week. He has been sacked 32 times on the year. The Eagles’ pass rush has really improved this year since the move back to a 4-3. RB Jeremy Hill will get the lion’s share of the carries and will be spelled by RB Rex Burkhead.
Public Money Consensus
In this week’s NFL matchup between the Eagles and the Bengals the public is completely split on which team is going to win this game. On the Over/Under the public consensus is definitively on the under 42 with over 70% conviction.
