The LA Rams (5-5) host the Philadelphia Eagles (8-2) in Week 12. But if you are looking for encouragement and some form of home-field advantage this week, you may be disappointed. While the Rams held strong at home initially, they have fallen to only a slight advantage at home with a 3-2 record. Meanwhile, the Philadelphia Eagles are road warriors. They have an identical 4-1 record whether at home or on the road.
And that is something that Eagles HC Nick Sirianni takes a lot of pride.
Pro Football Talk's Joe Alper does a good job of capturing Sirianni's sentiment over his team this season. After a sluggish start that left the team 2-2 after four games, the Eagles have gotten red hot to win their last six games. Now they roll into SoFi Stadium with a mini-bye and a winning streak of six games.
What are Sirianni's thoughts about playing on the road, and the secret to the Eagles success at doing so?
"It (i)s just an opportunity for you to unite as a team, lock arms as a team. . . . Those are two of our big time core values: connect and toughness. So we take pride in that. Then I just think that speaks volumes of our players and coaches that they handle that. I did n(o)t know that stat (success on the road). That (is)s a cool stat, and we take pride in that. That (i)s just another opportunity to lock arms, and go at it together, and try to battle all game and win.”"Eagles HC Nick Sirianni
Alper points out in his article that the Eagles are 22-9 on the road under Sirianni. That is a very impressive streak of good fortune, particularly in the highly competitive NFC East Division.
The Eagles have just three road games on their 2024 schedule. One victory among those three games will ensure another winning record on the road. On the other hand, the Rams have just seven games remaining on their schedule, and with a record of just 3-2 at home, must win at least two of their remaining four home games to have a winning record at SoFi Stadium.
If you need some positive news? The Eagles have the equivalent of a three game lead in the NFC Eastern Division, with a two-game plus tiebreaker advantage over the second place Washington Commanders team. The LA Rams are smack dab in the middle of the highly competitive NFC Western Division race, just 1/2 game behind the Arizona Cardinals (plus a tiebreaker disadvantage).
So if you believe in motivation and incentive as a significant factor for Week 12, the Rams certainly have that.
As always, thank you for reading.