Two Eagles rivals look to bounce back in Week 9: Matchups, predictions for both games

The New England Patriots vs. the Washington Commanders

One of the biggest questions surrounding this game is whether or not the Washington Commanders are capable of continuing the success they had on offense in Week 8. If they can, and they can get better results from their defense, they might be in business.

Patriots offense vs. Commanders defense

It may seem like the New England Patriots are set up to enjoy their best offensive outing, but their leader in receptions, Kendrick Bourne, tore his ACL last weekend versus the Miami Dolphins. That’s a major league kick in the shins for an offense that already seems to be standing on uneasy footing.

New England's offense is, at times, allergic to scoring points. They’re averaging 14.8 points per game. They have produced the second-worst scoring differential in the NFL (-90 points). They’re hilariously awful to watch. 

It’s been about a month since we saw quarterback Mac Jones get benched mid-game. If he doesn’t get anything going this week, there’s a good chance that it will happen again.

Will that actually happen? Maybe... The Commanders' defense is just about as bad as the Patriots offense. You know the question, “What happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object?” How about “What happens when an incredibly stoppable force meets the most movable object?” This battle will be like two people yawning in front of each other. 

The Commanders’ defense is allowing 28.5 points per game. They just lost two of the better players on their team. Their defensive line took a huge hit when they traded away defensive ends Montez Sweat and Chase Young.

That D-line was the strength of their entire team, so taking away two of their four defensive studs means that now they have a whole bunch of nothing. It’s more than reasonable to assume that morale is going to be low and that the 28.5 points per game is going to go up… maybe not this week, but at some point soon.