Philadelphia Eagles: 6 Matchups to watch versus NFC West opponents
By Hunter Doyle
3. Ramsey isn’t the only Ram the Philadelphia Eagles will need to prepare for.
Another Rams star that’s likely to give the Eagles some trouble in Week 2 is Aaron Donald. Like Ramsey, not much can be said about Donald that hasn’t been uttered already. He’s never missed a Pro Bowl. The only time that he wasn’t a first-team All-Pro was his rookie season. The two-time Defensive Player of the Year has never received a grade below 90 from Pro Football Focus.
He’s also collected 312 total tackles (117 for a loss), 72 sacks, 173 quarterback hits,15 forced fumbles, and 11 pass deflections in six NFL seasons. Throughout his last two, he pressured the quarterback 125 times (four times per game). Add the term “Future Hall of Famer” to his list of accolades as that’s almost a lock at this point. The production is mind-boggling.
The Eagles’ interior offensive line will have their hands full when the Rams come to town. In the last two meetings between these two teams, Donald didn’t have any sacks and only had four tackles, but he did hit the quarterback four times. Let’s not forget that Brandon Brooks was healthy and played in every snap in both of those meetings. Matt Pryor has potential and showed plenty of flashes, but facing the league’s best defensive linemen in your third career start is daunting. It’s going to take a team effort to make sure Donald has a quiet afternoon.
Jason Kelce should make Pryor’s job a lot easier. He’s been able to take Donald in previous meetings and hasn’t had much trouble against much of anyone, allowing just two sacks in 1,163 snaps last year. He’s coming off of his third straight season as a first-team All-Pro so he’s the perfect match for Donald. The competition doesn’t get much better than two First-Team All-Pros going head to head.
Isaac Seumalo has improved in each of his four seasons as an Eagle and has become a solid starter, allowing just five sacks in 1,162 snaps in 2019. He likely won’t be earning any Pro Bowl nods anytime soon, but he’s become an above-average guard and performed well last year outside of the Week 2 Atlanta Falcons game. With Jason Kelce leading the guys on the interior as both a top-tier player and veteran leader, Donald should be limited, but it will be interesting to see how successful he can be versus Matt Pryor.