NFL Week 11 – Eagles Soar Into Lambeau

Philadelphia Eagles at Green Bay Packers (-6, 54.5 o/u)

Going into last week’s Monday night contest, the eyes of the football world were on the resurrected Mark Sanchez. The ex-NY Jet threw for 332 yards and two touchdowns, leading the Philadelphia Eagles (7-2, 2-2 away) to an easy 45-21 win over Carolina and demolishing the seven-point spread.

Sanchez sounded relieved after his performance. “I think when you take a step back, you appreciate it so much and you miss it so much,” Sanchez said. “I just kept telling myself when I was out that if I get a chance to get back out there, I don’t ever want to be out again until I retire. I want to keep playing.

“You just have so much respect for this whole thing and the preparation and what goes into it. I’m just happy to be in the system that we have here with so many good offensive coaches.”

This week’s game will be a different test for Sanchez, though, as the Eagles travel to Lambeau to face the Green Bay Packers (6-3, 4-0 home) on sacred football ground. Though Green Bay’s defense has surrendered its fair share of points (22.8 per game) and rushing yards (142.6 per game), they are excellent against the pass; they are top-ten in yards allowed, and have only given up four passing TDs this season while keeping opposing signal callers to an NFL-low 64.2 rating.

Even without Nick Foles, though, Chip Kelly’s offense is still striking fear into hearts of opponents. Said Green Bay defensive coordinator Dom Capers, “We know we have a really good, productive offensive team coming in here this week, that it’s going to take a really good effort against them.”

With the Eagles on top of the NFC East and the Packers sitting in an NFC Wild Card spot, Sunday’s tilt could be a playoff preview.

Said Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, “These are important games when you start looking at potential seeding for the playoffs. They’re in a tight race in the East and we’re in a tight race in the North. You have to win these kind of games at home if you want to have postseason potential.”

Look for the cold weather to put a damper on both of these hot offenses, meaning the under (54.5) is the play.

(Photo credit: Mike Morbeck (Flickr: Aaron Rodgers) [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons. Photo has been cropped.)