Eagles-Falcons player matchups to watch in Week 2

The Eagles (1-0) will host the Falcons (0-1) in their home opener at the Linc on Monday Night Football.

The Eagles are coming off a 34-29 win over the Packers in Brazil, while the Falcons are coming off an 18-10 home loss to the Steelers.

Here are some key matchups to watch:

Lane Johnson and Jordan Mailata vs. Matt Judon

The Eagles got an extended look at Matt Judon at their joint practice against the Patriots in August. He gave them fits. And then a couple days later, he was traded to the Falcons, who desperately needed some pass rush.

Judon, 32, played in just four games in 2023 but made four consecutive Pro Bowls before that and had 12 1/2 and 15 1/2 sacks in his two full seasons with the Patriots. He still looked that disruptive in the joint practice in August and Judon got off to a nice start in Week 1 with the Falcons, picking up half a sack and five combined tackles.

Judon will play on both sides of the line so both Lane Johnson and Jordan Mailata will have to be ready for him in this game but Mailata will probably see more of him. The good news is that the Eagles have one of the best tackle duos in the NFL. Both Johnson and Mailata played extremely well in the season opener against a good Packers offensive line. Maybe the Packers had some trouble getting traction on the field in São Paulo, but the Eagles’ tackles did their job. After one week, Johnson ranks fifth and Mailata ranks 10th on the PFF top offensive tackles.

Jalen Hurts vs. Jessie Bates and Justin Simmons

After throwing just one interception all summer, Jalen Hurts made some bad decisions in Week 1 and threw a couple of interceptions against the Packers. The Eagles were lucky to win the game after turning the football over three times. Hurts knows he has to be better.

“Those are things that I control and I have to be better at and I take accountability for that,” Hurts said after the win.

One of those picks last week from Hurts was taken by safety Xavier McKinney. Hurts has to deal with a couple of tough safeties in Week 2 in Jessie Bates and Justin Simmons.

Bates, 27, is one of the best safeties in the NFL. The Falcons gave Bates a four-year, $64 million contract before last season and he lived up to it. In his first year with Atlanta, Bates had a career-high 132 tackles and 6 interceptions. Over the last two seasons, Bates has 10 interceptions, which ranks second in the NFL behind just DaRon Bland (14).

Also in the top five in interceptions? Bates’ new teammate Justin Simmons, who has 9 over the last two years. Simmons joined the Falcons in mid-August but learned the defense quickly. The two veterans safeties didn’t leave the field in Week 1.

Bates is so good that the Steelers really altered their game plan in Week 1.

A.J. Brown vs. A.J. Terrell

There’s no doubt that Brown is one of the best receivers in the NFL and he showed that again in the Eagles’ season opener. He had 5 catches for 119 yards and a touchdown against the Packers and did a lot of that damage against Pro Bowl cornerback Jaire Alexander.

Brown popped up on the injury report Friday with a hamstring injury so we'll have to wait and see about his condition. But if he's able to go, Brown will have another tough draw in Terrell but it shouldn’t be anything he can’t handle. Terrell isn’t considered to be one of the best corners in the NFL but he’s still well above average and is the best corner the Falcons have. He also plays on both sides of the line so it would make sense if he follows Brown in this game.

But even if Terrell is able to slow down Brown, the Falcons don’t have great corners beyond him. That means DeVonta Smith will be facing Mike Hughes outside and Dee Alford in the slot.

Eagles iOL vs. Grady Jarrett

One of the biggest questions coming into Week 1 was about the Eagles’ new-look interior offensive line with Cam Jurgens at center and Mekhi Becton at right guard. Both played very well down in Brazil, even against Pro Bowler Kenny Clark, who has the ability to wreck games.

Grady Jarrett is 31 now and might be well past his prime but he got off to a good start in Week 1 with 1 1/2 sacks, 3 QB hits and 2 TFLs. He had just 1 1/2 sacks in eight games last season so that’s an impressive first game in 2024.

Eagles linebackers vs. Kyle Pitts and Bijan Robinson

One of the biggest stories from Week 1 was the play of linebacker Zack Baun, who had 15 tackles and was all over the field. And the other starting linebacker, Nakobe Dean, also had some really good moments when he was running downhill. We’ll see what happens with Devin White (ankle), who missed Week 1. But no matter who is out there, this Falcons offense can definitely put some stress on linebackers with a good tight end and running back who are good pass catchers.

Bijan Robinson is entering Year 2 is expected by many to have a huge breakout season. He had 1,463 scrimmage yards as a rookie and had 111 in Week 1. In his career, Robinson has 530 receiving yards in 18 games and he has caught 63 passes. The Falcons are going to work to get him the ball in the passing game.

But the Eagles also need to tackle better in this game. Their tackling struggled in the opener and 50 of his 68 rushing yards against the Steelers came after contact.

As for Kyle Pitts, he has never lived up to his draft status as a first-round pick since his Pro Bowl rookie season, he still has the ability to make some plays. He had just 3 for 26 and a touchdown in the opener. 

Quinyon Mitchell vs. Drake London

Quinyon Mitchell, the rookie from Toledo, has an incredibly encouraging first NFL game against the Packers. Going against a really good offense in a crazy environment, Mitchell made plenty of plays and didn’t back down. It’ll be fun watching him go against a big receiver like Drake London. The 6-4, 213-pound London is in Year 3 and has had a pretty solid career so far. Can this be a breakout season for him?

The Falcons’ other top receivers are Darnell Mooney and Ray-Ray McLoud. McLoud had 4 for 52 in the opener and gets most of the snaps inside. After the Packers seemed to target Avonte Maddox in the first game, it’ll be interesting to see what combination the Eagles put out there in Week 2.

Eagles vs. Kirk Cousins in primetime 

In his career, Kirk Cousins has started 11 games agains the Eagles and has a 6-5 record with 26 touchdowns and 9 interceptions. But in his four primetime games against the Eagles, Cousins is 1-3 with three straight losses.

In Week 1, Cousins didn’t have a very good performance. He completed 16 of 26 passes for 155 yards with 1 touchdown and 2 interceptions. His passer rating was 59.0. Cousins is coming off an Achilles injury that ended his 2023 season early and he didn’t look like himself in Week 1. Maybe he’s not fully healthy or maybe he’s just not trusting his surgically repaired ankle but everything was in shotgun or pistol and it certainly wasn’t fun to watch.

Eagles pass rushers vs. Falcons OL

Cousins was getting rid of the ball extremely quickly in Week 1 with an average time to throw of 2.51 seconds, according to ProFootballFocus. That was the fifth-fastest time to throw in the NFL last week. So it might not be easy to get to Cousins in this game but that’s where Vic Fangio’s disguises on the back end might matter. If Fangio can confuse Cousins enough to make him hold the ball a tick longer, it could really matter.

The Eagles had 2 sacks in the opener and both came from off-ball linebacker Zack Baun. That’s not ideal. Of course, the field conditions at Corinthians Arena in São Paulo were not ideal and that led to some slipping for the pass rushers. There were still some good individual plays from Josh Sweat and Jalen Carter but the Eagles need a better group rush starting with Week 2. 

Even though Cousins was getting rid of the ball quickly in Week 1, he was still sacked a couple of times and the Falcons surrendered 12 total pressures in this game. The Steelers were all over them. Here’s where those pressures came from, according to PFF:

C Drew Dalman: 3
LG Matthew Bergeron: 3
RG Chris Lindstrom: 3
RT Kaleb McGary: 2
LT Jake Matthews: 1

The Falcons were considered to have a very good offensive line. PFF ranked the Falcons as the No. 6 OL in the NFL entering 2024.

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