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NFL Playoffs 2018: Ronald Darby vs. Mohamed Sanu among Eagles vs. Falcons key matchups
PHILADELPHIA -- Perhaps no two elements of Saturday's NFC Divisional Playoff Game between the Eagles and Atlanta Falcons will be more pivotal than Nick Foles' and the offense's ability to succeed on third down, and the defense's ability to contain All-Pro wide receiver Julio Jones.
"If Julio Jones has 350 yards receiving and we win the game, that's what it took to win the game," Eagles defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz said Monday. "If he has 10 yards receiving for the game-winning touchdown, then that wasn't enough. So I think you have to look at it that way and say, how do you stop their offense, how do you minimize their scoring, and not just concentrate on one player, because like I said before, they do have other players that are threats. [Falcons WR Mohamed] Sanu has been a consistently good player for a long period of time. Their tight ends really developed. Both backs can catch the ball out of the backfield. Pro Bowl quarterback. It’s not just a one-man team."
If the Eagles going to beat the Falcons, it will be incumbent on cornerback Jalen Mills to keep Jones in check, and Foles along with running back Jay Ajayi to play ball-control to keep Ryan and Atlanta's high-powered offense off the field.
Here's a look at seven key matchups that the Eagles must win to advance to the NFC Championship with a victory over the Falcons:
Julio Jones only caught three touchdown passes this season, but that doesn't mean that he didn't have an absolutely dominant 2017 season.
Only Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown finished with more receiving yards than Jones' 1,444.
Last season against the Eagles, and cornerback Jalen Mills, Jones caught 10 passes for 135 yards. While Mills did a nice job in the second half against Jones in last season's meeting, the 6-foot-3, athletic wide receiver remains the focal point of the Falcons' offense and Mills holding him in check could be paramount to the Eagles' chances of winning on Saturday night.
The Eagles finished the regular season with the NFL's top-ranked rushing defense, allowing only 79.2 yards per game, and they will be tested by the Falcons' duo of Devonta freeman and Tevin Coleman.
Coleman Freeman leads the Falcons with 865 yards and seven touchdowns, while Coleman adds 628 yards and five more scores. Last Saturday in the Wild Card Playoffs against the Rams, Atlanta's backs rushed for 106 yards and one touchdown.
Making the Falcons a one-dimensional offense could be a risky proposition with the duo of Ryan and Jones among the premier quarterback-receiver tandems in the league, but if defensive tackles Fletcher Cox, Tim Jernigan, and the rest of the Eagles' rushing defense holds serve, it could significantly tilt the game in the Eagles' favor.
One of the key elements that has made the Falcons' passing attack so explosive over the last two seasons is the addition of speedy Rutgers product Mohamed Sanu, opposite Jones.
Sanu caught a career-high 67 passes in 2017 for 703 yards and five touchdowns while averaging 10.5 yards per reception.
What makes Sanu such a dangerous matchup is his game-breaking speed and ability to blow the cover off an opposing defense.
Last season against the Eagles, Sanu was held to just two catches for 14 yards, and that was before the addition of Ronald Darby.
Saturday's game will pit Sanu's speed against Darby's, and could be one of the more intriguing matchups to watch.
The Eagles defense finished the season with 38.0 sacks, which is only five more than the team's total in 2016, but down the stretch, teams and quarterbacks have neutralized the Eagles' pass rush by getting rid of the football quickly, which is exactly what Ryan excels at.
In two games against quick-release quarterbacks Eli Manning and Derek Carr, the Eagles defense allowed 574 yards and four touchdowns with two interceptions and two sacks against the Giants and Raiders.
Ryan is coming off leading a fourth-quarter drive against the Rams last week that put the game on ice with a touchdown pass to Julio Jones, capping a 218 passing yard performance en-route to a passer rating of 101.8.
However, Ryan has had a mediocre career against the Eagles, with a 1-3 record in games played at Lincoln Financial Field in which he's passed for 1,056 yards while completing just 58 percent of his passes with 8 touchdowns and 7 interceptions.
Even if the Eagles' pass-rush doesn't post multiple sacks against Ryan, simply disrupting him and moving him off his spots in the pocket would go a long way towards neutralizing the Falcons' passing game and preventing their big-play potential downfield.