2023 season is finally upon us

One of the best matchups of the Week 1 slate is the Philadelphia Eagles flying up to Foxborough and taking on the New England Patriots. The Eagles are coming off an LVII loss from the Kansas City Chiefs (38-35), and for Patriots another missed playoff appearance with an (8-9) record a season ago. Two different endings for both of these teams but look for this game to be competitive and close. Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni is heading into his third season as coach and he is looking to avenge his loss on the world’s biggest stage and take them back to the promised land. As for the Patriots head coach Bill Belichick is heading into his 23rd season as coach and he is looking to bring New England into playoff contention and lead them back to where they were during the Tom Brady Era.

Talking about the game between the Eagles and Patriots both teams have skilled offensive and defensive players on both sides of the ball. For New England, it will be hard to contain both of the star wideouts A.J. Brown and DeVonte Smith, especially with the Jack Jones hamstring injury that will sideline him for the first four games. Now Jonathan Jones and rookie 1st round pick Christian Gonzalez will have a busy day trying to keep the yards to a minimum on both receivers. For Mac Jones and Jalen Hurts this is the first matchup that they will face each other in the NFL. Both Jones and Hurts were college teammates with the Alabama Crimson Tide from 2017-2018 and now are battling for a win with their respective organizations. This has the option to be a high-scoring game between both sides and could be a shootout.

Can Patriots contain Jalen Hurts

It will be a tough matchup in containing Hurts with his dual-threat ability for the Patriots defense. Matthew Judon, Kyle Dugger, Christian Barmore, Adrian Phillips, Josh Uche, just naming a few guys that will have to pressure Hurts and keep an eye on if he will run or be thrown down the field. In years past New England seems to struggle with running quarterbacks like, Lamar Jackson, and Patrick Mahomes just to name a couple. Hurts definitely can expose your defense in the passing game and running game. He was the runner-up MVP to Mahomes last season and his 2022 campaign was impressive throwing for 3,701 yards, 22 TD-6 INT ratio rushing for 760 yards, and adding 13 rushing touchdowns. It is just going to be interesting what game plan the Patriots will approach the game on the defensive side of the ball in stopping Hurts.

Mac Jones and the Patriots offense

It will be nice to see Jones and offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien start the game off on the right page especially how much time they have spent together throughout the offseason, minicamp, training camp, and preseason. Some new faces that are in the wide receiver room in Juju Smith-Schuster, rookies Kayshon Boutte and Damario Douglas, Kendrick Bourne, and DeVante Parker but according to The Athletic’s Jeff Howe he will not be playing today. Running back Rhamondre Stevenson is questionable to play today due to a stomach bug but he is expected to play in the game. Another question has been is the offensive line and how healthy they will be heading into the game and the season. Tackles, Calvin Anderson, and Trent Brown and guards, Cole Strange and Mike Onwenu are all question marks on the health front and the line needs to be healthy to protect Jones.

Look for Mac and the offense to have a better 2023 season than the 2022 season because he has a coordinator who knows the system and has been in New England before. Last year you had Joe Judge and former defensive coordinator/ special assistant Matt Patricia (who is with the Eagles this season) running the offense and that was a big disaster. I am not saying they will be the top offensive in football but I would expect a top 10-15 in the league as far as that goes.

Game Predictions

The game will be close and full of offense and defense-making plays. Weather will be a factor with heavy and scattered thunderstorms expected during the game. Ball protection will be key in those wet and slippery conditions. I will say as far as the score goes I am going with the Patriots winning 34-27 against the Eagles. Jones will throw about 250-275 yards throwing 3 touchdowns, and Hurts will go for 280 throwing 2 touchdowns and rushing for 1. Stevenson will have about 95 yards rushing with 2 touchdowns on the ground. For D’Andre Swift the Eagles running back he will rush for 80 yards and 2 touchdowns. Look for Brown and Smith to have 90 yards and a couple of touchdowns.