After narrowly winning in Week 1, the defending NFC champion Philadelphia Eagles will host the Minnesota Vikings on a short week Thursday night.
Philadelphia jumped out to a 16-0 lead over the New England Patriots in the opener, only to win by the score of 25-20. Its pass defense struggled against Mac Jones and Co. That could come into play Thursday night with Pro Bowl cornerback James Bradberry (concussion protocol) out of action.
As for Minnesota, it laid an egg at home against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers — enabling Baker Mayfield to lead Tampa to two fourth-quarter scoring drives for the narrow win. The lack of a running game behind Kirk Cousins was an issue.
Below, we look at everything you need to know about this primetime Thursday Night Football matchup. That includes key players to watch, top storylines and a final prediction.
Minnesota Vikings at Philadelphia Eagles: Kickoff time, TV information and odds
- Date: Thursday, September 14, 2023
- Time: 8:15 PM ET
- Television: Streaming on Amazon Prime
- Point spread: Eagles (-6.5)
Related: NFL Week 2 power rankings
Top Minnesota Vikings players to watch
Here, we look at two Vikings players to watch as the team looks to rebound from its season-opening loss.
Alexander Mattison, running back
The Vikings are not expecting Mattison to duplicate the success Dalvin Cook had for the team over the previous half-decade. Rather, the veteran backup needs to simply provide balance for Kirk Cousins in his new role as RB1.
That did not happen in last week’s loss to the Buccaneers. Mattison gained a mere 34 yards on 11 attempts. Only one of those 11 rushes went for a first down. He also only averaged 1.9 yards after contact. This forced Cousins to put the ball in the air 44 times against Tampa Bay. Even with James Bradberry out for Philadelphia, that’s not a recipe for success. Unfortunately, Patriots running backs tallied only 61 yards on 20 attempts against the Eagles last week.
Ivan Pace, linebacker
An undrafted free agent out of Cincinnati, Pace played a huge role for Minnesota last week. He recorded eight tackles and a quarterback hit while yielding just one reception in coverage. According to Pro Football Focus, Pace also recorded a 40% pass-rush win rate against the Buccaneers.
With free-agent signing Marcus Davenport once again sidelined for Thursday night’s game, the Vikings need to generate a pass rush against Jalen Hurts. Pace could also be used to mirror him as a way to avoid the dual-threat signal caller breaking free on the ground.
Related: Ranking the Phildelphia Eagles among NFL defenses
Top Philadelphia Eagles players to watch
Here, we look at two Eagles to watch as the defending NFC champs attempt to move to 2-0 on the campaign.
D’Andre Swift, running back
With Kenneth Gainwell out of action in this one due to a rib injury, the onus will likely fall on D’Andre Swift to do a bulk of the damage on the ground. Acquired from the Detrit Lions in a draft day trade, Swift only attempted one run and got on the field for 19 snaps on offense. The expectation is that this will change come Thursday night.
“We don’t ever want to come out with him only having those many touches. That’s just kind of how the flow went in the game. We had things called for him, but sometimes the ball doesn’t go for him in a certain way,” Philadelphia Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni on D’Andre Swift’s Week 1 role.
Buccaneers running backs tallied 62 yards on 24 rush attempts against Minnesota in Week 1. It might be a tough go for Swift on Thursday. But the Eagles need to find somewhere near the same balance they had last season when free-agent departure Miles Sanders was doing his thing on the ground in Philly.
Darius Slay, cornerback
Without Bradberry in the mix Thursday, the onus is going to be on Slay to go up against all-everything receiver Justin Jefferson. The record-breaking youngster hauled in 9-of-12 targets for 150 yards from Kirk Cousins last week. He also averaged a resounding 7.4 yards after the catch.
“It’s always going to be next man up and everybody in this locker room has to be ready when his number is called,” Slay said about Bradberry’s likely absence. “That’s the nature of the NFL.”
A five-time Pro Bowler in his own right, Slay picked off a Mac Jones pass and returned it 70 yards for a house call last week. He also yielded a mere 33 passing yards on eight targets despite the Eagles’ pass defense giving up 316 yards to Jones. How Slay performs in this one could tip the scales.
Related: Find out where Kirk Cousins ranks among the 32 NFL starting QBs
Top Minnesota Vikings storyline
The story is by now well known. When playing primetime midweek games, Cousins has posted a 6-15 record with 34 touchdowns and 23 interceptions in his career. He’s 13 games over .500 when playing on Sundays. Cousins also finds himself 10 games under .500 on the road compared to 17 games above that mark at home.
We’re not going to call a Week 2 game a must win. But after dropping the opener at home to an inferior team, this might very well be the definition of that. After all, Minnesota must compete with the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers over the next month. Getting even against Philadelphia before Week 3 would be a big deal. Unfortunately, history is not pointing in that direction for Cousins and Co.
Top Philadelphia Eagles storyline
We don’t want to beat a dead horse (why is that even a saying?) But Philadelphia has to find a way to contain Justin Jefferson in this one. It has to do so without the team’s best cover guy in James Bradberry in the mix. The likes of youngsters Josh Jobe, Kelee Ringo and Eli Ricks will all likely get an opportunity. The three have exactly zero NFL starts to their name.
While Slay will be contesting with Jefferson a majority of the time, impressive rookie Jordan Addison will be left in single coverage on the other side. The fact that safety Reed Blankenship is also unlikely to go in this one hurts Philadelphia big time. Justin Evans, Terrell Edmunds and/or Sydney Brown will be tasked with providing coverage over the top against Jefferson. Evans has played five games since the end of the 2018 season while Edmunds yielded a 116.2 QB rating when targeted as a member of the Pittsburgh Steelers last season. Ouch!
Prediction: Philadelphia Eagles 27, Minnesota Vikings 23