NFL Sports Betting Odds: : Eagles Face Another Must Win vs Patriots

Sunday, November 27, 2011

by Bodog Sportsbook

Back in the preseason, the Philadelphia Eagles and New England Patriots were two of the three favorites to win the Super Bowl come February in Indianapolis along with Green Bay. And this Sunday’s matchup in Philly between the two looked like one of the most anticipated games of the year.

Well, New England is 7-3 and fighting for the top seed in the AFC, but the Eagles are 4-6 and probably need to win out to have any chance at sneaking into the playoffs. A Super Bowl rematch seems unlikely, especially with the dominance of Green Bay in the NFC.

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The big question about Sunday’s game is the status of Philadelphia QB Michael Vick, who sat out last weekend’s huge 17-10 win at the New York Giants with broken ribs. Eagles officials remain optimistic Vick can return this week, but the team will start Vince Young again if Vick isn’t able to go 100 percent. Young, making his first start in a year, led the Eagles on a game-winning, 18-play, 8:10 minute drive in the fourth quarter against the Giants, capping it with an 8-yard TD pass to Riley Cooper with a little under 3 minutes remaining. It was a reversal of fortune for the Eagles, who have coughed up five games in the fourth quarter this season. Young has now won 31 games in 48 career starts, including 13 thanks to fourth-quarter drives.

Because Vick’s status is still unclear, this line is currently off the board (although it will likely be New England -3). The status of Eagles starting WR Jeremy Maclin, who also missed the Giants game, is up in the air as well. That Giants victory allowed Philadelphia to pull within two games of the Giants and Cowboys for the NFC East lead, and Philly currently has the best division record in the East and thus might hold a crucial tiebreaker down the road. The Giants and Eagles split two meetings this year, while Philly beat Dallas earlier this year and still has to travel to Big D.

New England is tied with Pittsburgh (which holds the head-to-head tiebreaker with the Patriots), Houston and Baltimore for the best record in the AFC, but the Patriots have the easiest remaining schedule among that quartet. It’s a short week for New England, which rolled past Kansas City 34-3 on Monday night. Tom Brady threw for two TDs, both to red-hot tight end Rob Gronkowski. "Gronk" now has 10 touchdown catches on the season, five in the past three games, and is the fastest tight end in NFL history to reach 20 touchdown catches, doing so in 26 games. The previous record was Mike Ditka in 31 games. The NFL single-season record for TD catches by a tight end is 13. New England's offense is second in the NFL in total yards, second in passing yards, third in the red zone and fourth in points.

This is the first meeting between the Patriots and Eagles since the 2007 regular season. New England is 4-0 ATS in its past four against teams with losing records. Eagles are 1-7 ATS in past eight at home.

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jeremy maclin - michael vick - mike ditka - new england patriots - philadelphia eagles - riley cooper - rob gronkowski - super bowl - tom brady - vince young