Go here for this week's Passing Matchups.
Top 3 Rushing Matchups
As the playoffs go further along, the amount of great rushing matchups becomes limited. The purpose of this section is to determine the best rushing matchups for this week, but we may still have a strong stance on their defense as a whole. Please refer to the chart at the bottom for the team grades as if this was a normal week.
Philadelphia vs NY Giants
The Eagles are a dynamic offense that can beat you in so many different ways, but at their core, they remain a run-first offense as they are 5th in rushing yards per game with 147.6. This is an offense that with a bye week last week should get Jalen Hurts back near 100% after missing Weeks 16 and 17 with a shoulder injury. Between Miles Sanders and Jalen Hurts, the Eagles combined for 2,029 yards. One thing to keep an eye on this week is the snap count of Miles Sanders this week. Sanders, for most of the season, was averaging between 65-70% of snaps. However, over the last two weeks, Sanders has seen his snap count fall to just 40% in each of those two games as Boston Scott has seen his role grow up to 33% of snaps. This could entirely be that the Eagles are trying to rest Sanders heading into the playoffs, but it also could be that they are going back to more of a committee approach that we saw in 2021. While Sanders certainly has tremendous upside if it is that the Eagles have been resting him, there is some risk this week based on the committee approach the Eagles could take.
The Giants' run defense is a strange one as they are allowing the fourth-most rushing yards on the season to opposing running backs (119 per game), but they contained Dalvin Cook for the second time in just four weeks as they held him to 60 yards on 15 carries last week and 64 yards on 14 carries in Week 16. Even with those moderately impressive performances, this is a defense that has had its struggles, as the path to beat them is very clear. While the Giants boast one of the best interior defensive lines in the NFL, led by Dexter Lawrence and Leonard Williams, where they struggle is at the linebacker position. The Giants have had a rotating group at linebacker, and they relied heavily on Jarrad Davis to fill in for the struggling rookie Micah McFadden who was a surprise inactive after being the starter for most of the season, replacing Tae Crowder. Jarrad Davis is a practice squad signing who has only been on the Giants for three weeks after being signed from the Lions. Alongside Davis has been Jaylon Smith, who was a mid-season promotion from the practice squad and has shown glimpses of great play, but inconsistency has been a problem for Smith. The Giants have allowed 194.5 yards rushing per game to the Eagles this season, as the Eagles offensive line has won those matchups easily so far this year.
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