Don't look now, but we have some Sunday Night Football action under the lights as the underwhelming Green Bay Packers take on the one-loss Philadelphia Eagles. Join us for our NFL odds series, where our Packers-Eagles prediction and pick will be made.
After it seemed like the Packers were ready to turn the corner after a gritty overtime victory over the Cowboys, Green Bay proceeded to take a step back in the disheartening loss to the Tennessee Titans by a score of 27-17. Standing with a record of 4-7 which is well outside of the NFC playoff picture, the Packers have zero margin for error if they want any chance to return to the postseason in January.
As for the Eagles, they followed up their first defeat of the year by narrowly escaping Indianapolis on a last-second score by QB Jalen Hurts. It certainly has been a magical season for the Eagles up to this point, and Philadelphia will have a tremendous opportunity to build off their conference lead with another win at home.
Here are the Packers-Eagles NFL odds, courtesy of FanDuel.
NFL Odds: Packers-Eagles Odds
Green Bay Packers: +6.5 (-105)
Philadelphia Eagles: -6.5 (-115)
Over: 46.5 (-105)
Under: 46.5 (-115)
Why The Packers Could Cover The Spread
While things may certainly seem bleak at the moment, there is still hope that the Packers can get the job done and at least find a way to cover the spread on Sunday Night Football. Through 11 games played, it has been an ugly season to say the least in Green Bay, but believe it or not, the Packers haven't been as bad as they have seemed on paper.
Without a doubt, the offense has been horrendous to say the least, but the defense has been surprisingly stingy in multiple aspects. At first glance, the Packers' strongest suit has been on the defensive side of the ball, as they have only given up 339 yards per contest as a whole. Even more impressively, Green Bay has put the clamps on opposing quarterbacks and receivers. Thus far, they surrender only 203 passing yards per game. Despite giving up a whopping 333 yards to Ryan Tannehill, the Packers have been fundamentally sound for the most part in their coverages and rarely give up big plays in the passing game.
Bafflingly enough, who could've predicted that the two-time defending MVP in Aaron Rodgers would be struggling as much as they have been. In fact, it has been the entire offense that has failed to live up to standards. As it stands, the Packers possess the seventh-lowest scoring offense at 18.4 points per game and have only scored 30 points one time throughout the entire season. Clearly, Green Bay will need to figure out a way to move the ball against an extremely talented Eagles defense if they want any chance at figuring out a way to cover the spread.
Why The Eagles Could Cover The Spread
Without a doubt, the Eagles have not looked like themselves over the course of the past couple of weeks, but fear not Philly fans, this roster's makeup still is one of the top overall units that football has to offer.
The main thing that has made the Eagles such a tough team to beat this year has been the improved play of QB Jalen Hurts. A season ago, it became quite obvious that the former Alabama and Oklahoma standout needed to improve his passing. Alas, fast forward nearly a year later, and that is exactly what Hurts has done on his way to an MVP-caliber type season. At the moment, Hurts has transformed into a true dual-threat quarterback and has dissected opposing defenses for a 68% completion percentage to go along with the fifth-best quarterback rating in the league. Simply put, Hurts has always been dangerous with his legs, but now with a far more precise cannon for an arm, Hurts has showcased that he has what it takes to be a top quarterback in the NFL.
Outside of Hurts' ability to make plays offensively, it has been the Eagles' defensive unit that hasn't gotten enough credit for their success this season. When glancing upon the numbers, Philadelphia boasts the sixth-best mark in points against at 18.3 points per game and also is surrendering the second-fewest total yards per game at 300. Obviously, this does not bode well for a limping Packers offense that doesn't appear to be improving offensively any time soon. Clearly, the Eagles have finally struggled just slightly with only 36 points combined in their previous two games, so expect Philly to rely on their defense if all else fails to cover the spread in front of their home fans.
Final Packers-Eagles Prediction & Pick
Historically, this would be an NFC matchup with major playoff implications on the line at this point in the season, but that just isn't the case this year. With Green Bay holding on for dear life to their playoff aspirations, the Eagles will officially put those dreams out of reach with a spread-covering victory on Sunday night.
Final Packers-Eagles Prediction & Pick: Eagles -6.5 (-115)
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