The legend of Nick Foles continues to grow for the Philadelphia Eagles. Extending his and the team’s postseason winning streak to four straight, the Eagles can thank Cody Parkey for the gift they got in the wild card win over the Bears. Their next task is travelling to the Big Easy to take on the No. 1 seed New Orleans Saints. And if the Eagles need any added motivation, they can look back at their Week 11 blowout loss to the Saints that left them on the verge of being out of the playoff picture.
Watch this Divisional Round game live on Sunday, January 13, 2019, at 4:40 p.m. ET at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Opening NFL Odds at BookMaker.eu
Philadelphia Eagles +7.5
New Orleans Saints -7.5
Over/Under 50.5
Live Betting Odds Analysis
Since losing 48-7 to the Saints in Week 11 and falling to 4-6 on the year, the Eagles have been rolling. They won five of their final six regular season games to squeak into the postseason when the Vikings were dumped on the final Sunday. And they opened their quest for a repeat by upsetting the Bears as the biggest underdog of Wild Card Weekend.
We can safely say that playing around this time of year gets Foles all giddy. He’s not Tom Brady good, but posting a 9-1 record past the start of December over the last two seasons is something special. And the only loss in that span came in last season’s regular season finale when the Eagles had the top seed secured and Foles played just a few series. And the Eagles are used to playing as the underdog having been in that position in each of their last four playoff games.
It’s time for the Saints to flip the switch and that’s not always easy. They haven’t played a meaningful game since before the end of the regular season after securing the No. 1 seed in the conference. That didn’t go well when they were beaten by the Panthers and a backup quarterback in the finale. And the Saints better not be too comfy over their regular season victory because things always heat up in the playoffs.
Matchup to Watch
With Drew Brees behind center the Saints have annually owned one of the top offensive teams in the NFL. They finished third in the league in scoring averaging 31.5 points per game and ranked eighth in yards with nearly 380 per game. When the teams met in mid November, Brees and his mates put on a clinic, racking up 546 total yards in the 48-7 victory.
All of the Saints weapons were on display that day with Brees throwing for 363 yards and four touchdowns, Michael Thomas catching four balls for 93 yards and a touchdown, and Mark Ingram rushing for 103 yards and two scores. It was the kind of balanced attack that made the Saints so lethal.
The Eagles have changed things up since that game and the defense has responded. The group allowed an average of less than 19 points per game in the last seven outings and the secondary that was ravaged by injuries to several starters has stabilized with the emergence of Avonte Maddox and Cre’von LeBlanc. Philly pitched a shutout in the season finale and held the Bears to one touchdown on Sunday. This won’t be the same crew that Brees faced in Week 11.
Key Stat
In order to keep Brees and the Saints offense off the field, the Eagles will have to continue the success they’ve enjoyed on third downs since Foles took over. Through the first 13 games of the year Philly was just under 39 percent in third-down efficiency, which had them around the middle-of-pack.
Over their final three games, with Foles as the starter, that number was 48.8 percent, which ranked fourth in the league in that span. We also saw Philly’s points per game spike by nearly a touchdown on average with Foles at the helm. In last week’s game the Eagles converted 6 of 13 third-downs and also converted a fourth-down play for the game-deciding touchdown.
Eagles at Saints Live Betting
As good as the Saints offense was all season, their defense was stout as well. It might take a few series for New Orleans to get going, though, since they haven’t been in a competitive game in several weeks, so play the live betting lines at BookMaker.eu accordingly and expect a sluggish first quarter. The balance of their offense and their ability to get after the quarterback will be the deciding factors as the Saints pull away in the second half. They enjoy playing on the fast track at the Superdome and Foles won’t be the answer this week. The NFL betting line is the biggest on the board for this weekend, but the Saints will cover.
NFL Score Predictions: Saints 34, Eagles 21
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