Saquon Barkley and the Eagles travel to Baltimore in a possible Super Bowl preview
Ravens coach John Harbaugh regards his former club, in Philly, highly, but which team will prevail in this clash of Titans?
In mid-September, John Harbaugh’s team was 0-2, thanks to a home loss to Gardner Minshew and the Raiders. They’d just made it to the AFC championship game last season and had a trip to Dallas looming. Things looked bleak.
“The NFL is a race to improve,” said Harbaugh, who, in his 17th season, is the second-longest tenured head coach in the league.
The Ravens have improved, and they’re back in the race. They have since gone 8-2, and now have the seventh-best record in the league.
In late September, Nick Siranni’s team was 2-2 and had just been blown out in Tampa for the second time in nine months. When Sirianni returned from the Eagles’ bye week, he was asked what he’d learned about his team.
“It’s got to start with being humble to say, ‘What are the issues?’ For everybody, right?” said Sirianni, whose .694 winning percentage ranks sixth among coaches with at least his 44 decisions. “Being humble, [saying], ‘Hey, these are the issues.’ And then putting thought into how you do different things — and I’m just speaking of fundamentals — and then adapting to it.’”
The Eagles have stressed those fundamentals. They have since gone 7-0, and now are tied for the fourth-best record in the league — with a bullet.
“I think some people think that they might be the best team in the league,” Harbaugh told reporters this week.
Some people might think the same of the Ravens.
Which means that Sunday evening could present a true preview of Super Bowl LIX.
That might sound hyperbolic, but if any Week 13 game deserves the hype, this is it.
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Two stud running backs in Saquon Barkey and Derrick Henry, who lead the No. 1 and No. 2 rushing offenses, respectively. The No. 1-rated passer, Lamar Jackson, who has 30 total touchdowns, vs. the No. 7-rated passer, Jalen Hurts, who has 24; they lead the No. 1 and No. 3 overall offenses, respectively. The Eagles’ No. 1 defense in yards allowed vs. the Ravens’ historically stingy defense.
“We’ve got a lot of similarities in the way we play,” said Eagles defensive lineman Milton Williams. “It’s getting kind of cold, everybody’s running the ball. Both Saquon and Derrick Henry got, what, 1,300 yards on the season? The quarterbacks are both MVP-caliber quarterbacks? We both play bully ball.”
Bully ball doesn’t work without battering rams, and Henry certainly is a fan of Barkley.
“Generational back,” he told reporters in Baltimore.
As Barkley rumbled for a team-record 255 rushing yards and 302 yards from scrimmage against the Rams last Sunday night, Henry tweeted at Barkley, “GO CRAZY GANGSTA!!”
So much talent. Such good coaches.
So then: Super Bowl preview?
“Definitely,” Williams said.
The players know that, will all due respect to the Packers and Commanders, the Ravens will be their toughest test to date.
“Yeah, probably,” said right tackle Lane Johnson.
He points to the Ravens’ trait of playing their linebackers closer to the line of scrimmage — often three yards off instead of five — as a challenge for the Eagles’ run game and Hurts’ potency as an run-pass option weapon.
And no matter how well the Ravens are playing at any given moment, Harbaugh’s team always has a reputation for playing hard.
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“They have a toughness about them. You ask any team in the league before the play Baltimore, they’re like, [expletive], you know what’s coming up,” Johnson said. “So, we know what’s coming up.”
What’s coming up is a team in Baltimore that is among the NFL leaders in big plays – that is, plays of at least 10 rushing or 20 passing yards.
“Their whole offense is dynamite,” Eagles defensive coordinator Vic Fangio said Tuesday. “They run it great, they throw it great, they got good receivers. Two really good tight ends. Their line is blocking good. It’s no accident they have the No. 1 offense in the league.”
What’s also coming up is an Eagles defense that gives up the fourth-fewest big plays, and an offense that is top five in explosive plays.
Deeper in the weeds, what’s coming up is a chance for, say, A.J. Brown to explode. The Ravens have the second-worst pass defense in the league. Bengals receiver Ja’Marr Chase had 11 catches for 264 yards and three touchdowns three games ago. Jameis Winston torched them for 321 yards and three TDs in a Week 8 road upset. Davante Adams and Brock Bowers each had nine catches for 110 and 98 yards, respectively, in Week 2.
“Everybody’s going to bring their best punch Sunday,” Williams said. “We’re definitely going to clash. It’s about who’s going to stand tall at the end.”