Eagles-Steelers player matchup to watch in Week 15

The Eagles (11-2) are hosting the Pittsburgh Steelers (10-3) at the Linc on Sunday afternoon.

Here are some key matchups to watch:

Jalen Hurts vs. top takeaway defense in NFL

While Jalen Hurts isn’t coming off his best game on Sunday against the Panthers, he has been extremely clean with the football since the bye week. Now, there’s a theory floating that his hyper fixation on not turning the ball over has led to him being a little gun shy — there’s obviously a balance to strike there. But it is undoubtedly a good thing that he’s not turning the ball over. In the first four games of the season, Hurts had seven turnovers. During this nine-game winning streak, he has just two.

But this Steelers’ defense has been extremely opportunistic and leads the NFL in takeaways with 28. That’s the most takeaways for a team through 13 games since the Colts in 2021. The Steelers have three takeaways in each of their last four games. They have more takeaways in their last four games than 10 teams have all season. Donte Jackson leads the team with five interceptions, while T.J. Watt leads the team with five forced fumbles.

Lane Johnson vs. T.J. Watt

The Steelers have a good defensive line with Watt, Alex Highsmith and Nick Herbig on the edge and Cameron Heyward inside. Those four players have 26 of the Steelers’ 32 sacks this season. 

All of them are good players but Watt is a four-time All-Pro and former Defensive Player of the Year and leads the team with 9 1/2 sacks and 5 forced fumbles this year. He lines up almost exclusively on the left side of the defensive line, which sets up a matchup vs. Lane Johnson, who remains one of the best right tackles in the NFL.

Saquon Barkley vs. tough run defense

The Eagles have obviously had a heavy running attack in their nine-game winning streak since the bye week and Saquon Barkley is on pace to break the NFL’s all-time single-season rushing record. The Steelers have the No. 4 rushing defense in the NFL, giving up just 91.5 yards on the ground per game and just 4.1 yards per attempt.

But the No. 1 run defense in the NFL is still the Ravens and the Eagles were still able to pick up 140 rushing yards against them a couple weeks ago. In their nine games since the bye, the Eagles have gone over 200 rushing yards five times. Barkley continues to lead the NFL with 480 rushing yards over expected this season. (Derrick Henry has 420 and then there’s a giant gap before Chuba Hubbard at 222.)

It’s also worth noting that there’s some rain possible in this game on Sunday.

A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith vs. Steelers corners

While the Steelers have the No. 4 run defense in the NFL, their passing defense ranks 17th in the NFL. The Steelers’ outside corners are Donte Jackson and Joey Porter Jr. and their nickel is Beanie Bishop Jr. Here’s where those three rank on PFF’s list of 118 eligible corners in 2024:

86. Beanie Bishop Jr.

95. Donte Jackson

105. Joey Porter Jr.

The last time Brown played the Steelers he had a memorable game in 2022 with 6 catches for 156 yards and 3 touchdowns. While there has been so much talk about potential drama this week, the significant thing Kellen Moore said this week was about getting Brown more targets:

“I’m going to focus more on trying to find different ways of increasing the likelihood of the ball going to him,” Moore said. “Ultimately the quarterback has to play based on the reaction of the defense and trust that there's progressions within a play. For us we're always going to evaluate how we can get it to him sooner and create those opportunities. It's really about probability. Not every play is going to be able to say 100 percent of the time it's going to one player in particular, but how can we improve our opportunities there?”

Brown had 10 targets in the first week of the season but hasn’t hit double digits since. Since his return from a hamstring injury in Week 6, Brown has averaged just 6.2 targets per game. Never a bad idea to get the ball to one of the best receivers in the NFL.

Eagles DL vs. Steelers OL

The Steelers used the 2024 draft to solidify their offensive line. They used three of their seven draft picks on offensive linemen. While first-round pick Troy Fautanu started just one game at right tackle before a season-ending knee injury, the Steelers still have two rookies starting: C Zach Frazier was was a second-round pick and RG Mason McCormick was a fourth-rounder.

