Eagles-Bengals player matchups to watch in Week 8

The Eagles (4-2) are heading to Cincinnati to face the Bengals (3-4) on Sunday afternoon.

Here are some key matchups to watch:

Fred Johnson vs. Trey Hendrickson

Things aren’t getting any easier for Fred Johnson this week. Johnson is in the starting lineup after Jordan Mailata (hamstring) landed on IR. So that’s at least four weeks without Mailata and a tough stretch of games to lose him in. Last week, Johnson had to deal with Brian Burns agains the Giants and this week he’ll see Hendrickson.

Hendrickson is one of the best and most underrated pass rushers in the NFL. Through seven games, Hendrickson already has 7 sacks to lead the Bengals, who don’t have another player with more than 2. The three-time Pro Bowler is coming off a 17 1/2-sack season in 2023 and is on a similar pace in 2024. All but three of Hendrickson’s snaps this season have come on the right side of the defensive line, so it’s setting up a matchup against Johnson on Sunday.

While Johnson has had some good moments and while he was definitely solid in the run game on Sunday, he has been leaky in pass protection. He gave up a team-high four pressures against the Giants in just 23 pass blocking snaps. The Eagles don’t often like to help their tackles but this might be a good game to rethink that.

Saquon Barkley vs. Bengals run defense

The Eagles’ star running back is coming off an extremely impressive performance against the Giants last week. He ran for 176 yards in his return to MetLife Stadium. While some of the talk about identity and the questions about whether or not the Eagles are a run-first team have been slightly overblown, there’s no doubt that Saquon Barkley has been one of the Eagles’ best players. And as long as they don’t get down big to the Bengals, they should try to run the football on Sunday.

The Bengals are 21st in run defense in terms of yards per game but are 12th in average, giving up 4.4 yards per attempt. While the Bengals have a better run defense than pass defense, the Eagles’ strength for a lot of the season has been running the ball and it can be a good way to neutralize the threat of Hendrickson wrecking the game. The Bengals have given up 3.27 yards after contact per attempt (9th highest in NFL), per NFL Next Gen Stats, so Barkley could run through some tackles in this game.

Barkley has been so good all year. He already has 658 rushing yards in six games and is averaging 2.2 rushing yards over expected per attempt, good for third in the NFL. He has also been a huge home run threat so if Barkley is bottled up, there’s still a chance he could break one. He has reached 20+ MPH on three runs this season; just Derrick Henry has more with 4.

A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith vs. Bengals corners 

Jalen Hurts needed to throw just 14 times in the win over the Giants, which probably won’t happen again this season. The Eagles still have two of the best receivers in football. A.J. Brown ended up with a nice game against the Giants with 5 catches for 89 yards but DeVonta Smith had just 1 catch for -2 yards. We’ve seen the Eagles work to get players involved early after that type of weird stat line so we could see some early Smith targets on Sunday.

The Bengals have the 21st-ranked pass defense in the NFL and have been getting by without starter Dax Hill, who was lost for the season with an ACL tear. The Bengals are giving up more separation (4.0 yards per attempt) than any team in the NFL with starters Cam Taylor-Britt and DJ Turner outside and Mike Hilton in the slot. Taylor-Britt is a third-year starter but he has struggled this season, giving up a team-high opposing passer rating of 118.1. And safety Geno Stone’s availability is up in the air this week.

Eagles corners vs. Ja’Marr Chase, Tee Higgins 

This is a game with two of the best receiver duos in the NFL: A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith on one side, Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins on the other. Higgins missed some time earlier this season but has been back for a while now and has been productive. Here’s a look at their stats this season:

Chase: (7 games) 39 catches, 620 yards, 6 TDs

Higgins: (5 games) 29 catches, 341 yards, 3 TDs

And the sixth-round rookie Andrei Iosivas has been a solid third option with 14 catches for 189 yards and 3 touchdowns. But Chase and Higgins are clearly the top options.

So this will be a huge test for Darius Slay and Quinyon Mitchell, who were able to shut down talented rookie Malik Nabers in Week 7 against the Giants. While Chase and Higgins mostly stay on the outside, they will end up in the slot from time to time too, so rookie Cooper DeJean better be ready too.

The first-round pick, Mitchell, is off to a tremendous start in his NFL career. He has played 206 coverage snaps this season and has given up just 16 catches on 34 targets for 212 yards. Opposing quarterbacks have a passer rating of just 67.3 when targeted Mitchell in coverage. Just four players in the NFL (among those targeted 30+ times) have a lower opposing passer rating than Mitchell. 

Eagles defense vs. Joe Burrow

Don’t let the Bengals’ 3-4 record fool you. They’re getting really good play out of their starting quarterback. Burrow has been excellent.

The Bengals don’t have the best run game — although Chase Brown (twin of Eagles safety Sydney Brown) has some juice — so their passing offense has really carried the way.

Joe Burrow has completed 70.4% of his passes for 1,759 yards with 14 touchdowns and 2 interceptions this season. He has a passer rating of 110.1. The accuracy is what really stands out with Burrow. His completion percentage this year is even higher than his career average and one of the best marks in the NFL.

This season, Burrow’s average depth-of-target is 7.4 yards, which ranks 23rd in the NFL among quarterbacks with at least 100 dropbacks. Burrow has completed 17 passes of 20+ yards, which is the same amount as Hurts, Patrick Mahomes and Matthew Stafford. But the deep balls are still a part of the Bengals’ offense because 5 of his 17 passes of 20+ yards have gone for over 40. Just Hurts, Jared Goff, Brock Purdy and Lamar Jackson have more with 6.

Edge rushers vs. Bengals tackles

This could be another game where the Eagles’ pass rush is able to get after a quarterback. The Eagles had just 6 sacks in their first four games but have 13 in their last 2, including 8 against the Giants on Sunday.

Burrow doesn’t hold the football as long as Deshaun Watson or Daniel Jones. Here’s a look at average time to throw:

Watson: 2.94 seconds
Jones: 2.74 seconds
Burrow: 2.72 seconds

But Burrow has been sacked 18 times this season — 8th most in the NFL. And in this game, the Eagles’ edge rushers have an opportunity to get to Burrow. Starting left tackle Orlando Brown Jr. had to leave last week’s game with a calf injury. If he can’t play or is limited, the Bengals would turn to Cody Ford. At right tackle, the Bengals have been starting first-round pick Amarius Mims, who has given up 9 pressures in five games this season.

There’s also a chance for Jalen Carter to do some damage on the interior of the line. Here’s where the Bengals’ iOL rank at their respective positions, per PFF:

LG Cordell Volson: 49/79
C Ted Karras: 20/38
RG Alex Cappa: 47/79

Eagles special teams vs. Charlie Jones

The Bengals have a dynamic return man in Charlie Jones, who returned a kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown last week in the Bengals’ 21-14 win over the Browns. Jones had a 81-yard punt return touchdown as a rookie in 2023 too.

So the receiver/return man has the ability to take one to the house.

“Obviously we are getting prepared because Charlie Jones is a darned good returner,” Clay said. “He had a punt return last year against Baltimore and then he had that 100-yarder at the start of the game against Cleveland.”

While Jones is the Bengals’ primary punt returner, they have also used Chase Brown and Trayveon Williams as kick returners this season. Jones has returned just three kicks — one in each of the last three games. The Eagles would be wise to avoid him.

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