The Eagles and Rams both enter Sunday in a place nobody wants to be: not broken, just uncomfortable. Philadelphia sits at 2-1.
Los Angeles is 1-2. One of them gets to leave with a little less frustration than the other.
That’s where the story starts, but it isn’t the whole story. The bigger issue for the Eagles is how little their offense has rewarded the players who keep showing up and making things happen.
Before the season, the question was whether the new Sean Mannion led offense would get complimentary players more involved. The answer, at least through Monday, was blunt: no, not even a little.
Darius Cooper is the clearest example. Against the Titans, he hauled in a catch and run for 23 yards on 1st and 17, then later scored the game winning TD.
He’s also been outstanding on special teams, and the head coach likes him. Against the Bears, that earned him 4 snaps on offense.
Fewer than Elijah Moore. Makai Lemon, by contrast, played 35 snaps, which was a season high 70%.
Tank Bigsby was the only skill position player to play fewer snaps than Cooper. Will Shipley, EJ Jenkins, and Johnny Mundt all logged double digit snaps on both special teams and offense.
Cooper did that against the Titans.
Now DeVonta Smith is set to miss a few games, and that should open the door for Cooper to get the offensive chance he’s earned. There’s no excuse not to.
The penalty numbers around this matchup are another sharp little warning sign. In the preview of the Rams, there was a note that they had the best penalty differential in 2025 and probably wouldn’t keep that up in 2026.
The Eagles, for their part, had the worst. Through three games, the Rams have swung all the way to the bottom of the league in that category, sitting at -13 total penalties and -105 penalty yards.
The Eagles are 18th.
Half of Los Angeles’ penalties came last week against the Broncos, but the issue didn’t begin there. In each of their first two games, they had double the penalties of their opponent.
That makes it more than a one-week blip. Maybe the Rams are due for a cleaner game.
Either way, it’s one of several reasons they’ve stumbled to 1-2 in a season that was supposed to feel better than this.
There’s also the kind of statistical oddity that only football can deliver. Nick Sirianni has never lost to Sean McVay, going 4-0 against him. And since Sirianni became a head coach, his teams have stacked up better than McVay’s in a few key places: wins, where the Eagles are 2nd and the Rams 10th; points, with the Eagles 6th and the Rams 9th; yards, with the Eagles 7th and the Rams 9th; and even the Super Bowl résumé, where the Eagles have 2 appearances and 1 win, while the Rams have 1 appearance and 1 win.
College football offers a few names worth keeping in view, too. At 12:00, Alabama visits Mississippi State, where the 2027 QB draft class is so predictably disappointing that attention is already shifting to 2028.
Mississippi State QB Kamario Taylor is already on that radar, and Bulldogs RB Fluff Bothwell, not his real name, is a dual threat RB making a name for himself. Alabama QB Keelon Russell is also on next year’s radar, though neither he nor Taylor are draft eligible this year.
For this year, safety Bray Hubbard is the fun watch, a big hitter who can make plays and has 8 INTs and 4 FFs.
At 3:30, Ohio State travels to Iowa and Florida goes to Missouri. Iowa, naturally, has offensive line, tight end, and safety prospects.
RG Kade Pieper is one of the top interior lineman prospects, and LT Trevor Lauck is one of the top OT prospects. At 6’5” Lauck is smaller than teams, especially the Eagles, traditionally like in OTs.
Pieper has experience at center.
In Other News...
Lane Johnson Update Leaves Eagles Fans With A Bigger Concern
Lane Johnson will sit out the upcoming game against the Los Angeles Rams because of a personal matter, leaving the Eagles without one of their most important and most reliable pieces on the offensive line. For a team that leans so heavily on stability up front, any absence from Johnson carries weight, especially given how central he has been to Philadelphias run in recent seasons.
Johnsons status also comes with a larger long-term backdrop after he announced plans to retire following the 2026 NFL season. He already dealt with a Lisfranc injury that cost him part of last season, so even a short-term update like this tends to invite bigger questions about what comes next for an aging cornerstone in the middle of another demanding year. [Read more 🡒]
Eagles Just Sent A Troubling Message About Their Backup Quarterback Spot
The Eagles are making a change behind Jalen Hurts, with Tanner McKee set to replace Andy Dalton as the backup quarterback for the game against the Los Angeles Rams, according to NFL Networks Mike Garafolo. The move comes after Dalton threw an interception in a recent game and after coaches offered mixed signals about how they feel about the depth of the quarterback room.
McKee, a sixth-round pick in 2023, has already shown enough in limited action to stay in the conversation. He has started two career games and owns a 99.5 passer rating, which gives Philadelphia a different look at a spot that suddenly feels worth watching a lot more closely. [Read more 🡒]
Saquon Barkleys Latest Injury Leaves Eagles Facing A Bigger Concern
Saquon Barkleys latest setback arrived during the game against the Los Angeles Rams, when a hamstring injury forced the Eagles to take him out for the rest of the afternoon. Philadelphia had already been managing his workload after he missed most of Week 2 with a stinger, and the timing only adds to the concern around a backfield that was built to lean on him early and often.
Tank Bigsby stepped in after Barkley exited, with Will Shipley also picking up snaps as the Eagles tried to piece together the running game on the fly. Barkley has still produced 174 rushing yards through the first four weeks, but the bigger worry now is whether this is becoming a pattern rather than a one-off, and how long Philadelphia can keep its ground game on track if he keeps getting dinged up. [Read more 🡒]