Jalen Carter has been great this season and should garner serious All-Pro consideration. He and Milton Williams have generated a ton of pressure this season. Carter is tied for fourth in the league with 28, while Williams is sixth with 27, per NextGen Stats, since the bye week. So there’s a good chance Carter will get doubled by two rookies and Williams will get 1-on-1s against our old friend Isaac Seumalo, who is the Steelers’ starter at left guard.

On the edges, the Steelers start Dan Moore Jr. at left tackle and Broderick Jones at right tackle. They are 1-2 on the Steelers in pressures allowed this season. Jones has given up 33 and Moore has given up 27, per PFF. League-wide, Jones has given up the 8th-most pressures and Moore has given up the 21st-most. Just two tackles in the NFL have given up more sacks than Jones (8). Look to see Josh Sweat against Moore and Nolan Smith against Jones.

Eagles run defense vs. Najee Harris, Jaylen Warren

The Eagles got a tad leaky against the Panthers’ Chuba Hubbard last week but Hubbard still managed just 92 yards and a 3.5 average. The Steelers’ rushing attack features both Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren:

Najee Harris: 13 games, 223 attempts, 877 yards (3.9), 5 TDs

Jaylen Warren: 11 games, 87 attempts, 359 yards (4.1), 1 TD

For a 242-pound running back, Harris’s numbers after contact aren’t that impressive. He is averaging 3.1 yards after contact per attempt, which ranks 29th in the NFL among qualified backs, per NextGen Stats. And his average of 0.10 yards over expected per attempt ranks 28th. For reference, Barkley is averaging 3.6 and 1.8 in those two categories.

Another interesting wrinkle to the Steelers’ offense is they use 13 personnel on a league-high 17% of their snaps this season and multiple tight ends on 48% of their snaps, which ranks third, per NextGen Stats. The Eagles, meanwhile, have used their nickel package on 81.2% of their snaps, which is the third-highest rate of the season. It’ll be interesting to see how the Eagles match those bigger personnel packages.

Eagles secondary vs. Russell Wilson

The Eagles have never beaten Russell Wilson. The longtime NFL quarterback is 6-0 against the Eagles, including one playoff game, with 9 touchdowns and 1 interception. But all six of those games came when Wilson was with the Seahawks and the last of those games came in 2020.

So a lot has changed since then with Wilson and with the Eagles.

While Wilson definitely had some lows in Denver, he has played well in his seven starts this season after taking over for Justin Fields. Wilson this season has completed 64.8% of his passes for 12 touchdowns and 3 interceptions and has a 6-1 record as a starter. It sounds like the Steelers won’t have WR George Pickens in this game, which is a big deal. Pickens is clearly their top weapon. Their second-leading target is tight end Pat Freiermuth.

The Eagles’ meanwhile have the No. 1 defense in the NFL in terms of yards and are second in passing defense. They should also get Reed Blankenship back from a concussion in this game so they will be at full strength.

Eagles special teams vs. Steelers special teams

This is a bit of a bonus matchup because the Steelers have made some big special teams plays this season under longtime coordinator Danny Smith, who was with the Eagles from 1995-98.

“You see they play hard for him,” Eagles special teams coordinator Michael Clay said. “They rush extremely hard. You've got [Miles] Killebrew, who's been doing it for a long time, [Nick] Herbig. They rush really hard and they play hard for Danny. They do a great job in terms of their scheme and their rushing, and believing they can change the course of a game. This is going to be a very, very good test for us going forward. I always respected Danny.”

Some notes on the Steelers’ special teams:

• Kicker Chris Boswell is an absolute weapon. He has made 36 of 39 field goals this year and is 11 of 13 from 50+. Only Houston’s Ka’imi Fairbairn (13) has made more FGs from 50+ this season.

• Receiver Calvin Austin III is a good punt returner. He has 23 returns for 259 yards (11.3) and returned one 73 yards for a touchdown in Week 8 against the Giants.

• Cordarrelle Patterson is 33 now but is still returning kicks and even though he hasn’t taken one to the house since 2022, his nine career kick return touchdowns is an NFL record.

• The Steelers have blocked two field goals and a blocked punt this season. They had three consecutive games with a blocked field goal or punt in October and they have 11 blocked kicks since the start of the 2021 season. The Eagles had a FG blocked by Myles Garrett and returned for a touchdown against the Browns in Week 6.

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