The Los Angeles Rams are set to play their biggest game of the season on Sunday, taking on the Philadelphia Eagles in round two of the playoffs as they prepare for a potential Super Bowl run.
The Rams are a different team since their Week 12 lost the Eagles. The young defense has matured and young pieces all over the unit are playing at a high level. The offense also showed in the Wild Card game what they are capable of when they have it rolling, dominating a top-ranked defense in the Minnesota Vikings. The team comes into the match-up against the Eagles as the hottest team in the National Football League.
One key for the Rams on Sunday is going to be wide receiver Puka Nacua. Nacua has been quarterback Matthew Stafford’s favorite target this season for great reason. Nacua has established himself as one of the best receivers in the NFL.
The Rams do a good job in getting Nacua the ball and that is caused by the pre-snap motions that head coach Sean McVay likes to do to get the defense off balance and guessing.
It can give the Eagles trouble more the second time around.
“I am going to go with Puka Nacua. I think Matthew Stafford only has eyes for him right now, with all due respect to Cooper Kupp,” said ESPN Analyst Ella Duncan on First Take. “Mostly because as you know, like pre-snap motion is something that they like to do, the Rams. He heard Vic Fangio [Eagles defensive coordinator talk about how confusing that can be, it puts your defense on its heels. That is part of the reason they had so much success against them earlier in the year.”
“But I also think, and we talked about this a little bit, what is the Eagles plan to replace Nakobe Dean, how can [Tyler] Higbee play into that? I think that is going to be very interesting as well.”
Nacua and Higbee are huge factors for the Rams offense. Last week Higbee started the game off strong before getting injured. Higbee is expected to play on Sunday and his connection with Stafford has been proven to make the offense even more dangerous.