This Friday, we are heading to Brazil where two NFC powerhouses that ended the season on very different momentum swings face off. The Green Bay Packers are coming off a superb season where they watched Jordan Love dismantle defenses and lead the team to a Divisional Round appearance just a year removed from Aaron Rodgers’ final snap with the team.
The Philadelphia Eagles lost six of their final seven games of the season including a 32-9 loss in Tampa Bay in the Wild Card round that sent them packing earlier than expected. Jalen Hurts’ relationship with Coach Sirianni is reportedly hurt, and the defense still has question marks in the secondary.
The one thing going for Philly is the offense. Saquon Barkley, Kenneth Gainwell, AJ Brown, Devonta Smith, Jahan Dotson, and Dallas Goedert will become the six-headed monster for Jalen Hurts to throw to. Plenty of points and yards, but can Philly rewrite the momentum and beat Green Bay in Brazil?
The Eagles are a 3-point favorite, but don't be surprised if the Packers and Jordan Love find a way to pull off the upset. The total sits at 48.5 points, one of the highest week 1 totals on the board.
Bottom line - Saquon Barkley is too athletic to elect not to dump it down in space and let him work. With Jalen Hurts getting into trouble in the pocket last season, Saquon provides the perfect check down option and at 2.5, this prop should easily be exceeded.
Swift had 7 games with 3 or more catches last season with Philly including 3 grabs in his first full game of play. With Barkley and Swift bound to have a similar role with this team, I believe the coaching staff will endorse Saquon as the “panic checkdown” option each and every play for Hurts so he takes minimal hits in the backfield.
With Jason Kelce enjoying retirement, this prop is even more understandable as the offensive line will give Jalen less time to read the defense and throw the ball deep.
Romeo Doubs was slowly becoming Jordan Love’s favorite target last season. Doubs nearly reached the 100 target mark and finished 14 among wideouts in red zone targets, catching 9 of them.
With Philly bound to play some zone defense to give their secondary some room for error, watch for Doubs to eat up yards in a hurry.
He finished with a 47% win rate against zone and with Jordan in his second season reading defenses, Doubs finishing with 39 or more receiving yards is an easy bet.
Jacobs is going to finish top five in carries this season. With Aaron Jones in Minnesota and A.J. Dillon out, Josh Jacobs in his prove-it year contract wise will have his work cut out for him. With this being said, Matt LeFleur is incredible at scheming running backs into successful seasons, and that all starts with a solid Week 1 performance.
Aaron Jones has totaled 3 touchdowns in five Week 1 appearances, while Josh Jacobs totaled 7 TDs through his first three Week 1 appearances before not finding the paint in the last two seasons with the Raiders.
Ultimately, Jacobs is a back who can impact the game at the goal line as a receiver or rusher. In the LeFleur playbook, there is going to be a Josh Jacobs-led play inside the five yard line at some point in this ball game.
The Eagles have several questions to answer in the secondary, but the middle of this defense is one of the best in football. With Jalen Carter, Jordan Davis, and Milton Williams up the middle, and Zack Baun and Devin White at linebacker, we think this will be a tough group to run against.
We also have questions about the interior of this Packers offensive line. Elgton Jenkins and Josh Myers were two of the worst run blocking linemen in football, while rookie Jordan Morgan will make his first career start.
We expect Philly to hold Jacobs to under 4 YPC and under his 64.5 rushing yards prop.
With the six valuable options Philly has on offense, Jalen Hurts’ rushing attempts number is bound to decrease over the course of this season. After rushing the ball 165 and then 157 times in back-to-back seasons, the wear and tear should be a concern for this team.
The odds are stacked against us if we look at Jalen’s last two Week 1 games, where he rushed 9 and 17 times. However, with new weapon Saquon Barkley, a retooled offensive line, and a fast defense on the other side, we think the Eagles will limit the playbook for Jalen and his legs.