The NFL’s second week of action wraps up tonight as the Atlanta Falcons (0-1) travel north to face the Philadelphia Eagles (1-0) in a Monday Night Football primetime matchup.
Despite having a new quarterback in Kirk Cousins, Atlanta struggled to muster offense against the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Falcons finished with 244 yards of offense against Pittsburgh, finding the endzone only once during the afternoon.
Philadelphia had no such problem in their matchup nearly 10 days ago against the Green Bay Packers. The Eagles cranked out 422 yards offensively with Jalen Hurts accounting for over 300 himself.
Will Atlanta find a way to slow down the Eagles in a matchup of two NFC playoff contenders? We’ll give bettors our best bet in the game as well as pick our three favorite player prop bets for this matchup.
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Philadelphia has a new tool on offense with the addition of former New York Giants running back Saquon Barkley this season. The Eagles are looking to run the ball and keep the pressure off Hurts when he does have to throw.
Bettors should expect Philly to try and replicate the Steelers' game plan against Atlanta by running the ball against the Falcons.
Don’t expect the Eagles to run into much resistance in that department, giving Hurts little reason to throw the football tonight.
Despite the loss, Atlanta running back Bijan Robinson had a good outing as he finished with 111 yards on 23 touches against the Steelers last week. Robinson should look to be a big part of new head coach Raheem Morris’ offensive game plan each week.
The Eagles allowed Packers running back Josh Jacobs to net 20 yards on two catches in their win.
Expecting Robinson – who caught five passes for 43 yards last week – to eclipse this player prop mark is a minimum presumption heading into this Monday Night contest.
Philadelphia trailed throughout the early stages of this contest, but the Eagles stuck to their game plan of running the football with Barkley.
The running back rewarded the team with one of his best performances as a professional, notching 132 total yards and three touchdowns against Green Bay.
A similar performance against the Falcons is expected now. In Brazil, Barkley rushed for 109 yards on 24 carries. Pittsburgh’s Najee Harris earned 70 yards on 20 carries against the Falcons during the opener, so it’s hard to bet against Barkley doing the same tonight.
Yes, we know the “any given Sunday” quote often gets floated around about an NFL team’s chances of winning against a stronger opponent. But this is Monday Night Football, and the Falcons are still knee-deep in their transition from Arthur Smith to Morris.
Philadelphia is the better team, and the Eagles will look to prove that tonight against another NFC playoff contender.
Philly should walk away with this victory in convincing fashion, and a double-digit margin is not out of the question.