The high-flying Miami Dolphins are set to visit the defending NFC Champion Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday Night Football this week.
It’s one of the best games thus far on the NFL slate with November quickly approaching. Led by the big three of Tua Tagovailoa, Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle, Miami is on pace to put up record numbers on offense.
Philadelphia found itself at 5-0 on the season heading into last week’s road date with the New York Jets. In stunning fashion, they lost with Jalen Hurts throwing three interceptions in the worst performance of the quarterback’s young career.
Below, we provide four bold predictions for what should be an even and high-scoring affair between these two NFL titans.
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Philadelphia Eagles’ Jalen Hurts responds with 300-yard passing day
After signing a lucrative five-year, $255 million contract extension during the offseason, Hurts has actually struggled through the first six games of the 2023 campaign. He’s thrown two touchdowns with four interceptions over the past two outings. Overall, it has not been great.
- Jalen Hurts stats (2023): 66% completion, 1,542 passing yards, 12 total TD, 8 giveaways
DeVonta Smith is questionable with a hamstring injury. But the star receivers says he’ll be ready to go. With A.J. Brown doing his thing on the other side, Hurts is not lacking for weapons. He’s also taking on a Dolphins defense that has yielded an average of 253 passing yards and a 98.9 QB rating to opposing signal callers on the season. Hurts will top the 300-yard passing plateau for the third time in seven games come Sunday night.
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Jaylen Waddle has breakout game for the Miami Dolphins
For as dominant as Waddle was last season (75 receptions, 1,356 yards), he’s been equally pedestrian from a statistical standpoint in 2023. The former Alabama standout has tallied just 24 receptions for less than 300 yards in five games. He’s yet to put up as much as 90 yards in any game, either.
Look for that to change on Sunday night. First off, Philadelphia’s secondary is ravaged by injuries and has been all season. Cornerbacks Darius Slay, Elic Ricks and Bradley Roby join safeties Reed Blankenship and Sydney Brown on the injury report leading up to Week 7. Secondly, Philadelphia has surprisingly yielded 1,043 yards and eight touchdowns to receivers through six games.
It’s fully expected that Tyreek Hill will receive a ton of attention from Philadelphia’s defense with over-the-top help. After all, he’s on pace to shatter the single-season NFL record for receiving yards. This should leave Waddle in single coverage. It’s our bold prediction that this will equate to 150-plus yards and two scores from the speedster.
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Bradley Chubb surprises with three sacks of Jalen Hurts
A two-time Pro Bowl performer, during his time with the Denver Broncos, Chubb has not necessarily lived up to expectations in his first full season with Miami (six QB hits, two sacks). If the Fins want to become a more well-rounded team and see their defense step up, the onus is going to be on Chubb to do his thing.
We’re boldly predicting that this will happen Sunday night in Philadelphia. Star Eagles right tackle Lane Johnson is dealing with an ankle injury. Even if he’s able to suit up, the All-Pro performer will not be anywhere near 100%. Hurts has also been under more pressure this season than in the past. The expectation is that Chubb will step up and put pressure on the struggling signal caller. Just enough pressure to throw the Eagles out of their rhythm at times.
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Miami Dolphins hand Philadelphia Eagles another loss
As you can imagine, Miami heads into this one as narrow underdogs. Vegas is not expecting a blowout in either direction. In reality, the Eagles are favored by 2.5 points simply because they are playing at hime.
But given what we saw from Philadelphia’s offense in last week’s loss to the Jets and the Dolphins’ dominant performance on that side of the ball, we’re going to predict a more lopsided affair in this one.
The Dolphins are averaging a whopping 37.2 points per game. Even if we were to take out that 70-point demolition of the Denver Broncos back in Week 3, they would still be averaging 30.6 points. Let that sink in for a second.
As of right now, Tua Tagovailoa (14 TD, 5 INT) is playing better football than Hurts. He’s been sacked just six times in as many games. Raheem Mostert is dominating on the ground for Miami (574 yards, 11 TD). Simply put, the Dolphins’ offense is more high powered than Philadelphia’s and will show it when all is said and done Sunday night.
- Prediction: Miami Dolphins 37, Philadelphia Eagles 24