Sunday's mouthwatering NFL playoffs double-header begins with a fascinating matchup as the Los Angeles Rams travel east to face the Philadelphia Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field.
The Eagles have home advantage as the 2-seed in the NFC and also have the comfort of knowing they can beat the fourth-seeded Rams, having done so by a convincing 37-20 margin in Week 12.
The Rams haven't looked back since that game, though, with their only subsequent loss coming against the Seattle Seahawks when they rested their starters in Week 18.
They also produced one of the most impressive performances of Wild Card Weekend when beating the Minnesota Vikings 27-9 in Arizona on Monday night.
Nick Sirianni's Eagles have had an extra day to prepare for this game, but they suffered some notable injuries in their 22-10 Wild Card win over the Green Bay Packers, particularly the loss for the rest of the playoffs of linebacker Nakobe Dean with a torn patellar tendon.
The Eagles went 8-1 at home in the regular season, while the Rams were 5-3 on the road.
Philly has won eight of the teams' last nine meetings, including the 37-20 road win this year and a 23-14 victory when the teams faced each other in Inglewood last season, although the Rams' 2020 success came in the teams' most recent meeting at Lincoln Financial Field.
Long-time NFL fans will be wary of backing road teams in the divisional round, as many times over the years teams who played well in the Wild Card round have had nothing left in the tank when going on the road next time out.
The advantage for home teams is not as strong since the expansion to a 14-team playoff, though, as only one team gets a bye these days and the Eagles were also in action last weekend, while in days gone by second seeds were coming in fresh.
Philadelphia beat the Packers convincingly last week, but it came at a cost with the loss of key linebacker Dean, who had formed a formidable partnership with Zack Baun in the heart of their defense.
Quarterback Jalen Hurts looked rusty at times in that game, which was understandable after he missed the previous two games due to concussion, but he will need to be sharper against a Rams defense that sacked Vikings QB Sam Darnold nine times on Monday.
The Rams have looked better as the season has gone on. They made a 1-4 start when their top pass-catchers Puka Nacua, Cooper Kupp and Tyler Higbee were all sidelined by injuries.
However, they have come on strong since their home defeat by the Eagles and are lively underdogs getting a handy start on the spread.
Running back Saquon Barkley was the star of the show for the Eagles in their regular-season win over the Rams, as he has been throughout his first year with the team.
Barkley galloped for 2,005 rushing yards in the regular season at an average of a whopping 125.3 per game and an astonishing 255 of those came against the Rams in Week 12.
He scored touchdowns of 70 and 72 yards in that contest, showing that it can be game over once he breaks into the defensive backfield.
The Rams are understandably likely to concentrate their efforts on stopping the former New York Giants star and they did a good job of bottling up Aaron Jones of the Vikings last week, limiting him to 48 yards on 13 carries.
It figures that Barkley has a triple-digit rushing yards line for this game, but the preference is to back him to break off at least one run of 19 yards or more.
The Rams should do a better job of keeping him under control this time, but he's too good to slow down totally.
Eagles tight end Dallas Goedert grabbed the headlines with his powerful run after the catch for a 24-yard touchdown against the Packers.
He finished with 47 receiving yards on a day when the Eagles struggled to get much going through the air and could again be a valuable option for Hurts, who is likely to be under duress from the Rams' pass-rush.
Tight ends have had plenty of success against the Rams in recent games, with TJ Hockenson's 64 yards leading the Vikings in Monday's game, while Noah Fant had 63 yards for the Seahawks in Week 18 and Arizona's Trey McBride had 123 in Week 17.
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Los Angeles Rams | +225 ML |
Philadelphia Eagles | -275 ML |
Spread | Eagles -6.0 |
Total Points | O/U 43.5 |
Saquon Barkley (PHI Eagles) | -163 |
Jalen Hurts (PHI Eagles) | -120 |
Kyren Williams (LA Rams) | +100 |
AJ Brown (PHI Eagles) | +120 |
Puka Nacua (LA Rams) | +150 |
DeVonta Smith (PHI Eagles) | +200 |
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This article was written by a partner sports writer via Spotlight Sports Group. All odds displayed on this page were correct at the time of writing and are subject to withdrawal or change at any time.