The Oakland Raiders will need to play their best ball to have any chance of beating the Philadelphia Eagles this week. Here are the five matchups to watch.
It’s been a rough season to say the very least for the Oakland Raiders. At 6-8 through 14 games, there is a great chance that the Raiders will be eliminated from playoff contention before they even take the field on Monday Night Football against the Philadelphia Eagles.
However even if that is the case, there are still plenty of exciting things to watch in this game. First off, it’s Christmas in Philadelphia and this is a fan base that once booed Santa Claus. There’s a good chance we could see something interesting go on between these two rabid fan bases of ours. But more importantly, there are some outstanding man-on-man matchups in this primetime ball game.
This will be the last Monday Night Football telecast of the season. There is a decent chance that Sean McDonough or Jon Gruden could let it rip in the ESPN because don’t hold nothing back. Philadelphia will be playing for home-field advantage in the NFC playoffs, as the Minnesota Vikings are nipping at the Eagles’ heels.
This is all the more reason for the Raiders to come out and play a dominating performance with three of their four Pro Bowlers. Too bad left tackle Donald Penn is out for the year, as he is set to undergo foot surgery this week. Still, there are plenty of great matchups to watch in this primetime game. Here are the five best heading into Christmas night versus Philadelphia.
Karl Joseph vs. Nick Foles
We need to keep an eye on second-year safety Karl Joseph the rest of the way. Raider Nation needs to do this for several reasons. Though he seems to have made the leap from year one to year two, it will be interesting to see how he fares against an underrated Philadelphia receiving corps.
Keep in mind that it won’t be Carson Wentz slinging the pigskin around for the Eagles. Former Eagles starter and veteran backup Nick Foles has been forced into duty after Wentz tore his ACL in Los Angeles two weeks ago. Foles is a high-end backup and a serviceable starter at the least.
Though Foles doesn’t typically throw interceptions, he hasn’t gotten starter’s reps until very recently. He could still be working out a few kinks in the passing game before the Eagles make their potential run to the Super Bowl. Look for Joseph to possibly take advantage of Foles and the Eagles overlooking the Raiders entirely.
Lastly, we do know that Joseph is here to stay in the Oakland secondary, but what about the pieces around him? This will be a great time for Joseph to show all he’s got on tape so the Raiders’ brass can find the right pieces to put around him in the upcoming NFL Draft and in NFL free agency. He needs to be the best player in the Raiders secondary for the Silver and Black to have a legitimate shot at the upset.