The Eagles have lost all three of their games off the bye week and it would take a big upset to end that losing streak on Sunday afternoon.
The Eagles (3-7-1) are big underdogs as they face the Packers (8-3) in a 4:25 p.m. kickoff from Lambeau Field.
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And here are three things to know:
1. We found out during this past week that Doug Pederson has already been doling out some of his play-calling responsibilities. Apparently, Rich Scangarello has been calling the two-minute offense all season and in recent weeks, Press Taylor has been able to call some plays too.
On Saturday, NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo reported that Taylor actually called the offensive plays for the entire second half against the Seahawks on Monday night. The Eagles technically scored 11 of their 17 points in the second half but 8 of them came on a last-second touchdown.
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Pederson made it clear on Friday that he’s still the Eagles’ play-caller but wanted to be a part of the solution, even if that means giving up his favorite part of the job from time to time. It’s clear the Eagles’ offense has struggled. They are the 25th-ranked scoring team in the NFL and have scored exactly 17 points in each of their last three games. They need to be better.
2. Maybe the offense will get a boost from having Zach Ertz back in the lineup. The veteran tight end hasn’t played since injuring his ankle back on Oct. 18 against the Ravens. He missed five games and has been out a total of six weeks.
Even before the injury, Ertz was already on pace for the worst season of his career. In the first six games of the season, Ertz had just 24 catches (on 45 targets) for 178 yards and a touchdown. If the offense wants to get things back on track — and if Carson Wentz can get things back on track — Ertz might be able to help.
And even if you no longer care about this season — can’t blame you — Ertz could help himself and the team if he plays well down the stretch. He could raise his value, which would help him with his next contract. He can prove he’s still got it. And he can raise his value for the Eagles in a possible trade.
3. The Eagles opened as 9-point underdogs and that had moved to 9.5 points by Saturday evening.
In the last 20 years, the Eagles have been at least 9+ point underdogs seven times. Of those seven games, they are 2-7 but they’re 5-2 against the spread. They’ve been 9+ point underdogs twice under Doug Pederson and are 2-0 against the spread.
Earlier this season, the Eagles were 10.5-point underdogs against the Ravens but kept that game close at the Linc, losing 30-28. The Eagles were 13.5-point underdogs against the Rams in December of 2018 and beat them outright, 30-23.
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