Eagles vs Redskins - Monday Night Football Preview

NFL Monday Night Preview

Eagles at Redskins

            Last week’s 13-9 loss to the Oakland Raiders was not only disappointing to the Philadelphia Eagles players but also most of the betting public.  More than 80% of the betting action on that game came in on the Eagles as 14 point road favorites.  Despite the loss to one of the worst teams in football, the public is plunking down hard cash on the Eagles again this week as 7 point road favorites against the Washington Redskins.  Projections indicate that almost 80% of the betting action is again on Philly.  The line opened with the Eagles at minus 5 and has jumped 2 full points throughout the week.

            Donovan McNabb is back healthy but he struggled last week with his accuracy as he went just 22/46.  However, the Eagle passing game has been strong averaging over 250 yards passing and the offense is scoring over 27 points a game as a whole.  DeSean Jackson has established himself as a legitimate big play receiver and Brian Westbrook, despite his age, is a true duel threat back.  Philly has also been stingy on defense, not allowing much yardage but are giving up an average of 19.8 points per game.  They will be facing one of the worst offenses in the NFL this week as the Redskins have struggled mightily on the offensive side of the ball.

            In fact, Washington is only averaging 13.2 points per game and less than 300 yards of total offense per contest.  The Redskins are 2-4 SU but their wins have come against Tampa Bay and St. Louis, two of the worst teams in the NFL.  They were only able to muster 16 points against Tampa and only 9 against St. Louis.  Their offensive woes have cost Redskin backers as they are just 1-4-1 against the spread this season.  In recent years, this offense has been successful running the ball with Clinton Portis and LaDell Betts but this year they are averaging only 98 yards a game on the ground.

            Expect the attacking defense of Philadelphia to blitz and blitz often against Jason Campbell.  Campbell has only thrown 6 touchdown passes against 6 interceptions.  The Eagles will stack the box to make Campbell beat them and then bring pressure in passing downs to force him to turn the ball over.  If the Eagles are able to force the Redskins into throwing the ball, it will be very difficult for Washington to win this game.

            However on the other side of the ball, Washington has played well as a defense.  They are only allowing 16 points and 286.5 yards of total offense per game.  Their secondary has played extremely well and they will have to come up big in order to stop McNabb and company.  If Washington is to win this game, the defense has got to be stingy because the offense is just too inconsistent.  However, it must be noted that the Redskins have not faced an opponent who has the kind of weapons that the Eagles do since week one when the Redskins lost 23-17 to the Giants.  The Eagles are a step up in class opposed to the other teams the Redskins have played in their last 5 games. 

Back to Article Listing