The five most important numbers as the Broncos take on the Eagles

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — The Denver Broncos’ next opponent is, for right now anyway, the best team in the NFL.

At 7-1, the Philadelphia Eagles sit atop the NFL. However, Philadelphia is beatable. It’ll just be a very tall task.

If the 3-4 Broncos want to escape the City of Brotherly Love with a “W,” these five numbers will be key in the morning matchup against the No. 1 team in the land.

95

Denver’s last opponent, Kansas City, handed the Eagles their lone loss and wrote the book on how to beat them. In that game on September 17, the Chiefs did something to the Eagles that no other team has been able to do: run the ball.

Through the first half of the season, Philadelphia’s defense is the best in the league against the run, giving up an average of 70.4 yards per game. In their seven wins, they’ve only given up an average of 64 rushing yards, with the most in that stretch being 94 to the San Francisco 49ers.

Kansas City, on the other hand, was the only team to rush for triple digits on the Eagles, putting up 112 yards on them.

The Broncos have five games in which they’ve eclipsed 94 rushing yards, and they’ll need to at least have that many to give themselves a shot on Sunday.

25

When it comes to what matters the most, points, the Eagles are consistent—on both sides of the ball. Philadelphia’s defense has allowed more than 24 points in a game once—in their only loss of the season to the Chiefs in which they have up 27 points.

In all their other games, they’ve held opponents to 24 points and under. While their defense is solid, only giving up an average of 19.5 points per game—ranking in the top-third of the league—it’s not as difficult of a task to put up points on them as these stats would indicate.

In their seven wins, they’ve given up exactly 24 points three times and 23 points once. With Denver’s formidable defense on the other side, if the Broncos’ offense can muster up somewhere around the area of 23 points, they’ll stay in the game.

21

On the other side of the ball, the Eagles have been incredibly consistent. In their loss to the Chiefs, they only scored 20 points. However, in every other game, they’ve scored at least 26 points and have averaged just over 30 points in their victories, including four performances in which they scored 33 or more.

Denver’s defense will be tasked with a mighty difficult job: holding the Eagles’ offensive output in the lower 20s. Fortunately for the Broncos, they’ve done this in every game but two.

3.5

Eagles’ quarterback Carson Wentz hasn’t been immune to getting sacked—having been taken down at least once in every single game.

However, in the Eagles’ sole loss, Wentz was taken down six times at the hands of the Chiefs. Outside of that game, the most Wentz was taken down was three times, which has happened in four games.

With Von Miller, Shane Ray and Shaq Barrett eyeing Wentz for the Broncos, they’ll have a shot at getting to him more than three times—which will be key for Denver to pull the upset.

.5

Philadelphia’s defense knows how to turn the ball over. In their seven wins, they have 14 takeaways and at least one in every single game.

In their lone loss, however, they failed to force a turnover. If Denver wants a shot at beating the Eagles in Philly, they’ll have to do what they’ve done only once this season: not turn the ball over.