Eagles-Rams: Four matchups to watch in Sunday’s divisional-round game

The divisional round of the playoffs features yet another rematch for the Eagles against a 2024 opponent.

After defeating the Green Bay Packers in a Week 1 rematch in the wild-card round, Philadelphia will take on the Los Angeles Rams at 3 p.m. Sunday. The Eagles beat the Rams on the road in Week 12, extending their winning streak to seven games and casting doubt on the likelihood that Sean McVay’s squad, which dropped to 5-6 at the time, would reach the postseason.

But the Rams rebounded, winning five of their final six games to solidify their spot as the No. 4 seed. The lone loss, in the regular-season finale against the Seattle Seahawks, primarily featured the Rams’ backups. They then resumed their dominance in the postseason and clobbered the Minnesota Vikings, 27-9.

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Now, on a short week, the Rams are preparing to fly across the country to face the Eagles. The temperature is expected to be in the mid-30s with a chance of snow earlier in the afternoon. Here are four matchups that Nick Sirianni and the Eagles will focus on as they prepare for the divisional round:

The Eagles wouldn’t mind running it back to Week 12. The last time the Eagles faced the Rams, Saquon Barkley rushed for a career-high 255 yards and two touchdowns of at least 70 yards on 26 carries. Barkley and his blockers were tremendous in that game, especially in the second half, as they carved up a Rams run defense that had been allowing 127.3 yards per game (18th in the league).

Over the last seven games, including their wild-card win, the Rams have tightened up on the ground. The group is allowing 104.1 rushing yards per game in that span, which ranks sixth in the NFL. Rams defensive tackle Kobie Turner and edge defender Jared Verse have been two of their most valuable players against the run, ranking No. 9 and No. 13 in the league, respectively, in run stop percentage, according to Pro Football Focus. The service defines the metric as the percentage of a player’s run-defense snaps when he was credited with a stop (a tackle that results in a failure for the offense).

The Rams were particularly effective Monday against Aaron Jones, the Vikings’ top running back, who finished the regular season ranked No. 9 in the league in rushing yards. Jones ran for 3.69 yards per carry, his fifth-lowest clip of the season. Almost two months after the Eagles last faced the Rams, offensive coordinator Kellen Moore acknowledged that their group has evolved since Barkley’s career day.

“Long time between those two games,” Moore said Tuesday. “They’re playing as well as any defense in the league right now. They’re playing really confidently. So, obviously, they’ll stress us in a lot of different ways. There will be challenges associated with our run game based off of them having that film and the film that they put out the last month and a half, which has been really, really impressive. So it’ll be a challenge.”

The Eagles’ continued dominance in the run game will be imperative if they want to take some pressure off Jalen Hurts in his matchup against the potent Rams pass rush. The group has been dominant all season long, ranking No. 10 in the league in quarterback pressure rate (35.6%), according to Next Gen Stats.

Verse, the No. 19 overall draft pick out of Florida State, has led the charge as a rookie. He generated 76 pressures in 2024, according to Next Gen Stats, which is the second-highest total by a rookie since 2018 (Nick Bosa had 81 in 2019). Braden Fiske, his Florida State teammate who was selected in the second round (39th overall), also has been an effective pass rusher this year. He recorded a 10.9% pressure rate, the second-highest clip among qualifying rookie defensive tackles in a season since 2018.

The Rams were one of just three teams to have four players generate at least 40 pressures this season (Verse, Byron Young, Turner, and Fiske), according to Next Gen Stats. That depth was on display in the wild-card game, when eight players from every level of the defense combined for nine sacks of Vikings quarterback Sam Darnold.

“You can tell, just every phase, that defense is tied together,” Moore said. “Obviously, the front is doing an excellent job getting pressure. The challenge when you get into obvious passing situations, those guys are as good as it gets in this league collectively.”

Hurts only took one sack in the Week 12 win over the Rams, despite facing pressure on 34.6% of his drop backs (the sixth-highest rate he’s faced this season), according to Next Gen Stats. The Rams were relatively blitz-happy in that game, sending extra rushers on 26.9% of Hurts’ drop backs, according to PFF. The fifth-year quarterback fared well, completing four of seven passing attempts for 48 yards (no sacks).

Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford is no stranger to the postseason. Stafford, who turns 37 next month, led the Rams to a Super Bowl win in February 2022 and will play in his 10th career playoff game on Sunday (six total postseason appearances).

He has a knack for rising to the occasion. Entering the wild-card round, Stafford had thrown for 307.9 passing yards per game in his postseason career, the most in league history among players with at least five playoff games, according to Next Gen Stats. He produced another strong performance in the passing game on Monday, completing 19 of 27 attempts for 209 yards and two touchdowns against the Vikings.

“He’s still one of the top passers in the league,” defensive coordinator Vic Fangio said Tuesday. “Very, very smart. Can read coverages better than most, if not one of the top two or three. Still has tremendous arm talent and can put the ball anywhere.”

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Still, Stafford has had a clear weakness in his 16th season. He completed 44.6% of his passes against pressure in the regular season, the seventh-lowest mark in the league, according to Next Gen Stats. That rate is his lowest (and his only below 50%) since the service began tracking the metric in 2018. He mustered only two touchdowns under pressure, the fewest among qualified quarterbacks.

Stafford felt the pressure in Week 12 and was sacked five times (11.9% sack rate, the third-highest of the season for the Eagles). Milton Williams took advantage of Jalen Carter’s double teams, leading the way with two sacks. The defensive front’s dominance will be imperative if the Eagles want to limit Stafford like they did in November.

Rams receivers Cooper Kupp and Puka Nacua have missed games because of injury this season, but both still have been effective. Since returning to action in Week 8, Nacua had 955 receiving yards on 75 receptions going into the season finale, which trailed only Cincinnati Bengals receiver Ja’Marr Chase in that span. In 12 games, Kupp finished the season with 710 receiving yards, ranking second on the team behind Nacua.

McVay is known to utilize motion at the snap to stress opposing defenses — entering Week 15, the Rams used motion on a league-high 82.9% of snaps, including a 71% motion at the snap rate (highest in the NFL), according to Next Gen Stats. Kupp accounted for 47.4% of those pre-snap instances, while Nacua was sent into motion on 35.9% of his snaps from Week 8 through Week 14.

Given the Rams’ frequent use of motion, the Eagles will need to have their zone rules squared away to lessen the impact of Kupp and Nacua. Both players had their successes in Week 12, combining for 177 yards and a touchdown on 17 receptions.