Who plays on Sunday Night Football tonight? Breaking down Week 12 matchup

Posted by Admin November 24, 2024 Football

Week 12‘s iteration of “Sunday Night Football” pits two NFC playoff hopefuls against each other, though one team may have more on the line than the other.

SoFi Stadium will host “SNF” for a second straight week as the Los Angeles Rams face the Philadelphia Eagles in prime time. Both teams are coming off of Week 11 wins. Philadelphia took out the Washington Commanders in a divisional game, and Los Angeles defeated the New England Patriots on the road last Sunday.

Between the two teams, only the Eagles are currently in a playoff spot as the leaders of the NFC East. The Rams are 1.5 games behind the Commanders for the final wild-card spot in the NFC and one game behind the Arizona Cardinals for first place in the NFC West.

Here’s what to know for “Sunday Night Football” in Week 12:

Who plays on Sunday Night Football tonight?

Sunday Night Football preview

Ever since their Week 5 bye week, the Eagles appear to have the best defense in football under defensive coordinator Vic Fangio.

Philadelphia hasn’t yet lost a game since coming out of the bye and is riding a six-game win streak entering Week 12. In that span, the Eagles have allowed more than 20 points just once: a 28-23 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 9.

They haven’t just been facing bad opponents either. The six-game win streak includes victories over the Bengals (27 points per game, sixth-best scoring offense) and Commanders (28 ppg, fourth-best).

Philadelphia has also limited opponents’ yardage recently to the point where the team has risen to the top of the leaderboard in offensive yards allowed: just 273.1 per game. The Eagles are also second in passing yards allowed (173.2 per game) this season and lead all NFL defenses in EPA allowed per play over the last six weeks (-0.235).

Those marks bode well when it comes to facing their Week 12 opponent.

The Rams have been able to right the ship of their 2024 season thanks to the returns of two major weapons in the passing game.

Los Angeles is now 5-5 after a 1-4 start to the season and 2-1 in the three games since wide receivers Puka Nacua and Cooper Kupp returned from their early-season injuries. The two receivers have combined for 679 yards and four touchdowns in their four games back.

Unsurprisingly, the returns of Nacua and Kupp correlate with a massive jump in offensive efficiency for the Rams. Los Angeles was 24th in dropback EPA (-0.044) from Weeks 3-7 without its two top receivers. In the last four weeks, the Rams have risen to sixth in dropback EPA (+0.240).

Quarterback Matthew Stafford’s efficiency is also up, rising from 28th in EPA/play (-0.037) over the first seven weeks of the season – a mark lower than (former) Giants starter Daniel Jones – to ninth (0.221) in his last four games.

The Rams’ full-strength passing offense versus the Eagles’ constantly improving passing defense will be the matchup to watch for this Week 12 edition of “Sunday Night Football.”

What time is the NFL game tonight?

Time: 8:20 p.m. ET/5:20 p.m. PT
Date: Sunday, Nov. 24

“Sunday Night Football” will kick off at its standard start time, 8:20 p.m. ET.

Mike Tirico will handle play-by-play duties during the game, with Cris Collinsworth providing color commentary and Melissa Stark reporting from the sidelines during Rams vs. Eagles.

NBC’s weekly “Football Night in America” pregame show will begin at 7 p.m. ET and feature insight from a panel of analysts, including Maria Taylor, Jason Garrett, Chris Simms, Mike Florio, Devin McCourty, Tony Dungy, and more.

How to watch Sunday Night Football tonight?

Stream NFL games all year with a Fubo subscription

For the 2024 NFL season, NBC will broadcast “Sunday Night Football” weekly.

Fans who prefer to stream football games can watch “Sunday Night Football” with a Peacock subscription or with Fubo, which offers a seven-day free trial.

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