23 intriguing stats ahead of the Eagles Week 1 game versus Patriots
By Jake Beckman
The Eagles and the Patriots are going to decide Week 1's game by battling in the trenches
The biggest strength-on-strength battle in this matchup is going to be the Eagles offensive line versus the Patriots defensive line. We know the dominance of the Birds' trenches, but they’ll have their hands full because the Patriots are returning quite a few players from a very productive unit they fielded last year.
20. Eagles O-Line gained the fourth-most rushing yards and the most rushing touchdowns per game.
Pro Football Focus ranked the Eagles' offensive line as the NFL's best in 2022. The only change that's happened with this group is that there's a new right guard, Cam Jurgens.
21. Patriots D-Line allowed the seventh-fewest rushing yards and the fewest rushing Touchdowns per game.
PFF ranked the Patriots' defensive line as the 12th best in 2022. They're returning Deatrich Wise, Josh Uche, Christian Barmore, and Matthew Judon. In other words, they will again be scary.
The dangerous guy on that Pats defense is the four-time Pro Bowler Matthew Judon, who’s also coming back from a big year last season.
22. Matthew Judon finished 2022 with 15.5 sacks, 42 pressures, and ONE missed tackle
He's been a Pro Bowler for the past four years. The dude is pretty good and going into his seventh year in the NFL, it doesn't look like he's slowing down.
One last thing...
All of these stats and numbers that you see in front of you pale in comparison to the final one. Every single one means nothing, except for this one.
23. 41-33
February 4th of the 2018 calendar year was the day the Philadelphia Eagles beat the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LII by a score of 41-33. Nick Foles outperformed Tom Brady in that one. Go Birds. Let the good times roll in Week 1.