Eagles hope to capitalize on home-field advantage
The Philadelphia Eagles have been tough to beat at home since Doug Pederson became the head coach in 2016.
In 20 games at Lincoln Financial Field, counting playoffs, the team is 17-3, and one of those losses came in last year’s meaningless regular-season finale against the Dallas Cowboys. So that is a big trend for the Eagles as they host the Minnesota Vikings in an important conference game Sunday at 4:25 p.m.
It is important because each of these teams desperately need a victory. Even though the calendar just turned to October, one of these teams will be sitting in a rather deep hole with a loss, rather shocking considering these two teams met in Philadelphia last January in the NFC Championship Game.
Already 1-2-1, the Vikings have lost two in a row. The Eagles are 2-2 and would not like to be sitting at 2-3 when they play their first NFC East game of the season four days later when they head to North Jersey to meet the New York Giants on Thursday night.
There has been a lot of pessimism from fans surrounding the team this week after the Eagles coughed up a 14-point, second-half lead in a 26-23 overtime loss to the Tennessee Titans last Sunday. Nevertheless, Pederson has preached optimism this week.
“The sky is not falling,” said the coach. “The sun came up (Wednesday). We’re 2-2. We’re still in good position, control our own destiny. A lot of football ahead of us and there is no panic. As coaches we prepare our players and we prepare them extremely well. We have confidence in all our guys moving forward, and so with that, we just continue to coach and get our guys ready for Sunday.”
The home-field advantage that helped the Eagles steamroll the Vikings, 38-7, in last year’s NFC title game might not be a pronounced this time.
First, the Vikings should be more familiar with the hostile environment they are walking into.
“Obviously they’re going to be hungry coming in from previous experiences with us,” said right tackle Lane Johnson. “But with our backs up against the wall we’ll be hungry, too.”
Second, quarterback Kirk Cousins played at the Linc every year since 2014 as a member of the Washington Redskins, going 2-2 against the Eagles in their backyard.
“A lot of respect for Kirk for what he’s done,” said Pederson. “He’s played well against us in the past. He’s made some really good plays, some good throws against our defense when he was in Washington. He’s still doing that, and he’s got some explosive weapons to go to on offense.
“Defensively, work is cut out for us. We got to generate some pass rush obviously and try to keep him in the pocket. He’s a better scrambler than people think using his legs and extending plays. I got a lot of respect for him and his game. He’s a tough quarterback and he’s smart. He gets them in and out of trouble, in and out of plays, and that’s what you got to have.”
SERIES HISTORY: 24th regular-season meeting. Vikings lead series, 13-10. Minnesota may have an edge in the regular-season meetings, but the Vikings are 0-4 against the Eagles in the postseason, dating back to their first playoff game in 1980 when the Eagles, quarterbacked by Ron Jaworski, beat Minnesota and its quarterback, Tommy Kramer, 31-16, in the divisional round.
