Philadelphia Eagles (0-0 SU, 0-0 ATS) vs. Washington Redskins (0-0 SU, 0-0 ATS)
NFL Week 1
September 10th 2017 /Time: 1 PM EST
Where: FedEx Field Landover, MD
TV: FOX
by Jason Green, Football Handicapper, Predictem.com
Point Spread: Phi -1/Wash +1
Over/Under Total: 47.5
The Eagles missed out on the playoffs last season but they may have found a legit QB, as Carson Wentz had a pretty good rookie season. In the off-season Philadelphia went out and gave him some new weapons and the hopes are high in the City of Brotherly Love this year. Even though they lost to the Redskins twice last season they come into this one as a 1-point road favorite
The Redskins had a tough off-season. The main reason was their contract issues with Kirk Cousins. He has put up big time numbers in the last two seasons, but the team still failed to secure him with a long term deal. For the 2nd season in a row he will be playing with the franchise tag and if he has another big showing the team has to shell out some big bucks to keep him in the Nations Capital.
Both the Eagles and the Redskins were 2-2 in the preseason. Last year the Skins swept the two game series with both being close games.
Last season the Redskins were 8-7-1 with an ATS record of 10-6 and an O/U record of 12-4 and the Eagles were 7-9 with an ATS record of 8-8 and an O/U record of 9-7.
Philly had a busy off-season, as they loaded up on offense bringing in the WR duo of Alshon Jeffrey and Torrey Smith. They added another piece to their backfield with bulldozing bruiser LeGarrette Blount. The team also may have gotten a draft steal taking workhorse Donnel Pumphrey in the 4th round. Wentz now has a legit set of weapons at his disposal. In order to achieve success, he will have to improve on not turning the ball over, as he had 14 interceptions last season.
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On the ‘Skins side of the ball, Kirk Cousins is coming of a great campaign as he passed for 4,917 yards, which ranked 3rd in the league, with 25 TD and 12 INT. He loses WR’s DeSean Jackson and Pierre Garcon, however, he added a better wideout in Terrelle Pryor, who had over 1,000 receiving yards for the Cleveland Browns last season. Look for Jamison Crowder to eat up the extra targets this season as well as TE Jordan Reed, if he can stay healthy which is always a huge question mark.
Running behind Cousins will be Rob Kelley, rookie Samaje Perine, and Chris Thompson. With defenses worrying about the passing game, the running game will have some nice opportunities for big gainers. If this team can establish the run, Washington will be tough to beat.
With the offense likely to click, the big question mark on this team is it’s defefnse, which ranked 28th in the league last season. The “D” needs to correct their issues with giving up the big play that hurt them last season.
The Eagles defense ranked in the middle of the pack last season and in both games facing the Redskins they gave up 27 points. Their first round pick in this last draft was DE Derek Barnett, who had three sacks during the preseason. Last season the Eagles ranked 13th in the league against the pass and 15th against the run.
Not only did the Eagles win both games facing the Redskins last season, they’ve covered the last six in this matchup.
While Philly has covered the spread in their last four games in September, they have only covered in one of their last seven road games. Washington has covered in 10 of their last 14 games and in five of their last seven home games.
This game will be a close one, but the Skins will find a way to get it done with a more experienced Cousins having a big game.
Jason’s Pick to Cover the Spread: Washington Redskins +1. Make the Redskins a +21 underdog by inserting them into a giant 20 point teaser, only offered at 5Dimes.