The Baltimore Ravens travel to the City of Brotherly Love to do battle with the Philadelphia Eagles. Both teams are expected to contend for the Super Bowl this year, and both teams are talented up and down the roster. See why we recommend an NFL picks on the total
There's really not much in the NFL odds for this great matchup –
the Eagles are anywhere from one to three-point favorites, depending on your
sportsbook of choice. (Check out sportsbookreview.com to see our recommended
list featuring the best books around)
Even after both teams put up good defensive efforts last
week, the total is still relatively high at 46.5 That number's risen from 44
throughout the week.
Let's go over each team's Week 1 performance and then decide
which way to lean with our NFL picks in this matchup.
Philadelphia Eagles
A win's a win, we get it. However, Andy Reid can't be too
pleased at all with what he got out of his team last weekend.
The Eagles needed a last-minute touchdown drive from Michael
Vick to beat the Cleveland Browns 16-17. They entered the game as nine-point
favorites and almost lost straight up. Backers could only look on helplessly as
Philadelphia made mistake after mistake and fell short of the cover.
Vick did orchestrate the winning touchdown, but he was
pretty terrible otherwise. He threw four interceptions and ended up with a poor
QB rating of 51.0.
LeSean McCoy (136 total yards) was effective, but the saving
grace for Philadelphia was their defense.
The Eagles D completely owned rookie quarterback Brandon
Weeden. He was only 12-of-35 for 118 yards and was picked up four times, finishing
with a laughable rating of 5.1. Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie and Kurt Coleman
each had two interceptions.
That doesn't excuse the sloppy play we saw out of Reid's
team though. The Eagles had 12 total penalties for 110 yards and turned the
ball over five times. You'll lose nine times out of ten with those kind of
numbers.
Baltimore Ravens
There aren't too many complaints about Baltimore's win over
Cincinnati.
That's because the Ravens were dominant in all phases of the
game. They scored at least seven points in every quarter and went on to win
44-13.
Ray Rice said before the season started that this was Joe
Flacco's team and boy he did prove that to be true. Taking control of the new
no-huddle offense, Flacco was 21-of-29 for 299 yards and two touchdowns. He was
faultless out there.
Touchdown grabs came from Anquan Boldin and Dennis Pitta,
while six others all caught passes too. Rice had a good game himself,
scampering for 68 yards and two touchdowns on only 10 carries.
The Ravens defense made Andy Dalton and the Cincinnati
offense work for each and every yard.
Ray Lewis had 14 total tackles and a sack, Halotia Ngata had
two sacks, and Ed Reed returned an interception for a touchdown. All of the key
guys showed up and made an impact on the game.
NFL Pick
This, along with the San Francisco/Detroit game, are my
favorite matchups of the week.
It's hard to pick a side here though. The Eagles are just so
damn frustrating to watch – practically unstoppable one week and then all over
the place the next. There's no doubt they have the makeup, at least from a
talent standpoint, to be a true contender this season.
From what we saw out of Week 1, the Ravens clearly have the
edge. That said, you can't count out home-field advantage and the fact that everyone
and their mothers are backing Baltimore. Something smells fishy about this
line.
So, instead of adding a spread play to my sports picks I'm liking the OVER. Sure,
these defenses are chalk full of talent, but so are the offenses. Two of the
best running backs in the business will be on show and I have a hard time
believing Vick will be that bad again this weekend.
Pick: OVER 46.5