Go here for this week's Passing Matchups.
Top Rushing Matchup
Philadelphia vs Kansas City
The Eagles are leveraging their run-heavy offense to carry them throughout the postseason. Saquon Barkley has been dominant throughout the playoffs, averaging 147 rushing yards per game with five touchdowns in three contests. Barkley has now topped 100 yards in nine of his last ten games. The Eagles have the league's best offensive line, led by their two elite All-Pro tackles, Jordan Mailata and Lane Johnson, while both guards, Landon Dickerson and Mekhi Becton, are elite run-blockers. Jalen Hurts adds another level of difficulty in stopping the run for opponents, especially in the red zone, as he has four rushing touchdowns over the last two games and has now run for a touchdown in five of his last six full games. The Eagles have shown that they're matchup-proof, as Barkley was the only running back who topped 100 yards against Baltimore earlier this season.
Kansas City's run defense was the best run defense of the regular season. They allowed the fewest fantasy points to opposing running backs and the third-fewest rushing yards, as they allowed 70 rushing yards per game to opposing running backs. However, throughout the playoffs, it has been a different story. Both Joe Mixon and James Cook topped 80 yards in the two playoff games, and they've now allowed four running backs to top 70 yards in their last three games as Pittsburgh ran all over them in Week 17. Chris Jones is a game-wrecker along the defensive line, but this is a defensive line that is somewhat undersized as George Karlaftis, Charles Omenihu, and Mike Danna, who play a majority of the snaps on the defensive line, range from 255 to 280 pounds. Expect defensive tackle Mike Pennel to get more snaps than usual this week. At 335 pounds, he can clog up the defensive line and take some pressure off the linebackers. Linebacker Nick Bolton has struggled over the second half of the season, which has been a big reason for the team being more average in recent weeks compared to the elite run-stopping unit we saw early on in the year. Kansas City has been exposed in recent weeks against mobile quarterbacks, as they've allowed 39 rushing yards or more in each of their last four games. This unit blitzes heavily, and if the quarterback can break contain, they can succeed on the ground.