Early Eagles - Rams Storylines

Good morning and go Birds!

It’s great weather to stay inside with your favorite newsletter and a hot coffee. Bryce Harper can even show you how to whip up something special.

We have Flyers and Sixers games to discuss, but first we’ll look at the narratives starting to form around the Eagles / Rams matchup.

In the email today:

• ✍ Early Eagles - Rams Storylines

• 🏒 Flyers Falter Late, Lose in Shootout in Columbus

• 🧟 Zombie Sixers Go Full "Hoosiers," Blasted by Thunder

  • 📆 This Day in Philly Sports History

  • 📊 Poll

  • 🔗 Links

  • 📺 Coming Up

The best Eagles coverage is always local, but it's helpful to get a national perspective as well.

Here's what they're saying early about your Birds’ chances against the Rams on Sunday.

From Sporting News: Eagles 27 - Rams 17

“The Eagles won 37-20 in the Week 12 matchup in Los Angeles. The Rams could not stop Saquon Barkley, who rushed for 255 yards and two TDs, and top wide receiver A.J. Brown, who caught eight passes for 109 yards and a TD. The overall team numbers, however, were closer than the score would indicate, except for one stat: The Eagles went 9-of-15 on third down while the Rams went 0-for-8. The young Rams defense excelled in getting a record nine sacks on the Vikings, but getting to Jalen Hurts and slowing down Barkley is a much different story, this time on the road in cold elements.”

From The Arizona Republic: Eagles 24 - Rams 20

“Philadelphia beat Los Angeles in California in Week 12, 37-20, but a lot has changed since then. The Rams are 6-1 since, with their only loss a meaningless loss against the Seahawks in the regular-season finale. This game is at Lincoln Financial Field, where the Eagles are 8-1 this season. Look for a close game, with the Eagles finding a way to reach the NFC championship game.”

From Covers.com: Eagles to cover a spread of 6 or fewer points

“Before these teams even take to the turf in what will be a chilly Lincoln Financial Field (‘feels like’ temperatures around freezing with possible rain), Philadelphia holds a significant situational edge.

“With L.A. having to move venues (and families) for its wild-card game with the Vikings, the Rams will now be playing their second straight travel game on a short week.

“Waiting in Philadelphia is the best two-way team in the NFC — perhaps the NFL. The Eagles offense was run-heavy in the win over the Green Bay Packers in the Wild Card Round but has plenty of passing weapons to stretch the field.

“Defensively, Vic Fangio’s stop unit is clicking at the perfect time. The Philadelphia defense has been dominant down the stretch and did a good job against Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford in that Week 12 meeting, scoring five sacks and checking L.A. to just 4.8 yards per pass attempt.

“I bet Philadelphia -6 on the opener, expecting this spread to climb to -6.5 and maybe even a touchdown. I’d bet it again if it stays short of six points.”

From USA Today: Eagles 28 - Rams 23

“Eagles star running back Saquon Barkley obliterated the Rams with a career-high 255 rushing yards and two touchdowns in Week 12. The Rams’ No. 1 objective on defense will be to contain Barkley and not let him run wild again, but will they be successful?

“The Rams defense produced nine sacks vs. the Vikings, which equaled an NFL playoff record. They will face a much tougher test against Philadelphia’s stout offensive line.

“The Eagles are the most complete team in football. I think Barkley rushes for over 100 yards, Jalen Hurts gets A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith involved in the passing game and the Eagles fly to the NFC championship game.

“Sean McVay, Matthew Stafford and the Rams won’t go down without a fight, though. Many of the Rams have championship experience.”

The Flyers’ two-game win streak was 4:37 from possibly becoming a three-game win streak. As has been happening to the Flyers a lot this season, though, they fought valiantly but were undone by star power they can’t match.

Werenski has 48 points in 43 games this season. That’s a bleep ton of points for a defenseman. In case you’re wondering, the Flyers’ leading scorer (Travis Konecny) has 50 points in 44 games, and he’s a forward.

The next highest scoring Flyer? Rookie Matvei Michkov, with 31 points in 42 games. That’s an awfully steep dropoff.

The result is that the Flyers can be a bit of a chore to watch, even on a night where they play (for them) relatively well. You know it’s bad when even the 3-on-3 open ice action is a snooze.

Ivan Fedotov was solid in net for the Flyers, saving 26 of 28 shots in regulation plus overtime. If you had told the Flyers pregame that Fedotov would hold the Blue Jackets to two goals through 65 minutes, they probably would have been more than satisfied.

The Flyers will look to extend what is now a three-game points streak against the Islanders in New York on Thursday night.

Near the beginning of “Hoosiers,” Hickory coach Norman Dale (played by Gene Hackman) runs off some of his mouthy players and ends his first practice with four athletes and the team manager.

At the Hickory preseason pep rally, Dale famously intones to the jeering crowd: “I would hope you would support who we are. Not who we are not.”

You can probably see where this is going.

It feels cheap to knock the Sixers players who actually showed up, so we won’t. We’re instead going to focus on how this happened and how it was received.

Early indications were merely troubling.

Bad went to worse, and fast.

It says a lot that George, Martin and Maxey were on the Sixers’ active roster for the game even though they were not going to play.

The Sixers lost, 118-102. Justin Edwards had 25 points to lead the Sixers. The Thunder were paced by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander with 32. It was all pretty whatever. The Thunder won and covered the double-digit spread.

Reactions to all of it were actually pretty muted. The Sixers fan base is so numb at this point that it’s tough to work up any vitriol.

A few people gave it their best, though.

We watched enough of this game to know what was happening and how it would turn out. We ABSOLUTELY did not watch the whole game.

Like the Sixers last night, we are only pretending to care about the outcome of this bloc of the newsletter. We can’t be expected to give our best or show up for 82 of these games if the Sixers won’t.

And these days, you wouldn’t trust this Sixers team to win the Indiana state high school boys basketball championship.

📆 This Day in Philly Sports History

On January 15, 1965, the Sixers made a pretty good trade.

📊 Poll

Results from Tuesday:

🔗 Links

• ♂️ Just based on sheer numerical probability, one of Antonio Cromartie’s sons was probably going to end up playing Division I football, and one will.

• 🏀 Villanova hung tough but came up short on the road against Xavier.

• ⚖️ Hard to believe that Caitlin Clark’s alleged stalker couldn’t maintain proper decorum in open court.

• 🐅 Golf on a simulator (no walking, no irl penalty areas) makes a lot of sense for the current iteration of El Tigre.

• 👢The other shoe dropped for the, um, gentleman who went viral for screaming obscenities at a Packers fan at the Linc on Sunday.

📺 Coming Up

Games before our next send.

Wednesday, January 15, 2025

• Sixers vs. Knicks, 7:00 p.m. (NBC Sports Philadelphia, ESPN)

Thanks for reading. See you tomorrow.

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