Rams vs. Eagles NFL Playoffs 2025 Divisional Round preview: Can LA contain Saquon Barkley?

The Los Angeles Rams will take on the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday in the NFC Divisional round of the playoffs. This is another re-match for the Rams in the postseason as they lost to the Eagles 37-20 back in Week 12. The Rams have lost just one game since then which was their Week 18 loss to the Seattle Seahawks. Heading into this game, the Eagles might be the most complete team in the NFC. However, on any given Sunday, anything can happen. In that first game, likely Offensive Player of the Year Saquon Barkley rushed for 255 yards. To have a chance, the Rams will need to contain him. Here are this week’s five keys to victory.

1. Get to Jalen Hurts with Four for Force Limitations

Rams defensive coordinator Chris Shula is going to have to pick his poison in this game against the Eagles. Does he load the box with eight and try to limit Saquon Barkley or play with seven in the box and force Jalen Hurts to win the game in the elements? It’s about finding a balance between playing single high and two-high safety coverages.

If the Rams play single high, it leaves them more susceptible to long runs if the first two levels get beat. It also forces Jalen Hurts to attack the boundary which is where he’s good targeting AJ Brown. Contrarily, playing two-high leaves a lighter box. While Barkley may pick up five or six yards per carry, it also muddies the picture for Hurts and forces him to attack the middle of the field. Against two-high safety coverages, Hurts is 15th in EPA and his 92.9 passer rating ranks 22nd. Three of his five interceptions this season have come against two-high shells.

Against two-high shells, Hurts has a tendency to hold the ball. His 3.06 seconds average time to throw against two-high shells is the longest in the league. That leaves Hurts to either scramble or take a sack. The Eagles quarterback has lost 22 EPA on sacks against two-high shells in 2024.

For the Rams to do any of this, they need to be able to rush and win with four. Hurts is the best quarterback against the blitz this season. In the first meeting, Jared Verse had just one pressure on 19 pass rush snaps. Jordan Mailata and Lane Johnson are two of the better tackles in the NFL, especially against the bull rush which is Verse’s specialty. Shula needs to be creative with his pass rush plans and both Kobie Turner and Braden Fiske need to win inside. It’s critical that the Rams win with four to avoid blitzing Hurts. If the Rams can sit in two-high with seven defensive backs, it’s going to force Hurts’ and the Eagles’ limitation in the passing game.

2. Attack Eagles Linebackers and Mix it Up in Run Game

A big development in this game is that the Eagles will be without linebacker Nakobe Dean. Zack Baun paired with Dean have been one of the better linebacker duos in the NFL this season. Replacing Dean with a player like Oren Burks or even Jeremiah Trotter Jr. is a favorable advantage for the Rams and the Sean McVay offense.

McVay will need to find ways to keep the Eagles in their base defense. The obvious way to do this is in heavier offensive packages such as 12 personnel. However, because of how good the Eagles defensive front is, Vic Fangio is able to match base with nickel. Still, if the Rams can get Fangio into his base defense, they may have an advantage.

The Fangio defense does a good job of hiding linebackers. Still, the Rams can try to put someone like Burks under a microscope. Since tight end Tyler Higbee returned, he’s had five receptions in back-to-back games and been a big part of the passing game. In last year’s Super Bowl, the San Francisco 49ers replaced an injured Dre Geenlaw with Burks during the game. Burks gave up nine receptions on nine targets. That included three receptions to Travis Kelce and three more to Isiah Pacheco.

Whether it’s attacking Burks or Trotter in the passing game in play action and on bootlegs, running at them, or leveraging them with motion, the Rams need to find ways to isolate the linebacker depth. A key part of this is to mix it up in the run game. While the Rams have become a more gap-based running team, they do run a lot of zone. Early in the season, the Rams ran gap on 66 percent of their runs. That’s been closer to 50 percent since the bye. Since Week 13, it’s been a 52-48 split in favor of gap-based runs.

That’s important for the Rams because since Week 13, Kyren Williams has a 50 percent success rate on zone runs which ranks 10th in the NFL. Meanwhile, the Eagles have allowed a 55.3 percent success rate on zone runs this season which ranks 30th. To add to that, they’ve allowed a 60 percent success rate on zone runs since Week 13. Fangio isn’t afraid to mix it up on defense and bring back the 6-1 front that he had success with in 2018. The Eagles did a lot of that against the Saints. However, if the Rams can run both gap and zone, they may be able to create some mismatches off of that.

3. Be ok Winning Ugly and Grinding Out Long Drives

The Rams have shown the ability to win ugly this season. In fact, outside of the win against the Vikings last week, it’s primarily how the Rams have won games in 2024. Three of their last four wins have come with the offense scoring less than 20 points while they’ve also grinded out wins against the Las Vegas Raiders and New Orleans Saints.

One of the main ideas of the Fangio defense is to limit explosive plays. However, that doesn’t really affect the Rams. This is an offense that hasn’t been explosive this season. They’ve grown used to having to work their way down the field. The Rams rank fifth in plays per drive at 6.52.

Last week, the Green Bay Packers had scoring drives of 12 and nine plays. They also had a missed field goal following a 13 play drive. The Fangio defense makes teams work for points, getting down the field five and six yards at a time. That puts a lot of stress on offenses as the game progresses. The Rams need to be ok grinding out long drives and not get impatient.

4. Play Disciplined Against Saquon Barkley

If the Rams beat the Eagles, it will be because they limited Barkley. That doesn’t necessarily mean limiting him to a certain number of carries or under a certain amount of yards. It’s more about limiting the explosives and not giving up the back-breaking plays. Part of the reason why the Rams struggled against Barkley in the first meeting was because of the over pursuit on the edges, specifically by Verse.

Verse has had bad games and learned from them. The Rams rookie edge rusher missed eight tackles combined against the Cardinals and 49ers in Weeks 2-3. When the Rams played them again, Verse missed only one tackle. Since Week 12, Verse leads edge rushers in run stops and is third in run stop percentage.

Aside from Verse, defenders at the second level and in the secondary will need to fill their gaps and take good angles. Barkley is likely going to find some level of success. However, the Rams need to focus on limiting the damage. If they can keep his longest run under 25 yards, they’ll be in a good spot from a run defense standpoint.

5. Protect Stafford and Win on Third Down

A big positive for the Rams in this game is that they will have Rob Havenstein at right tackle instead of Warren McClendon. McClendon allowed three of the Eagles’ 10 pressures back in Week 12. When Havenstein is on the field, the Rams are a much different team on the right side of the offensive line.

In that first meeting, the Eagles had a pressure rate of 28.6 percent despite blitzing at just a 16.7 percent rate. Two of the Eagles’ sacks came on third down where the Rams were 0-for-8. On a down-to-down basis, the Rams offense wasn’t far behind the Eagles in the first games. The Rams offense had a 47.5 percent success rate to the Eagles 48.5 percent.

However, going 0-for-8 on third down will make that look a lot worse than it was. The Rams offense simply needs to find more success on third down in this game. That means setting themselves up well on early downs and then protecting Stafford on third down.