If it were up to Saquon Barkley, he would put the entire Philadelphia Eagles organization on his back and try to sprint to the NFC Championship Game. The Los Angeles Rams hope to prevent that from happening, but it won’t be easy. Barkley will be a focal point when the Eagles host the Rams on Sunday afternoon in an NFC divisional round playoff game. No. 2 seed Philadelphia is coming off a win over the Green Bay Packers in the wild-card round, and No. 4 seed Los Angeles advanced after a wild-card win over the Minnesota Vikings. This will be the second meeting of the season between the Eagles and the Rams. In the first game, Barkley passed for a career-high 302 yards from scrimmage, including a franchise-record 255 yards rushing, to go along with two touchdowns. Philadelphia took a 37-20 victory in that one. Barkley became the sixth player in NFL history to record multiple rushing touchdowns of 70+ yards in a game. Eagles coach Nick Sirianni knows the Rams want to avoid a blockbuster sequel. “They’ll see things on film that they want to repeat and they want to do it differently,” Sirianni said. “We know we’re going to do our best to stop Saquon. That’s what we’ve been dealing with all year.” Neither club is a stranger to the big stage. Sirianni and the Eagles are looking to reach the conference title game for the second time in the last three seasons, and Rams coach Sean McVay is aiming for his third championship game in eight seasons. The teams have taken very different paths so far in the playoffs. Philadelphia was one of the best teams in the NFL for much of the regular season, as they got off to a 12-2 start and finished 14-3 as NFC East champions. Los Angeles, on the other hand, lost four of its first five games and fell to 5-6 in the standings after losing to Barkley and the Eagles on November 24. But the Rams then closed out the regular season 5-1. ran to win the NFC West, and they dominated the Vikings in their first playoff game, 27-9, despite the game being moved to Arizona due to the devastating wildfires in Los Angeles. McVay said the early season struggles were a blessing, in retrospect. “All of those scars were necessary to be able to get us to the point where we are today,” McVay said. “There’s a resilience, there’s a courage. You learn from those difficult setbacks, and that’s where real growth can happen if people take the right approach.” Matthew Stafford is the stabilizing influence running the Rams offense. He passed for 3,762 yards, 20 touchdowns and eight interceptions in the regular season, and he posted a passer rating of 117.7 last week while completing 19 of 27 passes for 209 yards and two touchdowns against the Vikings. Stafford is 5-1 in the playoffs with the Rams. Wideouts Puka Nacua and Cooper Kupp are Stafford’s two best weapons in the passing game and will test Philadelphia’s secondary. Running back Kyren Williams rushed for 1,299 yards and 14 touchdowns during the regular season and will also pose a threat. For the Eagles, Jalen Hurts will look to build on an early playoff game in which he completed 13 of 21 passes for 131 yards and two scores in the 22-10 victory. He also rushed six times for 36 yards, and he will give Philadelphia a dual threat as the Rams focus primarily on Barkley. Sirianni praised Hurts for taking care of the football and giving his team a chance to win. “It’s quite impressive, isn’t it?” Sirianni said. “It’s impressive of him to be able to lead us to victory without turning the ball over. And to be explosive while doing it. Everyone has a tough job to do, but it’s a very tough job for Jalen. I can’t give him enough credit.” Eagles wide receiver AJ Brown will look to stand out in the receiving game after catching just one pass for 10 yards last week. Brown missed Wednesday’s practice to rest his knee, but said he would return to practice later in the week and be ready to play on Sunday. On defense, the Rams are coming on strong after tying an NFL playoff record with nine sacks against the Vikings a week ago. Kobie Turner had two sacks, and Byron Young and Neville Gallimore finished with 1 1/2 sacks each. The Eagles also have a very energetic defense. Philadelphia had an excellent defensive performance with four takeaways against the Packers in the wild-card round. The unit led the NFL in turnover margin (plus-17) and points scored (97) over the final 11 weeks of the regular season. This is the fourth time the teams have met in the playoffs and the first time since the 2001 season. The Rams hold a 2-1 series lead. –Field level media
