One thing Rams can’t afford against Eagles

Matthew Stafford and Kyren Williams must protect the football against the Eagles

The Rams and Eagles go into their Week 12 Sunday night matchup as two of the hottest teams in the NFL, as Philadelphia has won their last six and L.A. has won four of their last five, but the one thing that Sean McVay can’t afford this week: Any turnovers.

• The Eagles are 6-0 this season when they force a turnover compared to 2-2 when they don’t
• The Rams are 0-3 when they have 2 turnovers and 5-2 when they have 1 or 0 turnovers

Bill Parcells has called turnovers the most important stat in football, and I don’t think many coaches would disagree, but it seems especially important to the Rams because the two key players in that equation for L.A. are Matthew Stafford and Kyren Williams.

Williams has 3 fumbles this season after he had 3 fumbles last season.

That’s tied for the most fumbles of any running back in the NFL over the past two years.

Stafford didn’t have any picks against the Patriots last week, ending a streak of six consecutive games with an interception. And New England’s defense, always talented, had a really awful gameplan.

Overall, the Rams have done a good job protecting the ball. They rank 11th in turnovers (tied with the Eagles) and it’s just those fumbles by Williams that tilt L.A. outside of the top-10. The scary part is just how good the Eagles defense has been:

• 1st in yards allowed
• 1st in net yards per pass attempt allowed
• Top-10 rushing defense
• 5th in red zone defense, 8th in third down defense

Despite those great numbers, the Rams stand a great chance of beating the Eagles on Sunday night if they just protect the football. The rest should fall into place if that happens to at least give L.A. a chance to win. If they give Jalen Hurts free possessions, winning will be extremely hard.