The Philadelphia Eagles are, straight-up (6-1) and against the online betting spread (4-2), the best team in the NFL right now, and they will go up against the second worst team in the league right now (“thank god for Hue Jackson,” Kyle Shanahan thinks), the San Francisco 49ers, though they have done, surprisingly, about as well as the Eagles in the ATS department. Thus, if you wonder why you should keep watching the Niners, answer yourself: to see them cover the spread. When in doubt, look to an NFL betting website.
- Date: Sunday, 29th October
- Time: 1:05 PM
- Venue: Lincoln Financial Field
- Sportsbook Online Odds:
49ers +12½ (-112) 45½ (-110) +608
Eagles -12½ (-108) 45½ (-110) -888
Worst start in 72 years?
San Francisco is one loss away from a 0-8 start, which would be, or rather, barring any unforeseen event, will be the worst start in the history of the franchise. The Niners may not, and most likely will not, win this game (they are 0-10 SU in their last 10 games on the East Coast and 2-5 in their last seven encounters with Philly), but they can certainly learn a lot from the Eagles, who, not long ago, were not that different from the 49ers. In fact, the two teams could stand side by side in a before-and-after publicity shot. “I used to be like you,” Swoop could tell Sourdough Sam. There’s a lot to be said about how the Niners can be more like the Eagles, but we were never much for theory; let’s just wait for the clinical laboratory on Sunday. San Fran could, more realistically speaking, pick up the ATS win; the Niners are 4-1 ATS in their last five road games and 5-2 ATS in their last seven on grass, but also 2-7 ATS in their last nine games in October, 1-6-1 ATS in their last eight in the early afternoon, and 1-6 in their last seven against Philadelphia.
The Eagles have landed
It seems fitting to paraphrase Neil Armstrong quip from when he and Buzz Aldrin landed on the moon, for the Eagles have been astronomically better, directly or indirectly, than the rest of their NFC East counterparts. Philly had, prior to Monday’s 34-24 win over Washington, an 88% chance, according to ESPN’s Football Power Index, of winning the division, and now the Eagles have a 2 1/2-game lead over the Redskins as well as, should they need it, the head-to-head tiebreaker. Carson Wentz passed for 268 yards and four TDs, thus becoming just the second Eagles player with at least three passing touchdowns in three consecutive games, so one can only imagine what he might do to the Niners’ 29th-ranked defense.
Carson Wentz is simply one of a kind. #FlyEaglesFly
?: https://t.co/uvbNkJI3QD pic.twitter.com/DetJu6cp2J
— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) October 26, 2017
The only things going against Philly right now are, immediately, the short week, and in the long run, linebacker Jordan Hicks’s season-ending injury. The total has gone under just twice this season in an Eagles game, and it has gone over in the Niners’ last three straight, as well as seven of San Francisco’s last nine games against Philadelphia.