The Philadelphia Eagles may be the most perplexing team at this point in the NFL season. They began 2013 with a Monday night game against Washington that saw them explode onto our television sets with Chip Kelly's high powered offense. However, a lackluster second half combined with what we soon learned is a pathetic Washington Redskin defense meant that Chip Kelly's offense may not have been quite as good as the nation thought after watching the season's opening drive. After winning that game 33-27, the Eagles proceeded to lose three straight games (albeit to quality opponents in San Diego, Kansas City and Denver) before taking care of the lousy Giants and Buccaneers by a combined 26 points. In their following two home games though, the Eagles further confounded onlookers as they scored a combined 10 points against the Cowboys and again versus the Giants.
Then Nick Foles went all Peyton Manning on Oakland tying an NFL record with 7 TD's against 0 interceptions and a perfect 158.3 passer rating. It was quite possibly the greatest performance a quarterback has ever had in the National Football League, and it came on the arm of Nick f*ing Foles.
Now this incredibly confusing Eagles team has to travel up to Green Bay who just lost Aaron Rodgers for the foreseeable future. Green Bay has struggled against the pass this season, allowing opponents to put up a 95.3 passer rating, and they no longer have the ability to come back late in a game with Seneca Wallace taking over at quarterback. The one thing the Packers do have going for them is a running game to be reckoned with. Simply put, Eddie Lacy is an absolute beast, and one of the hardest running backs to take down in the NFL. However, without defensive star Clay Matthews and franchise QB Aaron Rodgers, can the Packers keep up with the Eagles?
Yes, they probably can because the Eagles have a porous defense, but I'm not sure they can keep this game within reach over the course of four quarters. The Eagles are dead last against the pass, but that should not matter as much now that Seneca Wallace will be under center for Green Bay. The Eagles will load up the box with eight defenders and cannot possibly be as bad as Chicago was against the run this past Monday night.
The Spread: This line opened up at Packers -2.5 and has quickly moved down to Packers -1. While Seneca Wallace looked awful on Monday night against the Bears, he is going to be better with one week of practice and coaching to prepare for the game. The Packers will shove the run down Philadelphia's throat and try to maintain the advantage in time of possession. It is likely that this line continues to move as the public pounds Philadelphia based on the Packers most recent loss, and more importantly the loss of Aaron Rodgers. We haven't seen the Packers play a meaningful game without Rodgers or Brett Favre in the past 20 years, so this will be uncharted territory on Sunday afternoon.
The wildcard in this game is Nick Foles. You cannot throw 7 touchdown passes against zero interceptions without being incredibly skilled. Clearly Foles found match ups to exploit and did so all afternoon long without any adjustments from the Oakland defense.
The Pick: I love Philadelphia in this game, but only if the line doesn't get out of hand and the Eagles stay as underdogs. When I first saw this line I bought a half point to get it up to Eagles +3 (-135), but the line will most likely never get back to that spread. However, I see the Eagles winning this game because I think Chip Kelly will put Nick Foles in a position to take control of the game. The Packers will battle with Eddie Lacy and their resurgent running game to try and limit the amount of plays the Eagles can run, but in the end I see the Eagles pulling away.
Final Score Prediction: Eagles 27, Packers 24
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