It's deja vu all over again.
Brace yourself for Nick Foles, the Sequel.
This decidedly weird Eagles season defending their first-ever Super Bowl title just got even more bizarre.
Carson Wentz is hurt again. Just when he hurt his back, and how bad it is, not exactly clear. Kind of like the rest of this muddled Eagles' season.
All a testy Doug Pederson would say Friday is that Wentz has some kind of stress 'injury' - specifically avoiding use of the word 'fracture' - and is questionable for Sunday night's huge matchup with the Rams in L.A. A few hours later Wentz was downgraded to doubtful.
But the team hasn't ruled him out, and he's still making the trip.
Yeah, a three-hour plane ride, just what a guy with a bad back needs.
At any rate, get ready for the second coming of Nick Foles. He likely will be behind center Sunday night.
Even weirder is that this is going down in Los Angeles, where almost exactly a year ago Wentz went down with a torn ACL.
The Eagles have two big problems with this game.
First, they must keep the Rams' ferocious rush off Foles. The Rams are led by Aaron Donald and his 16 and a half sacks. He's going to be a major problem.
Then there is the notion of Jared Goff and the Rams' explosive offense going against the Eagles decimated secondary. Not a great prospect either.
The recipe for this game should be what the Eagles should have been doing all year, but for some reason stray away from all too quickly.
They should feature a huge dose of running back Josh Adams. Control the ball, thus keeping the Rams offense off the field and keeping Foles upright.
It would also behoove the Eagles to avoid the trait that has defined their season, starting off slow and falling behind. Doing that against this defense, and being forced to have Foles dropping back every play, is a recipe for disaster.
Sorry, but I don't see another miracle from Foles.
I don't see the Eagles winning either.
In fact, I don't think this one is going to be close.
Would another miracle from St. Nick be a great story? Yes, just imagine the electricity in the town should Foles somehow lead the Eagles back to the playoffs.
I don't think it's going to happen.
THE PICK: Make it Rams 31, Eagles 17. Nick Foles is going to have Aaron Donald - who already has 16 sacks - in his lap all night. And the Birds' secondary is not match for this Rams' attack.
LAST WEEK: This one was there for the Birds to win. But they came up small at key moments and limped into overtime, where they never saw the ball as Amari Cooper caught his third TD of the game - off a carom off the hands of Rasul Douglas to seal the deal. Again Wentz and the Eagles' offense was non-existent for three quarters. The loss dropped the Eagles' mark to 6-7 and put their chances of making the playoffs on life support. But the NFL seems hell-bent on keeping the defending Super Bowl champs alive. I picked up another loss in what has been a lousy year prognosticating the team's fortunes. I'm now 3 games under .500 at 5-8.
GAME BY GAME: Cowboys 29, Eagles 23 (My Pick: Eagles 23, Cowboys 21)
Eagles 28, Redskins 13 (My Pick: Eagles 27, Redskins 17)
Eagles 25, Giants 22 (My Pick: Eagles 23, Giants 17)
Saints 48, Eagles 7 (My Pick: Saints 37, Eagles 23)
Cowboys 27, Eagles 20 (My Pick: Eagles 29, Cowboys 16)
Eagles, 24, Jaguars 18 (My Pick: Eagles 24, Jaguars 23)
Eagles 18, Falcons 12. (My Pick: Falcons 27, Eagles 13)
Buccaneers 27, Eagles 21 (My Pick: Eagles 23, Buccaneers 13)
Eagles 20, Colts 16 (My Pick: Colts 23, Eagles 17)
Titans 26, Eagles 23 in OT (My Pick: Eagles 26, Titans 13)
Vikings 23, Eagles 21 (My Pick: Eagles 24, Vikings 13)
Eagles 34, Giants 13 (My Pick: Eagles 19, Giants 17)
Panthers 21, Eagles 17 (My Pick: Eagles 26, Panthers 17)
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