Are the New England Patriots the team that bulldozed everything in their path for the first eight weeks of the 2019 season? Or the one that stumbled once it finally faced a formidable foe?
We’re about to find out.
New England’s next four opponents all are in playoff contention, and all four boast quality quarterbacks, beginning with Sunday’s showdown with Carson Wentz and the Philadelphia Eagles.
Here’s what we’ll be watching for in that one:
THE DETAILS
Time: Sunday, 4:25 p.m. ET
Location: Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia
TV: CBS
LAST WEEK
The Patriots and Eagles both are coming off bye weeks. The previous week, New England suffered their first loss of the season, 37-20 to the Baltimore Ravens on “Sunday Night Football.” Philadelphia defeated the Chicago Bears 22-14 to improve to 5-4 and keep pace with the Dallas Cowboys in the NFC East.
THE ODDS
The 8-1 Patriots entered the weekend as four-point road favorites over the Eagles in the first meeting between these franchises since Super Bowl LII, which Philadelphia won 41-33. New England is 6-3 against the spread this season. Philly is 4-5 ATS.
INJURY REPORT
Julian Edelman was able to heal up over the bye after being limited for weeks with chest and shoulder injuries, but seven other Patriots are listed as questionable for Sunday, including three prominent defensive players and two rookies:
S Patrick Chung, Heel/Chest
S Nate Ebner, Ankle/Back
RB Damien Harris, Hamstring
TE Matt LaCosse, Knee
WR Gunner Olszewski, Ankle/Hamstring
DT Danny Shelton, Ankle
DE John Simon, Elbow
The Eagles, meanwhile, will be without No. 1 receiver Alshon Jeffery, who’s been ruled out with an ankle injury. They also placed veteran third-down back Darren Sproles on injured reserve Friday and moved No. 2 wideout DeSean Jackson to IR last week.
Running back Jordan Howard is listed as questionable for Philly. As of Friday morning, Howard, who’s dealing with a stinger, had not been cleared for contact — a worrying sign for the Eagles’ offense. To offset the Sproles and Howard injuries, the Eagles on Friday re-signed running back Jay Ajayi, who hasn’t played since tearing his ACL five weeks into last season.
Eagles linebacker Nigel Bradham (ankle) also has been ruled out.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
N’Keal Harry, Patriots wide receiver
Will this be the week Harry finally makes his regular-season NFL debut? Tom Brady, Julian Edelman and Mohamed Sanu all had nice things to say about the rookie wideout this week, but it’s still unclear whether he’ll be active Sunday after sitting out the Ravens game as a healthy scratch. Our guess: Harry plays, at least in a limited role. If he doesn’t, it might be time to start asking questions about his lack of NFL readiness.
Zach Ertz, Eagles tight end
Even when Jeffery is active, Ertz is Carson Wentz’s favorite target (team-best 46 catches for 527 yards and two touchdowns this season). With Jeffery out, the star tight end will take on an even larger receiving load. It’ll be especially interesting to see how the Patriots choose to cover him. With Philly boasting a subpar set of active wideouts (Nelson Agholor, Jordan Matthews, Mack Hollins and rookie J.J. Arcega-Whiteside), will the Pats stick top cornerback Stephon Gilmore on Ertz? Gilmore rarely covers tight ends, but he has done so in the past, most notably against Travis Kelce during the second half of last year’s AFC Championship Game. (As Gilmore memorably said postgame, covering Kelce was “easy” for him because the tight end is “slow.”) Second-year pro tight end Dallas Goedert is a solid second option for an Eagles team that utilizes more two-tight end sets than any other team in the NFL.
Ted Karras, Patriots center
Karras has been a solid fill-in for usual starter David Andrews, but he’ll face one of his toughest tests of the season against Eagles defensive tackle Fletcher Cox. Cox, Pro Football Focus’s sixth-highest-graded interior defender this season, frequently disrupting plays with pressure up the middle. The Eagles return nearly their entire defensive line from Super Bowl LII, with the likes of Brandon Graham, Timmy Jernigan, Vinny Curry and Derek Barnett joining Cox in the trenches.
Miles Sanders, Eagles running back
Sanders has been the lightning to Howard’s thunder, and with the latter sidelined this week, the rookie could see an uptick in rushing opportunities. Sanders has carried the ball more than 10 times in just his three of his first nine NFL games, but he averaged nearly 17 carries per contest as a junior at Penn State last season, so he has experience in a bell cow-type roll. The veteran Ajayi should be able to take some of the burden off the youngster, but it’s unclear what his snap limit will be after a 13-month layoff.
