Eagles vs. Cardinals: 3 notable matchups to watch in Week 17

If you take a moment and glance at the rosters belonging to the Philadelphia Eagles and the Arizona Cardinals ahead of their Week 17 game, it’s obvious that the Eagles have more talent. The disparity is evident by a pretty huge margin.

That doesn’t mean that the Cardinals are helpless. After, all, on any given Sunday.... You know the rest.

There are a few spots where the Cards may have an advantage. Unfortunately, it's in those areas where we have seen Philly attacked all season.

The Cardinals are coming to town, and this week 17 affair versus the Eagles features a few storylines and intriguing matchups.

There aren’t a lot of one-on-one player matchups in the coming Eagles vs. Cardinals game that are super intriguing, but that doesn't mean we don't have much to discuss. This one features a few battles within the battle.

Jonathan Gannon vs. the City of Philadelphia

Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon is going to have one hell of a welcome when he comes out of the tunnel on Sunday. Not only was his performance as the Eagles defensive coordinator in Super Bowl 57 a mockery of the job. His departure could have been handled a lot better. Don't look now, but J.G. is public enemy number one.  

He’s going to feel the deserved hatred and the ire of the Eagles fanbase. Nick Sirianni praised his former assistant while, at the same time, welcoming the onslaught. Regardless of how this one turns out, we promise you that will be a prevailing headline.

If anyone knows the ins and outs of the Brotherly Shove, it's defensive coordinator Nick Raliis (the Eagles' linebacker coach last year) and Gannon. It will be fun to see what they try to do to ultimately fail at stopping the unstoppable play.

Trey McBride vs. whatever the Eagles do to cover tight ends

Tight ends have been an issue for the Eagles' defense almost the entire year. This will be an even bigger issue because the Cardinals don’t have a legitimately dangerous pass catcher other than Trey McBride. 

He’s going to eat. It’s going to be ugly, and it’s going to be frustrating. The Eagles are getting Avonte Maddox back this week, and he could help a little bit. Still, it’s the lack of able-bodied talent in the middle of the field that’s the problem. This defense will have to deal with the Cardinals’ #85 early and often. 

Kyler Murray vs. Eagles pass rush

The Eagles haven’t played a speedy dual-threat quarterback this year. Yeah, Josh Allen can run but he’s a powerful guy. Murray, on the other hand, is a quick, shifty guy. He tore his ACL in December of 2022, but he’s CLEARLY and fully healed from that. 

The Eagles' pass rush has been nothing short of a disappointment during the latter parts of this season given the sheer amount of resources they allocated toward improving the group. If the Eagles are looking to turn the page and get back on track in their last two regular-season games, a successful pass rush is going to be vital. 

Unfortunately, they’re going to have their hands metaphorically full trying to get hands literally full of the Cardinals’ five-foot-ten (he’s listed as that, but he’s clearly five-nine on a good day) quarterback.

This one's intriguing. We'll see what happens, but don't expect to be bored.

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