Two teams that were pegged as playoff contenders in the offseason are not living up to expectations, but both of them will look to get things back according to plan in Week 5.
The New Orleans Saints finally notched their first win of the season, whereas the Philadelphia Eagles failed to reach the .500 mark with their loss on Sunday. Who will win between these two one-win squads and silence their critics?
Read on as we tackle this compelling NFC matchup even deeper. Afterwards, head on over to our previews for some of this coming weeks’ sweet division rivalries in Cleveland vs. Baltimore and Denver vs. Oakland to round out your football viewing and betting needs.
[sc:Football ]New Orleans Saints vs. Philadelphia Eagles Preview
Where: Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia
When: Sunday, October 11, 2015 1:00 PM ET
Line: New Orleans Saints (+4.5) at Philadelphia Eagles (-4.5); total: 49.0 – view all NFL lines
TV Broadcast: NBC
Betting on the New Orleans Saints
The New Orleans Saints’ first win of the season wasn’t easy by any measure, but at least it came with a remarkable milestone for the team’s lynchpin.
[sc:NFL240banner ]Drew Brees hit and 80-yard touchdown pass to CJ Spiller in the second play of overtime to vault the his team past the Dallas Cowboys, 26-20, on Sunday night. With that score, Brees became just the fifth quarterback in league history to reach the 400 TD club, joining the rarified air of current and future Hall-of-Famers Peyton Manning, Dan Marino, Brett Favre and Tom Brady.
Brees, who was a doubt to play against Dallas due to an injured shoulder, still finished the game with 359 yards and two touchdowns on 33-of-41 passing by hitting nine different receivers, with each target catching at least a pair of throws. Among those that benefitted from Brees’ historic game is running back Mark Ingram, who racked up 128 all-purpose yards against Dallas.
The game could have ended in regulation with a New Orleans win, but Saints kicker Sam Hocker missed a bankable 30-yard field goal to send the game to OT. Mind you that he just hit a 51-yarder earlier in the same game. Could this guy have jinxed or thrown off Hocker’s attempt? Anyway, it also has to be comforting for New Orleans that their defense is starting to get healthy again. Sunday night’s match saw the returns of safety Jairus Byrd, cornerback Keenan Lewis and linebacker Dannell Ellerbe.
Animated defensive coordinator Rob Ryan now has to get his boys on the same page and force some turnovers. The Saints failed to create on this Sunday against the Cowboys, and have only generated three takeaways for the season thus far. This team certainly does not want the desperate Eagles, who are prone to coughing up possessions themselves with six turnovers in the season, to take flight in their own home turf this coming Sunday.
New Orleans is 4-2 SU/ATS in its last six road games.
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Betting on the Philadelphia Eagles
Looks like Chip Kelly’s (mad) science experiment is turning out to be the second coming of Frankenstein’s monster after all.
The Philadelphia Eagles failed to build on their first win of the season from Week 3 with a deflating loss to NFC East rivals the Washington Redskins this past Sunday, 23-20. A 15-play, 90-yard Washington drive for a touchdown with less than 30 seconds left in the game has Philly searching for answers for their dismal 1-3 record after a promising showing in the preseason.
2014’s league-leading rusher DeMarco Murray was once again nothing but a footnote for the Eagles offense after an eight-carry, 38-yard performance. But at least Kelly’s other free agent lab rat Sam Bradford is finally getting the hang of his coach’s offensive system. Bradford went 15-of-28 for 270 passing yards and three solid touchdowns, whereas the former St. Louis Ram had just three TDs for the season prior to Week 4’s match against the Redskins. He did get sacked five times in the contest, though.
It’s not just the sacks on fragile Bradford that Philly has got to address; the team failed to create any takeaways on Sunday as well after generating five interceptions through the first three games. The team also just surrendered its first rushing touchdown of the year to Washington, but should be able to handle a middling New Orleans running game. The Eagles are only giving up 97 rushing yards per game – 12th-best in the league.
It wasn’t just New Orleans’ Sam Hocker who had a rough day with his boot in Week 4, as Philly’s own kicker Caleb Sturgis missed an extra point and a 33-yarder against Washington in place of injured Cody Parkey. Those four points proved to be crucial; exactly by how many points did the Eagles lose again? Yep, three little points. Pretty rough go for a lot of kickers in the league so far with the new and (significantly) farther extra-point conversion distance, eh?
Philadelphia currently has a three-game home losing streak after winning four-straight at Lincoln Financial Field. The team is also 4-3 against the spread in these seven games.
Writer’s Prediction
The Eagles (-4.5) bounce back with a tense 28-24 win over New Orleans.
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