The Eagles visit the Los Angeles Chargers – there I remembered to call them the Los Angeles Chargers and not the San Diego Chargers –  in what football forecasters are predicting to be a close game. This is a pick ’em game meaning its even up. The Eagles’ top offensive player is out for the year, halfback Darren Sproles and their top defensive player, defensive tackle Fletcher Cox, is out for the game and probably a couple more.

So there are the two reasons to expect the Chargers (0-3) to give the Eagles (2-1) a run for their money. If they give them a run for their money, it will probably only be for the first half. In the second half, the Birds will pull away from the winless Lightning Strikes. The Eagles are in a battle for supremacy in the East Division. The Chargers would still be in last place in the AFC West even if they  did win. The Eagles have  more to play for. After the Chargers, next up is Arizona.

It isn’t likely the Eagles will look past the Chargers and be thinking about the Cardinals. The Eagles aren’t good enough to be looking past anybody. Doug Pedersen is still trying to find himself as a head coach and the team is aware of that. The last thing they want to do is look past an opponent. That isn’t the only inter-conference game going on in the fourth week of the season.

New Orleans (1-2) and Miami (1-1) are playing in London  in a game that will start 9:30 a.m. London time. East coast time would 3:30 p.m. Buffalo (2-1) travels to Atlanta (3-0), Indianapolis (1-2) is at Seattle (1-2), and two games which promise to be all-out contests, Carolina is at New England and Washington is at Kansas City on Monday night.

The Panthers (2-1) and Patriots (2-1) are two teams at opposite ends of the spectrum. The Panthers are averaging 15 points-per-game and allowing 13.3 points-per-game. The Patriots, meanwhile, are lighting it up with a 33 points-per-game average but allowing 31.6 points-per-game. This could be a defensive struggle or a game in which both teams score at will on offense.

The Redskins (2-1) will be watching the Eagles game. There is a three-way tie for first in the East between the Eagles, Redskins and the Cowboys. The Chiefs (3-0) are the only AFC team who is undefeated and one of two in the NFL. They would like to extend that undefeated streak for another week. It isn’t as if going undefeated is anything new for them with Andy Reid as head coach. They won their first nine games of the 2013 season which was Reid’s first, but lost in the first round of the playoffs after having a huge lead at halftime.