The Eagles Take On The Falcons for NFL Week Two. Here Is A Position-By-Position Look Into Both Teams’ Rosters.
The Birds will be in front of their hometown fans for the first time Monday night. They will take on the Atlanta Falcons for NFL week two action. There is some familiarity in this matchup, being it’s the third consecutive year the team will face Kirk Cousins on Monday night for week two. However, who has the edge from a complete roster perspective? Here’s a unit-by-unit look into the teams’ rosters.
How the QB’s Stack Up For NFL Week Two
Neither starting QB had a great beginning to the NFL season. Jalen Hurts had an uneven performance against Green Bay, turning the ball over three times. Meanwhile, Cousins finished his first game against Pittsburgh with a 59 QBR, throwing one touchdown and two picks. Still, even with this, the advantage goes to Hurts. While Cousins has always been a solid quarterback, he doesn’t have much of a winning track record. He’s 76-68-2 in his career, with his biggest moment being an upset win over the Saints in the 2019 Wild Card game.
Hurts, while having played less years than Cousins, has a significantly higher winning percentage with a 35-17 career record. He also has more playoff success, going to the Super Bowl in just his second season. Cousins has never made it past the second round of the playoffs. One could argue a lot of Hurts’ success has to do with the strong supporting cast around him. Football is the ultimate team game though and even greats need help. Hurts also has the advantage in this career matchup. Hurts and the Eagles have faced Cousins twice when he was a member of the Vikings and beat them both times. Hurts is simply more established and has the advantage for week two.
Runningback
This is another tough battle to decide because Bijan Robinson is a highly touted prospect for the Falcons. The second year back had a solid rookie campaign in 2023, totaling 976 yards and four rushing touchdowns. However, the nod also has to go to Barkley here. He has simply made more of an impact in his seven years in the league.
Barkley won the 2018 Offensive Rookie of the Year Award totaling 2028 yards from scrimmage. He then went on to be a 2x Pro Bowler and Comeback Player of the Year in 2022. Barkley also kept up the momentum of his career in his first game with the Eagles. He totaled 109 yards rushing and two rushing touchdowns while also catching two passes for 23 yards and a nice touchdown grab in the corner of the end zone against Green Bay. Barkley has simply been given more time to shine over Robinson and made the most of his opportunities, perhaps this can be an interesting topic to look back into a few years from now.
Wide Recievers/Tight Ends
For this NFL week two matchup, this could be the Eagles greatest strength. The combination of A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith has been nothing short of elite since they’ve teamed up in 2022. Brown and Smith became the first duo in Eagles history to finish a season with 1,000 yards each. They’ve now done this in back-to-back seasons. Brown also broke the Eagles franchise receiving yards record in a season.
Its worth noting that the Falcons have a promising up and coming receiver in Drake London, who has had over 100 recpetions in each of his first two seasons. The birds simply have more fire power on this unit though.
As for tight ends, this is a very close race. Dallas Goedert has been promising throughout much of his NFL career despite injury problems. However, Kyle Pitts has reached 1,000 yards in a season before, something Goedert has never done. He has also put up similar numbers in his years after his 1,000 yard rookie campaign. Due to this, the nod will go to Pitts based on his potential as a player.
Offensive Line
This is another close contest as both lines have strong players on them. The Eagles O-Line is highlighted by players like Lane Johnson, Jordan Mailata, and Landon Dickerson. The Falcons have Drew Dalman who had a breakout campaign in 2023, and Chris Lindstrom was one of the highest graded guards in the NFL last year.
However, the Eagles have had more synergy for many years and for that the nod goes to them. Cam Jurgens will need to improve though, as he had snap issues for much of his first game as the starting center against Green Bay.
Front Seven
This is normally an area where the Eagles are dominant, but that hasn’t been the case as of late. The team fell to the 15th best rushing defense in the league in 2023. The defense as a whole suffered a collapse during the second half of 2023 and things did not look promising after the Green Bay game. The defensive line didn’t record a single sack and gave up 163 yards rushing.
While both sides have promising playmakers, The Birds will need to play stronger in order to be ranked above the Falcons, the nod goes to Atlanta.
Secondary
Again while both sides have promising playmakers, the Falcons have done a nice job getting young talent along with proven stars. A.J. Terell has been solid since he was drafted in 2020 and they’ve also nicely reworked the safety unit with Justin Simmons and Jessie Bates III. While the Eagles have made improvements as well by signing back C.J. Gardner Johnson and Drafting Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean. However, they are more veteran heavy and the younger talent needs more time to develop. The Falcons are simply a more “ready-now” secondary.
Main Image: Kirby Lee – USA Today Sports
