Top 3 questions surrounding 2020’s Philadelphia Eagles ahead of Week 5

1. Who has the advantage between the Steelers’ offense and Eagles defense?

The Steelers love to spread teams out with Ben Roethlisberger in the shotgun formation and three or four wide receivers sets. This scheme is mainly used to create open areas and allow skill players to take advantage of one-on-one matchups in space.

Philadelphia relies on the 4-3 base formation (four down linemen and three linebackers), but we often don’t see that because, with most opposing teams using three-wide-receiver sets, the ‘Birds’ haven’t been able to keep three linebackers on the field. Some might even say they’d be at a disadvantage if they did, but it’s anybody’s guess about what you get from one week to the next with the Eagles.

There’s that thing where the secondary all hangs out at the first-down marker. We’ve seen five down linemen. We’ve seen safeties in the box. We’ve seen Jalen Mills play safety as an experiment. We’ve seen him play the cornerback position out of necessity.

Though the Steelers have not heavily outscored their opponents, they don’t lack star power. Roethlisberger, his wide receivers (Juju Smith-Schuster and James Washington), his tight end Eric Ebron, and his running back, James Connor, can all make plays. The ‘Birds’ don’t need to get into a shootout.

Advantage: The Steelers