THOUSAND OAKS—After a thrilling 29-23 OT victory over the Colts, the Los Angeles Rams will host the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday, October 8 at Sofi. The Eagles and Rams are the last two defending NFC Champions. Kickoff is slated for 1:05 PM.

Canyon News got all of the vital information at Rams practice in Thousand Oaks this week, prior to this pivotal NFC showdown. Rams head coach Sean McVay on Monday said quarterback Matthew Stafford “should be good” to go for Week 5 against the Eagles after suffering a hip contusion against the Colts.

“We’ll be smart with him, but he should be good to go,” McVay said. “He’s a stud, and obviously we saw him gut through that yesterday. Definitely took a good shot there. But we feel like he should be good to go.”

The weakness of this Rams squad is their inability to stop the run. Heading into this week, the Rams are allowing 4.4 yards per carry, which ranks 24th in the NFL. Meanwhile, D’Andre Swift is averaging a blistering 6.2 yards per carry on the year. He’s their best chance to give the Eagles the offensive edge against the Rams.

The Los Angeles Rams have been a pleasant surprise through the first four weeks and are sitting with a respectable 2-2 record ahead of their Week 5 game against the defending NFC champions, the Philadelphia Eagles.

Cooper Kupp may return to the Rams lineup this week, which is going to make watching Puka Nacua fascinating to watch. Will he be able to keep up his level of production with Kupp back in the lineup? He’s currently on pace to smash virtually every receiving record that exists.

The big question is whether or not the Rams defense is going to be able to match the play of the Eagles defense. Los Angeles may also run into issues trying to stop the potent rush attack of the Eagles.

The Rams do have one defensive advantage that’s worth noting. Through the first four weeks, they rank second in the NFL in opponent third down conversion rate. Teams are converting just 26% of third down chances against them.

If the Rams can get the Eagles offense off the field, that’s going to be a huge difference maker in this game.

Canyon News prediction: Rams 28 Eagles 24