This is the game that everyone has wanted to see for at least two years now. The Detroit Lions will head to Philadelphia to take on the Eagles on Sunday Night Football this weekend. It’s going to be a fun game, and it’s expected to be a competitive one as well. If the Lions can do these three things, they’re going to win it.

Control things on third down

This is a both sides of the ball thing, and it might be the biggest thing the Lions have to do in this game. On the defensive side of the ball, the Lions have the sixth-best third-down defense. They’re allowing conversions just 35.5% of the time. This happens to be where the Eagles have struggled quite a bit. They’re 28th in the league in converting third downs.

You might think that is because they’re a four-down team, much like the Lions, but they’ve only attempted fourth-down conversions 16 times this year. Some of that element is there, but it’s mostly that the Eagles find themselves in trouble getting to fourth and manageable on third down. So get your stops there.

On offense, the Lions have struggled with third-down conversions this season as well, but things really looked up last Sunday against the Commanders when the Lions started the game 4-4 on them and wound up finishing 5-8 when you take out the kneel down and Kyle Allen’s failed third-down attempt.

Luckily, this is a spot where the Eagles’ defense has had a lot of trouble. Their defense is 26th in the league at stopping teams on third down. They’re allowing conversions 42.3% of the time. The Lions must capitalize on this. Hold onto the ball and you win this thing.

Attack the secondary

“The Eagles’ defense took a step back this season, but the bye week brought a quick change, specifically in the pass rush. They traded for Jaelan Phillips, who didn’t take long to make an impact with a team-leading seven pressures on Monday Night Football. Nolan Smith also returned after the Bye and logged his first sack of the season. However, the Eagles’ defense isn’t perfect, and their secondary is desperate for a boost at CB2. Jaire Alexander was supposed to be that boost, but he opted to step away from football this week.”

That’s our Eagles beat writer, Kelsey Kramer, explaining the issues the Eagles are having in the secondary. An area they were supposed to be really good in with Cooper Dejean in the slot and Quinyon Mitchell at CB1. Currently, their CB2 is a mixture of Kelee Ringo, Adoree’ Jackson, and Michael Carerr III. Jackson had the start against the Packers, and he allowed four catches on six targets.

With all that said, the Eagles have surprisingly allowed the fewest passing touchdowns in the league. Let’s see if the Lions can break through in this one.

Attack the middle of the Eagles’ offensive line and get Jalen Hurts to try to do too much

In addition to Kramer’s thoughts on the Eagles’ secondary, she also believes Philadelphia’s offensive line has a weak spot.

“Similar to the Eagles’ defensive line, their offensive line isn’t what it used to be, but that doesn’t mean they’re less effective; they’re just not as consistent. It also doesn’t help that starting center Cam Jurgens is battling a knee injury while right tackle Lane Johnson is dealing with an ankle injury. The Lions can win most of their matchups with Brett Toth and Tyler Steen in the middle if Jurgens is out.”

Toth, Steen, and Landon Dickerson have allowed 46 of the 95 pressures the Eagles’ offenisve line has allowed this season and seven of the 12 sacks the offensive line has allowed. So, this is a good game to get Alim McNeill some one-on-one opportunities. You know the plan is to double and chip on Aidan Hutchinson. That should open some up. If Jurgens plays, that does make things slightly harder as he’s pretty good at his job.

You might notice I specified the 12 sacks that the offensive line has allowed; that’s because Jalen Hurts has been sacked 25 times this year, and only 12 of them have been on the line. The rest are from Hurts trying to do too much by scrambling, trying to extend plays. This is where you want Hurts, believe it or not. Get him out of the pocket and off his spot, and he’s going to make some mistakes.

Final score prediction

At the end of the day, this game shouldn’t be a super high-scoring one. I think this is more of a battle of defenses. I feel better about the Lions’ defense, and I feel better about the Lions’ offense’s ability to break through when needed. It’s a close one, but give me Detroit

Final score prediction: Lions win 24-21

NFL

The Lions do not need to worry about the Eagles’ tush push

It’s really not that big of thing

Kelsey Kramer