in an NFC divisional game<\/a> last season before losing 28-22. Now both teams are 2-0 and meet Sunday. What intrigues you most about the matchup this time?<\/p>\nSando: The NFL\u2019s oldest offense (Rams) against the NFL\u2019s youngest defense (Eagles) is a really fun part of this matchup \u2014 so fun that I\u2019m going to dive into it more closely soon.<\/p>\n
Howe: I\u2019m impressed by the Eagles\u2019 start, and I\u2019ll concede it\u2019s been far from perfect. They don\u2019t appear to be opening the same lanes for Saquon Barkley, so that\u2019s the first thing that must improve to set up a deep playoff run. The Rams should be back in the playoffs and remain on an upward trajectory, but they haven\u2019t played a high-end team yet. So, I\u2019m most intrigued by the Rams\u2019 place among the NFC\u2019s elite. If the Rams win, they deserve to be viewed as true contenders to get to the Super Bowl. I\u2019d expect this to be a close game either way.<\/p>\n
Keefer: It\u2019s Chris Shula\u2019s young Rams defense against the veteran Eagles, a unit that hasn\u2019t looked nearly as sharp as it did in late January and February. As Philly coach Nick Sirianni pointed out early this week, that\u2019s sort of the expectation this time of year: find ways to win games and keep improving so the team can peak when it matters most. Can the Eagles find some explosion on offense? The Kansas City Chiefs made them work for it Sunday at Arrowhead. If they can\u2019t, I wouldn\u2019t be stunned if the Rams hand the Eagles their first loss since before Christmas.<\/p>\n
Perhaps no one thought both the Chiefs and the New York Giants would be 0-2 heading into \u201cSunday Night Football.\u201d Is this the classic \u201cget-right game\u201d for Kansas City, or is it in serious trouble if vintage Russell Wilson returns?<\/p>\n
Sando: Wilson has averaged 175 yards passing per game with an 83.3 rating and 25 sacks in his past five games against the Steve Spagnuolo-coordinated Chiefs. He finished every one of those games with negative EPA per pass play, thanks mostly to those sacks and five interceptions. I\u2019m not banking on \u201cvintage Russ\u201d to return in this matchup. I expect the Chiefs to win but am not sure if this will be a \u201cget-right game\u201d (blowout) with so many pieces missing from the Kansas City receiving corps.<\/p>\n
Howe: I\u2019m with Mike. I wouldn\u2019t expect Wilson and the Giants offense to be overly problematic for the Chiefs defense. But there\u2019s also little evidence over the past two years to assume Patrick Mahomes can roll out of bed and drop 30 points on anyone. And since you asked, if vintage Wilson returns, it\u2019s because the Chiefs allowed him to do so, which, yes, would be a monumental cause for concern.<\/p>\n
Keefer: Call it whatever you want, but the Chiefs need this one. It doesn\u2019t have to be pretty or all that convincing, but 0-3 feels like a much different hole than 0-2, especially in the division they\u2019re in. The Los Angeles Chargers look quite good, and the Denver Broncos were a playoff team last year and have an excellent defense. Not that the Chiefs always follow the script, but since the NFL restructured the playoffs to have seven teams in each conference qualify, no 0-3 squad has ever recovered to make the postseason.<\/p>\n
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An upset loss to the New York Giants on Sunday and an 0-3 start would put quarterback Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs in serious trouble to start the 2025 season. (Jay Biggerstaff \/ Imagn Images)The Lions and Ravens meet on \u201cMonday Night Football\u201d after their offenses both scored 40-plus points in Week 2. What or who makes the difference here?<\/p>\n
Sando: Lamar Jackson makes the difference. He\u2019ll be the most dynamic force on the field for either team, especially with Detroit having to respect Derrick Henry.<\/p>\n
Howe: We\u2019re about to find out if the Lions are still the Lions. They ran into the Green Bay Packers buzzsaw in Week 1, so let\u2019s give them a temporary pass for that one. And I don\u2019t care what the Chicago Bears\u2019 record has been of late \u2014 mopping the floor with a division opponent is always impressive, especially since the Lions made it personal. If they play with the same edge against the Ravens, they\u2019ll be just fine. Jared Goff makes the difference, though. This will be his first test without Ben Johnson of having to go score-for-score with an elite QB in a hostile environment. If Goff answers the bell, maybe it\u2019s time to shrug aside the concerns about the turnover at coordinator and give the Lions more respect than they\u2019ve gotten at this early juncture. I can\u2019t wait for this game.<\/p>\n
Keefer: This is a spicy one because both teams looked like Super Bowl contenders last week after Week 1 losses. As much as I\u2019d like to say Kyle Hamilton, the Ravens\u2019 excellent safety, the answer is always Jackson. No player outside of Josh Allen, the one who broke the Ravens\u2019 hearts in Week 1, single-handedly tilts a game\u2019s outcome more frequently than Jackson. I\u2019m not sold on the Lions\u2019 secondary being able to stop him in the second half, so give the advantage to Baltimore.<\/p>\n
(Top photos of Joe Burrow and Russell Wilson: Gregory Shamus and Cooper Neill \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s only Week 3, and the injuries are piling up, particularly at quarterback. Five teams \u2014 the Cincinnati…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":156826,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[436],"tags":[1745,1742,49,48,1740,3163,1727,1749,1726,1728,514,1747,948,82],"class_list":["post-156825","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-arizona-cardinals","tag-baltimore-ravens","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-cincinnati-bengals","tag-detroit-lions","tag-kansas-city-chiefs","tag-los-angeles-rams","tag-minnesota-vikings","tag-new-york-giants","tag-nfl","tag-philadelphia-eagles","tag-san-francisco-49ers","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156825","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=156825"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156825\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/156826"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=156825"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=156825"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=156825"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}