In Week 7 of the NFL season, the Philadelphia Eagles will face a team that has been quarterbacked the last few weeks by Carson Wentz, formerly the Eagles' franchise quarterback, if only for a brief moment in time. Here are our five things to watch.
1) The Eagles will have to prepare for two quarterbacks, one of whom they know very well
The Vikings' starter to begin the season was second-year pro J.J. McCarthy, who missed his entire rookie season because of a torn meniscus. He started the first two games of the season for the Vikings.
The first was a 27-24 win over the Bears, during which McCarthy played like crap for three quarters, before coming alive in the fourth quarter. The Vikings went TD, TD, TD, with McCarthy completing 6 of 8 passes for 87 yards, 2 TDs, and a 15-yard TD run on those drives. In his second game against the Falcons Week 2, the Vikings got embarrassed in front of a national audience on Sunday Night Football.
| J.J. McCarthy | Comp-Att | Yards (YPA) | TD-INT | Rating |
| 4th quarter vs. Bears | 6-8 | 87 (10.9) | 2-0 | 149.5 |
| The rest of his season | 18-33 | 214 (6.5) | 0-3 | 36.7 |
McCarthy injured his ankle against the Falcons and hasn't played since. Wentz has started three games while McCarthy was out. The Vikings won two of them. Wentz is basically the same guy we knew in Philly – no pocket awareness, misses layups, takes big hits when he runs, but every so often he'll rip a throw down the field that only a handful of other quarterbacks in the league can make.
"They are similar," Vic Fangio said of McCarthy and Wentz. "They're both athletic. They both do a good job running this offense. This is a good offense we're going against. It's a good scheme. It's packaged well together. They do a good job of calling plays. It's a tough offense."
Fangio has given high praise to every quarterback he has faced so far this season, but it was a little muted this week. Whether it's McCarthy or Wentz, it will be the worst starting quarterback the Eagles will have faced so far this season.
2) The Vikings' receivers are among the best in the NFL
Justin Jefferson and Ja'Marr Chase are the best wide receivers in the NFL, in whatever order you prefer. This is Jefferson's sixth season, and he already has almost 8,000 receiving yards.
| Justin Jefferson | Rec | Yards | YPC | TD |
| 2020 | 88 | 1400 | 15.9 | 7 |
| 2021 | 108 | 1616 | 15.0 | 10 |
| 2022 | 128 | 1809 | 14.1 | 8 |
| 2023 (10 games) | 68 | 1074 | 15.8 | 5 |
| 2024 | 103 | 1533 | 14.9 | 10 |
| 2025 | 29 | 449 | 15.5 | 1 |
| TOTAL | 524 | 7881 | 15.0 | 41 |
His career 96.1 receiving yards per game is the best in NFL history (minimum 16 games played):
- Justin Jefferson: 96.1
- Puka Nacua: 90.9
- Ja'Marr Chase: 86.7
- Calvin Johnson: 86.1
- Antonio Brown: 84.2
- Julio Jones: 82.5
- Michael Thomas: 79.1
- Tyreek Hill: 78.4
- CeeDee Lamb: 78.1
- Malik Nabers: 77.6
- Torry Holt: 77.4
- Marvin Harrison: 76.7
- A.J. Brown: 76.0
- Jerry Rice: 75.6
- Lance Allworth: 75.5
There's an almost 12 yards per game difference between Jefferson and the fifth guy on that list.
He is an exceptional route runner who gets great separation, and even when he doesn't he's a contested catch wizard. He wins at all three levels of the defense, and is a cheat code for anyone throwing him the football.
Oh, and hey, the Vikings also have a very good WR2 in Jordan Addison, who has 142 catches for 1,941 yards and 20 TDs in 34 career games (the equivalent of two full seasons). Jefferson and Addison are in the conversation for best WR duo in the NFL.
Of course, the Eagles have a problem at cornerback. Star CB1 Quinyon Mitchell left with a hamstring injury against the Giants and did not return. He was a limited participant in practice on Wednesday, but a full go on Thursday. The Eagles desperately need Mitchell to play on Sunday, and it looks like he will.
At CB2, Adoree Jackson was benched in favor of Kelee Ringo, who was subsequently benched in favor Jackson against the Giants. Asked who would start at CB2 if Mitchell can play, Fangio said it would likely be Jackson. If Mitchell can't go, it'll be Ringo and Jackson, in which case the Vikings could have a field day through the air.
3) Where might the Eagles go #Feastin'? 🍗
When fully healthy, the Vikings' offensive line would look like this:
| LT | LG | C | RG | RT |
| Christian Darrisaw | Donovan Jackson | Ryan Kelly | Will Fries | Brian O'Neill |
There's a lot to unpack with the Vikings' offensive line.
