2018 NFL Power Rankings: Divisional Playoffs edition

5. Philadelphia Eagles

13-3 (NFC East champions)

No. 1 Seed in NFC

This week: vs. Atlanta Falcons in NFC Divisional Playoffs

It’s been a quiet three weeks for the NFC’s top seed. Of course, the Philadelphia Eagles were off last Sunday and before that hosted the Oakland Raiders and Dallas Cowboys. A 19-10 victory followed by a 6-0 loss to those teams, respectively, and hence the word quiet.

The NFC East champions were sloppy against the Silver and Black and were even more dismal against the Cowboys. Quarterback Nick Foles was pulled early against Dallas and was hardly impressive. Such was the case against the Raiders as well. After throwing four touchdown passes without an interception in a Week 15 comeback victory over the New York Giants, the Birds’ current starting signal-caller was a combined 23-of-49 for 202 yards, one score and two interceptions in those last two contests.

Of course, Doug Pederson’s club doesn’t live by offense alone. The Philadelphia defense and special teams have certainly done their share this season as well.  No team has been stauncher against the run and only the Baltimore Ravens (34), Jacksonville Jaguars (33) and Detroit Lions (32) can top the Eagles’ 31 takeaways.

Still, there could be some issues when it comes to coordinator Jim Schwartz’s secondary – most notably at cornerback. The Eagles allowed 31 offensive touchdowns this season and 24 of those scores came through the air. The team will be tested Saturday afternoon at home against the Atlanta Falcons’ talented pass-catching corps of Julio Jones, Mohamed Sanu and Taylor Gabriel.

Regardless of the match-up, the top-seeded Birds haven’t looked that part as of late. Perhaps the week off allowed Pederson and company to regroup.

Next: No. 4