By Timothy An

Sunday, Sept. 27 at 8:20 p.m. ET

NBC

SPREAD: 49ers, -7

Coming into the season, we would expect a Sunday night matchup between the Philadelphia Eagles and San Francisco 49ers to be a highly anticipated matchup between two of the top teams in the league. However, with the poor performance the Eagles have displayed thus far, and the plethora of injuries the 49ers are facing, this matchup loses a lot of the excitement it had coming into the season. 

Philadelphia Eagles

To put it kindly, the Eagles looked “out of sorts” last week against the Bengals. In fact, they’ve looked “out of sorts” all year, starting with their opening week loss to the Washington Football Team. Nothing is working for this team, and their record, sitting at 0-2-1 really shows it. Last week was a disappointing performance against the Cincinnati Bengals. The Eagles seemed as if they didn’t even want to try to win the game, opting to run the ball throughout overtime, coming away satisfied with the tie. This Eagles team is in trouble, but luckily the NFC East has not been performing so well. The Eagles have a chance to turn it around this season and must figure it out soon.

Eagles Offense

Led by quarterback Carson Wentz, the Eagles offense has been absolutely atrocious this season. They are ranked 27th in the league in points scored, and can’t really find a groove throwing the ball downfield. Carson Wentz, once considered an elite tier quarterback, is off to a cold start, leading the league in interceptions with 6. Wentz has a passer-rating of 63.9 and is playing like one of the worst starting quarterbacks in the entire league. The running game also hasn’t been very pretty, but the return of Miles Sanders in Week 2 was a big boost to the offense as it allows the team to run the ball somewhat decently now. With Desean Jackson, Alshon Jeffrey, and J.J. Arcega-Whiteside on the injury report, the Eagles are going to have to rely on their run offense to hopefully open up the passing attack and open up some receiving lanes for Wentz to throw through on Sunday Night. 

Eagles Defense

The Eagles boast one of the best interior defenses on paper, but overall, even with the new addition of shutdown corner Darius Slay, the Eagles have had trouble shutting teams down. The Eagles D ranks 23rd in points allowed. They have faced two very mediocre offenses in the Football Team and the Bengals, and still had trouble slowing them down. The one strength of this defense continues to be this defensive line Brandon Graham, Fletcher Cox, Derek Barnett, and Josh Sweat. They currently rank 4th in the league with 11.5 sacks through three games. Though this team has been successful putting pressure on opposing quarterbacks, their secondary has not been consistent and has been struggling to shut down the opposing receivers. The Eagles are going to need their secondary to step up if they want to have a chance to pull off an upset this Sunday night. 

San Francisco 49ers

The Super Bowl runner-ups have had a devastating start to the year. In one of the most unique cases I have ever seen, the 49ers have been hit with a flurry of injuries to many of their key players at almost every position to kick off the season. The 49ers are fortunate enough that 4 of their 5 first opponents are the Jets, Giants, Eagles, and Dolphins and boast a 1-10-1 record.

49ers Injuries:

Weston Richburg (Center) - Kneecap

Tavon Austin (WR) - Knee

Ronald Blair (DE) - ACL

Jullian Taylor (DT) - ACL

Richard Sherman (CB) - Calf

Richie James (WR) - Hamstring

Nick Bosa (DE) - ACL

Solomon Thomas (DT) - ACL

Deebo Samuel (WR) - Foot

Tevin Coleman (RB) - Knee

Emmanuel Moseley (CB) - Concussion

Dre Greenlaw (LB) - Quadriceps

Raheem Mostert (RB) - MCL

Jimmy Garropolo (QB) - Ankle

K’Waun Williams (CB) - Hip

Jordan Reed (TE) - Knee

Dee Ford (DE) - Neck

49ers Offense

The 49ers offense is hard to preview because we don’t necessarily know what we are getting with these players. George Kittle is expected to return, which is a huge boost to this offense, and the return of Brandon Aiyuk has been helpful as he burst out for 3 rushes for 31 rushing yards and a touchdown, along with 5 receptions for 70 receiving yards in his debut. Nick Mullens played like a savvy veteran last week putting up 343 passing yards along with one touchdown and zero interceptions. If he can put up a performance like that against the Eagles, the 49ers should have no problem blowing by them on Sunday Night. 

49ers Defense 

The 49ers defense doesn’t even resemble the one that made it to the Superbowl last year. The loss of starting defensive lineman Nick Bosa, Solomon Thomas, and Dee Ford are huge losses to one of the best d-lines in the NFL, and the loss of corners Richard Sherman and Emmanuel Mosely, along with LB Dre Greenlaw, will really test the depth of this defensive unit. Against any other offense, I would predict that the 49ers defense will have trouble, but the Eagles have played so poorly as of late, I think this defense will still be able to find success on Sunday Night. 

Prediction

This is a matchup of an underperforming Philadelphia Eagles team against an injury-riddled San Francisco 49ers team. I think Carson Wentz will play better than he has the past three weeks and will put up some good numbers against this depleted defense. However, even with all the injuries, the 49ers are too well-coached and talented to lose to the Eagles on national television. 

SHAWN’S PREDICTION: 49ers 30 - 13

AJ’S PREDICTION: 49ers 31 - 13

TIMOTHY’S PREDICTION: 49ers 27 - 17

Follow Timothy on Twitter @timothyan1