Five Storylines for Eagles-Colts Matchup

How will the ijury to Dallas Goedert impact the offense and what will the arrival of two veteran DTs do for the defense?

USA Today

The Eagles will look to get back on track after losing for the first time last week to a below .500 team in the Washington Commanders.

They will try to do it on the road against another below .500 team in the Indianapolis Colts.

Here are five storylines for Sunday’s game (1 p.m./CBS):

HERE WE GO AGAIN

It’s the run defense. Again, and for the third time.

If the Eagles can hold Jonathan Taylor under 100 yards, I promise it won’t make my storylines coming out of Thanksgiving when the Green Bay Packers come to town.

THE NEW GUYS

It’s not often that in Week 11 a team can add not one but two experienced defensive tackles. That’s what GM Howie Roseman did, though, bringing both Linval Joseph and Ndamukong Suh on board for the stretch run.

This might give the run defense a chance, depending on how much they play.

Suh got into Philly around 11 on Thursday and had one practice.

Joseph got into Philly Wednesday night and had two practices.

Neither has played since last January, but this is a game they’ve been playing for a long time. They should each have a role, granted in a somewhat limited package of plays.

One more thing: Both players are getting the same contract for the rest of the year.

Per ESPN’s Field Yates, they each got a $250,000 signing bonus, $750K base salary, $250K in per-game roster bonuses, plus $1.25 million incentives.

They can both earn up to $2.5M and count $2M against the salary cap.

ANGRY HOMECOMING

Nick Sirianni isn’t happy that Colts owner Jim Irsay fired head coach Frank Reich. Sirianni and Reich are good friends and the Eagles' head coach would like nothing more than to make the owner regret his decision, despite what he may say in public.

BOUNCE BACK-ABILITY

The Eagles lost for the first time in an upset in their last outing.

How will they respond?

“Whenever you lose, emotions are different,” said center Jason Kelce. “You’re going to be a little bit more aggressive in correcting mistakes. You’re going to be a little bit more on edge. But to be honest, I don’t think that we don’t really change it up that much. And I don’t think that we should.

“We make corrections after wins the same way that we’re doing it right now. The emotion is different and the urgency is different after a loss. But I think we do a good job of sticking to what we believe is going to be the end result of making us a better team.”

DALLAS GOEDERT INJURY

This will be the first of at least four games the Eagles' offense will be without its versatile tight end, and it’s a big loss to overcome.

How will Sirianni and OC Shane Steichen handle the absence?

More targets for backup tight ends Jack Stoll and Grant Calcaterra or a heavier dose of throws to A.J. Brown, DeVonta SMith, and Quez Watkins?

We’re about to find out.

Ed Kracz is the publisher of SI.com’s Fan Nation Eagles Today and co-host of the Eagles Unfiltered Podcast. Check out the latest Eagles news at www.SI.com/NFL/Eagles or www.eaglesmaven.com and please follow him on Twitter: @kracze.