Eagles-Packers: Life without Alshon Jeffery and DeSean Jackson hasn’t been easy for Carson Wentz

GREEN BAY, Wis. — Kickoff is just a few hours away. The smell of brats already is wafting through the air in the Lambeau parking lot.

Just in the nick of time, here’s my weekly stats package to help get you ready for Eagles-Packers:

-- Carson Wentz is 25th in yards per attempt (6.8) and 26th in completion percentage (61.0) through three games. In the last two games without Alshon Jeffery and DeSean Jackson, Wentz has a 55.7 completion percentage.

-- Wentz saw two of his pass attempts tipped or batted by the Lions. One of his passes also was batted down in Week 1 against Washington.

-- Wentz averaged a season-high 11.4 throwing yards per attempt in the loss to the Lions. Throwing yards are the distance from the line of scrimmage to the intended receiver. He averaged 9.8 throwing yards against the Falcons and 9.2 against Washington.

-- Wentz was 2-for-6 for 73 yards on throws of 20 or more yards against the Lions. Both completions were to running back Miles Sanders. Two of the 20-plus-yard incompletions — to tight end Dallas Goedert (28 yards) and wide receiver J.J. Arcega-Whiteside (52 yards) — were drops. In three games, Wentz is 5-for-16 for 220 yards, 2 TDs and 2 interceptions on 20-plus-yard throws.

-- Both of Wentz’s TD passes against the Lions came on 0-to-10-yard throws. But overall, he was just 10-for-19 on throws from that distance. Four drops didn’t help. But in the Eagles’ first two games, he was 36-for-44 on 0-to-10-yard throws.

-- Wentz has just two interceptions in 118 pass attempts. He hasn’t had a pick in his last 71 attempts, dating to the second quarter of the Atlanta game.

-- Wentz is fifth in the league in third-down passing with a 127.7 passer rating. He’s completed 69.4% of his third-down passes. Five of his six touchdown passes have come on third down. He had four in 2018.

-- He has a 99.9 passer rating on third-and-6 or more, including a 57.7 completion percentage and two TD passes. He’ll be facing a Packers defense Thursday night that has held opponents to a 48.9 passer rating on third-and-6 or more. Opponents have completed just 45.5 percent of their attempts against them on third-and-6-plus. Bottom line: The Eagles need to stay out of third-and-longs.

-- With 17 catches in the first three games, tight end Zach Ertz is on a 91-catch pace. He also has a team-high eight receiving first downs. But he doesn’t have a touchdown catch yet and has just four third-down receptions. After finishing 32nd among tight ends last season in yards-after-catch average (3.2), his average has risen only slightly so far this year (3.5). In his defense, he has been impacted the last two weeks by the injuries to Jeffery and Jackson, which have allowed opposing defenses to focus on him.

-- While Mack Hollins’ costly late-game drop against the Lions got most of the attention, it should be pointed out that he’s been pretty damn productive the last two games in the absence of Jeffery and Jackson. He had nine catches against Atlanta and Detroit, six for first downs. Five of those nine receptions were on third down, four of which resulted in first downs.

-- The Eagles are averaging only 3.6 yards per carry, but they’ve actually run the ball pretty well in two of their three games. The only game in which the ground game really laid an egg was their Week 2 loss to the Falcons, when they managed just 49 yards on 21 carries. Against Washington and Detroit, they averaged a respectable 4.1 yards per carry.

-- The Eagles averaged 4.0 yards per carry on first down against Washington and Detroit (32-127). Against the Falcons, they averaged just 1.8 (10-18).

-- Jordan Howard has a team-high seven rushing first downs on 25 carries.

-- Rookie Miles Sanders has six runs for negative yards on 34 rushing attempts.

-- Darren Sproles had nine rushing attempts in the Eagles’ Week 1 win over Washington. He’s had just two since.

-- Wentz has six rushing first downs in the first three games. He had nine all last season.

-- The Eagles have held their first three opponents to 57 rushing yards per game and 2.9 yards per carry. Twenty-six of their opponents’ 58 rushing attempts have gained one yard or less.

-- The Packers are much more committed to the run under rookie coach Matt LaFleur than they were under Mike McCarthy. They’re averaging 26 rushing attempts per game, though they’re not running very well. They’re 24th in rushing (89.3 yards per game) and 26th in rush average (3.4 yards per carry. They are 23rd in first-down rushing, averaging 3.7 yards per carry on first down.

-- The Packers have run the ball on 43.8% of their plays in the first three games. Under McCarthy last year, their rush percentage was 32.4. The year before that, it was 38.6. Forty-four of the Packers’ 78 first-down plays this season (56.4 percent) have been run plays.

-- The Eagles have allowed just eight rushing first downs and three runs of 10 yards or more in the first three games.

-- The Eagles have run just 11 of 141 plays from under center in their last two games. In their Week 1 win over Washington, they ran 22 of 71 plays from under center. The main reason for the drop is the fact that they’ve used very little “12’’ personnel (1RB, 2TE, 2WR) in the last two games because of the injury to tight end Dallas Goedert. Goedert didn’t play at all against Atlanta after injuring his calf before the game. And he played just nine snaps last week. The Eagles have used “12’’ personnel just 18 times in the last two games. They used it 27 times in Week 1 alone.

-- Opponents have scored on their first possession against the Eagles in all three games this season. Last year, Jim Schwartz’s defense allowed first-possession scores just five times. But they allowed second-possession scores in 10 of 16 games.

-- The Packers lead the league in takeaways (8) and turnover differential (plus-6). The Eagles have a minus-2 turnover differential.