Philadelphia Eagles Bold Predictions for 2025 Divisional Round vs. Rams

When is it Philadelphia Eagles walked off the field after handily defeating the Green Bay Packers on Sunday afternoon, they had no idea who they would be playing against in the 2025 Divisional Round. NFL playoffs: Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Minnesota Vikings, or Los Angeles Rams.

Of course, the first shoe dropped pretty quickly, like The Commanders shockingly cut Baker Mayfield and the Bucks and guaranteed to face the Detroit Lions in the Divisional Round. As one of three teams to beat the Eagles in 2024, fans were leery of another showdown with Todd Bowles’ defense even months after the team’s Week 4 low point, especially as the ghosts of last year’s Wild Card loss still linger in heads Philly is faithful.

And then, on Monday night, Eagles fans finally got their final answer, with the displaced Rams beating the Vikings and subduing their incredible pass rush en route to a 27-9 victory in Arizona.

With only four teams left on the NFC side of the playoffs, with the one, two, four and six seeds still alive, the Rams’ draw is more or less what fans should have expected on Monday night, and maybe even considered a favorable matchup, given the Philly anit-Buccaneers bias and impressive record for the Vikings in the regular season.

But is it?

In Week 12, the Eagles absolutely dominated the Rams, with Saquon Barkley had an all-time great performance with 255 yards on the ground, but has LA turned the corner since that fateful Sunday night? In a word, yes they did, with Sean McVay taking on the newfound obligation to establish a run with his 1,299-yard rusher, Kyron Williams.

Will this Divisional Round matchup be easy? No, but with 75 percent of the league watching the game from home, should they? If the Eagles want to make it to the Super Bowl, they first have to beat teams like the Rams who want nothing more than to play spoiler for the Birds. Fortunately, this is a special Eagles team, and even if they face a noticeably better team than their Wild Card Weekend foe, they should still be able to secure a win by the end of the game.

1. The Eagles’ offensive line slows the Rams’ rush

In Week 19, the Rams’ defense turned in a fantastic effort, tying the all-time playoff record at nine while holding Sam Darnold to 245 yards, a touchdown and an interception in a lopsided loss.

USC’s pride was seemingly never at ease throughout the Arizona game, with the pocket constantly under attack from its incredibly porous interior offensive line and Rams defensive coordinator Chris Shula smelling blood in the water. Factor in injury Brian O’Neill at right tackle, and even with Darnold’s guards and center holding, Jared Verse and company were flying off the edge to stop his swing on the spot.

Fortunately, the Eagles don’t have Blake Brendel, Garrett Bradbury and Dalton Risner in the middle of their offensive line, but instead the dynamic trio of Landon Dickerson, Cam Jurgens and Macky Becton, with Jordan Maillata and Lane Johnson rounding out arguably the best individual unit in the entire NFL .

In Week 12, Hurts was sacked just once in 22 snaps against LA, and Barkley shouldered the brunt of the offensive load as he averaged a whopping 9.8 yards per carry. While the Rams were effective on Monday Night Football Wild Card from a running perspective, they could only muster eight sacks in last five wins regular season and struggled at times to pressure opposing quarterbacks even with the incredible collection of young pass rushers on the roster.

If Hurts gets sacked nine times, then yes, the Eagles will be in trouble, but if the Rams’ rush looks more like Week 12 than Week 19, Philadelphia should be in a position to dictate the tone of the game on the field instead of playing McVay’s game dictated by Williams’ runs.

2. Saquon Barkley takes out his frustration on the Rams defense

While the Rams’ young pass rush has the potential to become one of the better units in the league once their players become more comfortable at the NFL level, the same can’t be said for the team’s defense, which was completely questionable in 2024.

Ending the regular season with 22nd ranked rushing defenseThe Rams allowed 2,210 total yards on 477 attempts — or 4.6 yards per carry on a micro level — while watching all but four of their opponents rush for triple-digit yards in the regular season, including Philly’s 314-yard performance at SoFi. While the Vikings barely topped 100 yards in the loss to LA, going 106 on 22 attempts, they still got the job done effectively on the ground, with Aaron Jones, Cam Akers and company averaging 4.8 yards per carry, which more than the Rams allowed per run in a season.

Given that Barkley wasn’t allowed to get Eric Dickerson’s all-time record and instead has to “settle down” for Terrell Davis’ all-time rushing record 2,476it’s safe to assume no one was more excited to see Stafford and McVay celebrate on the sidelines at the end of the game than Penn State’s pride.

Can Barkley make a big dent in Davis’ record, NFL rushing leader sitting pretty at 2,124 yards and counting? Assuming he earns a lot of work against LA, which he should, it seems only a matter of time before pundits once again question whether the former New York Giant is having the best season in NFL history after another huge playoff performance. wow

3. Jalen Hurts wins Matthew Stafford

Well, Eagles fans, how many times have you heard this before? Jalen Hurts is going against one of the better quarterbacks in the NFL, finishing the game with fewer yards and tries from his enemy, but still came out of the game with a win?

It happened when Philadelphia came to LA, as it did in Week 19 against the Packers, and it will likely happen again in Week 20 when the Eagles welcome the Rams to the City of Brotherly Love.

Granted, that’s no shame against Hurts, as he was thrown in by Nick Siriani, Kellen Moore and company in 2024 and pretty much knocked the assignment out of the park. Where other quarterbacks like Kenny Pickett or Tanner McKee might check things for a few easy gains, Hurts is much more willing to rip off big runs on third down, leading to his disproportionate impact on the rushing game, even if it comes at the expense of own pass statistics.

Stafford, on the contrary, threw the ball an average of 32 times per gameso even if his efficiency numbers are a little off from his LA prime, he was still effective enough to lead LA to a 5-1 record down the stretch.

Could LA turn in 300 yards passing against the Eagles in the Divisional Round? Potentially so, but with the Eagles having the best pass defense of any team left in the playoffs, it’s much more likely that Vic Fangio will put in another exemplary effort and help lead his team back to the NFC Championship game for the first time as Philly’s Defensive Coordinator.