Darrisaw and O'Neill form one of the best offensive tackle tandems in the NFL. Darrisaw missed the first two games of the season while still recovering from from ACL/MCL tears suffered during the 2024 season. He has played the last three games.
O'Neill suffered a sprained MCL against the Steelers Week 4 and did not play Week 5. The Vikings had a bye Week 6, so he had a week off to heal up.
Jackson was the Vikings' first-round pick in 2025. He played in the first three games of the season, but missed the last two after having surgery on his wrist. The Vikings didn't place him on injured reserve, an indication that they thought he had a chance to return sooner than the four-game window required to be on IR.
Kelly won't play. He's on IR with a concussion. Michael Jurgens filled in for Kelly, but he too got hurt (hamstring) against the Steelers Week 4 and Jake Brandel filled in. Jurgens may or may not play Sunday.
Fries is the only Vikings starting offensive lineman to play in every game so far this season. He is good to go.
In summary, Darrisaw and Fries will play. Kelly won't. O'Neill, Jackson, and Jurgens are maybes.
The Eagles' pass rush has sucked so far this season, frankly. The edge rushers presently on the team have a grand total of one sack (by Patrick Johnson), and the team as a whole only has 9 sacks in 6 games. Only five teams have fewer sacks per game.
The return of Jalen Carter on Sunday and the eventual return of Nolan Smith after the bye will help, but expect the Eagles to trade for another pass rusher by the trade deadline.
One thing to note if Wentz starts is that he has a pocket presence quirk that leads to devastating plays. Once he either avoids an edge rusher, or an edge rusher runs by him, it's as if he believes that player no longer exists, and won't continue to keep trying to get after him. He did it throughout his career in Philly, and it has carried over into his many other NFL stops, including this year now in Minnesota. A sampling of his pocket presence this season:
Wentz has been sacked 12 times in three games. Normally, you don't want your edge rushers getting too far up the field and simply getting escorted around the bend, taking themselves out of the play. Against Wentz, the Eagles' edge rushers should not feel the need to try to flatten their path to the quarterback as much as possible. Taking wider paths to Wentz can be just as effective. If you get in behind him, Wentz will eventually drift back in the pocket into strip sack opportunities.
The plan should be to enclose him in the pocket, and whenever a lineman is within striking distance, tackle the football, not the quarterback, because over his career he has been one of the worst in the league at protecting it.
#FeastinMeter: 6/10 turkey legs 🍗🍗🍗🍗🍗🍗
4) Jalen Hurts vs. Brian Flores
Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores is known as a hyper-aggressive blitzer, which is sometimes true, but a better description of his defenses is that they are highly varied and unpredictable. He does a great job of disguising man vs. zone, and confusing opposing quarterbacks.
.@DariusJButler breaks down the Vikings defense and how Brian Flores utilizes Dime personnel and his pre and post snap manipulations #Skol
Live on ESPN2 & Streaming on ESPN+@GregCosell | @DariusJButler | Sal Paolantonio pic.twitter.com/fUKYVXP5XC— NFL Matchup on ESPN (@NFLMatchup) September 5, 2025
A common theme of Eagles games this season is that they have had success at times getting into a rhythm against certain defenses, but when the opposing defensive coordinator adjusts, the Eagles then don't have answers. Flores is perhaps a difficult coordinator for what the Eagles have been so far this year, because he creates chaos by trying a lot of different things.
5) The Eagles' impotent rushing attack vs. the Vikings' run defense
The Vikings represent another team against whom the Eagles have a chance to get their run game going. Opposing offenses have had success against the Vikings' run defense so far this season:
| Vikings run D | Stat | NFL rank |
| Rushing yards per game | 132.2 | 24 |
| Rushing yards per attempt | 4.5 | 22 |
| Rushing first downs per game | 8.6 | 26 |
| % of rushes resulting in first downs | 27.9% | 23 |
This is a light defense.
| Pos | Player | Weight |
| EDGE | Dallas Turner | 242 |
| iDL | Jonathan Allen | 300 |
| iDL | Javon Hargrave | 305 |
| iDL | Jalen Redmond | 291 |
| EDGE | Jonathan Greenard | 263 |
| LB | Blake Cashman | 237 |
| LB | Ivan Pace | 231 |
| CB | Isaiah Rodgers | 170 |
| CB | Byron Murphy | 190 |
| S | Theo Jackson | 198 |
| S | Josh Metellus | 207 |
The interior linemen average under 300 pounds per man, and the heaviest of the three, Javon Hargrave, has always been a way better pass rusher than run defender. Additionally, one of the edges is 242 pounds, and both starting corners are small. You can run right at these guys.
Unfortunately, as we detailed earlier this week, the Eagles have gone from bullies to bullied in the trenches this season, notably on the offensive line. In past seasons, they'd have run right through these guys' faces. This year? Dunno.
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