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The Detroit Lions have their first winning streak of the year, and will be looking to add to it Thanksgiving Day. In their way stands an Philadelphia Eagles team in disarray. Two weeks ago, the Eagles stood at 4-4, just a half game behind the 5-4 New York Giants. Since then, Philadelphia blew a 13-point lead against the Dolphins and got plastered by the Bucs at home. Here's a closer look at this Eagles team.
Philadelphia Eagles (4-6)
Schedule so far:
Week 1 - at Falcons - lost, 24-26
Week 2 - vs. Cowboys - lost, 10-20
Week 3 - at Jets - won, 24-17
Week 4 - at Redskins - lost, 20-23
Week 5 - vs. Saints - won, 39-17
Week 6 - vs. Giants - won, 27-7
Week 7 - at Panthers - lost, 16-27
Week 9 - at Cowboys - won, 33-27 (OT)
Week 10 - vs. Dolphins - lost, 19-20
Week 11 - vs. Buccaneers - lost, 17-45
Reasons for optimism:
The Eagles are an extremely inconsistent, unpredictable team. The Chip Kelly era has yet to pay dividends, as the Philly offense remains underwhelming. Although he returned to practice in a limited capacity on Monday, Sam Bradford is unlikely to play this week, and the Eagles will probably start Mark Sanchez for the second straight week. Sanchez finished last game with three interceptions and a 67.2 passer rating.
As the Eagles offense continues to struggle, the Lions defense has finally turned it around. The Lions faced the No. 5 and No. 6 ranked offense (by DVOA, as of Week 10) in the past two weeks and held them to 16 and 13 points respectively. The timing of this matchup could not be more perfect for the Lions.
Reasons for pessimism:
Despite all of the optimism from the Lions defense in the past two weeks, the offense has remained stuck in neutral. Detroit has only scored 18 points each of the past two games, and against the Packers, one of the Lions' touchdown drives started at Green Bay's one yard line.
The Eagles' sport a pretty talented defense led by defensive end Fletcher Cox, who leads the team with 5.5 sacks on the year. According to Football Outsiders, the Eagles had the second-best defense in the league through 10 weeks. The Lions could be in for another defensive battle on Turkey Day.