Eagles-Bengals: Fred Johnson vs. Trey Hendrickson is one of the key matchups to watch Sunday

The Eagles enter Week 8 on a two-game winning streak but with a quality opponent looming on Sunday.

The road trip to face the Bengals will be more difficult than their 3-4 record may indicate, as suggested by the fact the Eagles opened the week as three-point underdogs to Cincinnati.

What will the Eagles need to do to extend their winning streak to three games for the first time since the first half of last season? Let’s look at five matchups to watch:

Even though the Eagles were able to find plenty of success running the ball in their 28-3 win over the New York Giants last Sunday, they had trouble in the passing game largely due to the banged-up offensive line struggling to protect Jalen Hurts in the early going. Reserve tackle Fred Johnson was the main culprit, giving up a team-high four pressures on Hurts’ 23 dropbacks while mostly working against Pro Bowl edge rusher Brian Burns.

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Trey Hendrickson, the Bengals’ Pro Bowl edge rusher, may be an even more difficult matchup considering his rushing style and current form. So far this season, rushers who can get off the ball quickly have gotten Johnson off balance enough to drive through the 6-foot-7, 326-pound tackle in a way that defies his powerful frame. It was a contributing factor in him conceding a team-high 11 pressures against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 4. And while he performed admirably against Cleveland’s all-world edge rusher Myles Garrett in relief duty two weeks later, it was apparent then as well.

Against the Giants, Johnson conceded a sack against Burns after getting beat around the edge and surrendered a key pressure a few series later overcompensating for Burns’ initial burst off the ball and getting pushed back as a result.

Hendrickson ranks fifth in the NFL this season with 35 total pressures and deploys a speed-to-power approach that matches the one Johnson has struggled with so far.

Like Burns, Hendrickson can also set up opposing tackles who overset to contend with his speed by working an inside move.

The Eagles don’t typically offer help for their offensive tackles by way of chipping pass rushers with running backs or tight ends, but they may need to bring reinforcements for Johnson to get into his pass sets without Hendrickson flying off the edge Sunday to keep the pass game afloat.

Quinyon Mitchell is fresh off a rock-solid performance against a highly touted receiver out of LSU. Can he provide an encore for the Eagles defense?

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As impressive as Mitchell was when matched up with first-round rookie Malik Nabers last Sunday, preparing to see Ja’Marr Chase will be an even more daunting task. The 24-year-old’s 620 receiving yards are the most in the NFL through seven weeks and his 295 yards after the catch ranks second. Perhaps even more surprising than Chase’s elite production is how efficient he’s been this season; he’s had just 48 targets, which ranks 18th in the league.

Enter Mitchell. He conceded just one catch for 14 yards when matched up against Nabers last week. He also had one of the most imposing reps in press coverage from an Eagles cornerback all season.

Mitchell had plenty of quality reps against Tampa Bay’s Mike Evans earlier this season as well, but Chase will be the stiffest challenge of his young career. Chase’s running mate Tee Higgins is also among the best No. 2 receivers in the NFL, so Mitchell won’t have any easy matchups against the Bengals.

Especially with Darius Slay nursing a knee injury at the start of the week, Mitchell’s ability to hold up outside will be a major factor in how the secondary fares against a talented Bengals passing attack.

The Bengals’ elite passing game is predictably led by one of the league’s best quarterbacks in Joe Burrow.

The 27-year-old has the third-best passer rating in the NFL so far this season and has thrown 14 touchdowns to just two interceptions. Burrow has been one of the most efficient passers in the NFL despite the Bengals’ slow start to the season and will present a major challenge for an Eagles defense coming off a dominant showing.

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Going through Burrow’s explosive passes, one that jumps out is his 37-yard completion to Mike Gesicki against the Chiefs in Week 2. Kansas City defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo called a “Cover 3 buzz,” coverage, starting with two deep safeties and having one responsible for a deep third of the field with another stepping up to take away the intermediate middle. It’s a call the Eagles have utilized a good amount this season because it’s an effective way to disguise coverages out of a two-high shell, but Burrow gashed it in this 26-25 loss to the Chiefs.

There aren’t many schematic adjustments for a quarterback of Burrow’s caliber. It’s prohibitive to blitz him because he processes things so quickly (he’s completing 76.7% of his passes against the blitz this year, which is the second-highest rate in the NFL). If afforded too much time, though, he’s capable of identifying and finding space in zone coverages and his receivers are often too talented to match up with in-man coverage.

The great equalizer against elite quarterbacks is an effective four-man pass rush. The Eagles had that against the Giants, managing all eight of their sacks with just four rushers. It’s fair to point out the Giants were without their starting left tackle Andrew Thomas, setting up the pivotal question: Can the sack production carry over to Cincinnati?

» READ MORE: Eagles-Giants takeaways: Philly Dawgs, Quinyon Mitchell show the future is now for the Birds defense

If so, the Eagles have a chance to contain Burrow. If not, they could be in for a shootout.

When assessing the Bengals’ 1-4 start to the season, their defensive struggles were glaringly apparent.

Ironically enough, the group has stabilized in the last two weeks against the Browns and Giants just like the Eagles have. Unlike the Eagles, the Bengals defense still surrendered 300-plus yards in each of their two victories.

Those aren’t the games that should have the Eagles’ attention, though. Cincinnati’s 41-38 overtime loss to the Baltimore Ravens showcased the firepower of both offenses and the fits a mobile quarterback can give this Bengals defensive front. Lamar Jackson ran for 55 yards on 12 attempts, including a zone-read play that went for 18 yards and a scramble that gained 13. Running back Derrick Henry ran for 92 yards as well, contributing to the Ravens’ 175 rushing yards.

Over the entirety of the season, the Bengals’ run defense ranks 22nd in defense-adjusted over average, a metric that measures efficiency with strength of opponent taken into consideration. With Hurts as a plus-one in the run game, there should be opportunities for Saquon Barkley to continue reeling off explosive rushing plays or for Hurts to punish the Bengals’ defensive front for overcommitting to him on the back side.

The 345 yards Baltimore had in the passing game might intrigue the Eagles as well, but the running efficiency seems more attainable considering the Eagles’ troubles sustaining things through the air the last couple of weeks. Especially if it means keeping the Bengals’ offense off the field for long stretches.

While the Bengals have been shaky defensively this season, Cincinnati defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo is still one of the better play-callers in the NFL with a history of creative, sometimes unexpected game plans on any given week.

In a game that has the potential to be a shootout, the Eagles may very well need Hurts’ best as a passer to hold serve. The Eagles’ passing game has looked disjointed for most of this season, missing star receiver A.J. Brown for three games and relying on deep shots to Brown and DeVonta Smith too frequently at times over the last two weeks.

» READ MORE: Eagles QB Jalen Hurts is finding balance between taking care of the football and hitting explosive plays

There have been positives to suggest the Eagles could get going against a pass defense that ranks 19th in DVOA and is fresh off surrendering 259 passing yards to the lowly Browns’ offense. Hurts has gone the last two games without committing a turnover and has found Brown and Smith in pivotal moments. Beating the Bengals might require more, though, especially against a coordinator as experienced and savvy as Anarumo.

Going through the tape of explosive plays against the Bengals’ defense, there are examples of opposing offenses getting chunk plays with out-breaking routes downfield when Cincinnati employs three deep defenders. The Eagles will likely test those areas, although it is worth noting Jackson completed plenty of deep shots in the middle of the field as well, an area that Hurts hasn’t been willing to target much this year.