Philadelphia Eagles: 5 Keys to a win versus Los Angeles in Week 2
By Hunter Doyle
4. Avonte Maddox needs to have a strong performance for the Philadelphia Eagles.
Last week, the secondary wasn’t tested too much. Terry McLaurin has a bright future in this league, but Darius Slay was too much for him. Steven Sims also has potential as a speedster but wasn’t a major factor in the win outside of a few nice catches. Dontrelle Inman got locked up by Avonte Maddox when he was on the field.
More from Inside the Iggles
- Eagles captains earn high praise on roster blending veteran leadership, youth
- How former Eagles star Cre’Von LeBlanc helped Renegades upstage Cowboys
- Eagles 2023 schedule: Every WR duo Darius Slay, James Bradberry will battle
- Imagining better names for Jason Kelce’s Good Guy Award
- Bold predictions for the Philadelphia Eagles offense in 2023
This Rams’ wide receiver corps will pose more of a challenge for the Birds, but fans should still be confident. ‘Big Play’ Slay and Nickell Robey-Coleman will most likely take on Robert Woods and Cooper Kupp, unless of course the Eagles defensive coaches, particularly Jim Schwartz, outthinks themselves. Slay will limit whoever he is on. Robey-Coleman should do well enough to prevent any big plays as well. The matchup to watch will be Avonte Maddox versus either Van Jefferson or Josh Reynolds. Maddox looked pretty good in Week 1, but we’re not out of the woods yet.
Van Jefferson had a solid showing in his NFL debut. He hauled in just one catch on three targets but it was a 31-yarder down the sideline. Jared Goff also threw too high to him on one of those targets. Jefferson has good speed and is a silky smooth route runner. We could see the rookie more involved in week two.
Related Story. 10 Rams that can wreck Week 2’s game. light
Josh Reynolds played about half of the offensive snaps as well. He had just one catch as well but it was a tough 17-yard catch on a third and three where he fought for position on good coverage by Trevon Diggs. That set up a two-yard touchdown to put the Rams up for good. Reynolds has proven to be a solid backup receiver and produce in some of the snaps he does get when on the field.
Maddox needs to prove he can step up and handle a more difficult test. We saw him forced to go up against top receivers in years past because of the lack of a number one corner in Philly. Now, he has more reasonable matchups and has to prove he can win them.