The final match in Week 2 of the NFL 2024 season comes along in the Monday Night Football as two sides who will have eyes on winning their division this term meet when the Philadelphia Eagles host the Atlanta Falcons.
The Eagles were winners in Brazil in the opening week of the campaign and they’ll be looking to go 2-0 at the top of the NFC East while Atlanta fluffed their lines in their first game and will be eager to get off the mark in this one.
Philadelphia Eagles
There were a few question marks surrounding the Philadelphia Eagles heading into the new season and while we didn’t get all of them answered out in Brazil, the main thing was that they were able to win the game and put that dismal end to the previous campaign behind them. They now have a home game against a team who look beatable on paper which if they do come out on top in they will move a game clear of their perceived rivals for the NFC East title in Dallas Cowboys.
The undoubted and obvious positive for the Eagles in that first game was the impact that Saquon Barkley made to their offense. He wasn’t just a threat in the run game but as a receiver too and that adds an extra dimension to what was already a dangerous offense. The big question we wanted answering was how much their defence had improved under Vic Fangio. We didn’t really find out much in that regard so all eyes will be on the defence in this one.
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Atlanta Falcons
The Atlanta Falcons went into the season with a little more optimism around them than the last couple of campaigns. It was a bit of a mess for them last season but they have gone out and got themselves a very useful quarterback and you would expect a good deal of natural improvement as a result of that. We didn’t really get to see that in the first game last week but they have a chance on a decent stage to show that they are better than what they offered there.
The home loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, if you include pre-season, was the eighth loss in the last nine matches for the Falcons dating back to last season so this looks like a side who desperately need to end the slump. We should get much more from them offensively here. If we don’t then we will have to revise our expectations of the Falcons. The big test will be defensively where they have been talked up but probably didn’t get as much of a test from the Steelers as they will here.
Betting
This should be an interesting Monday Night Football not least because we will find out just what the Atlanta Falcons are all about, or at least we should do. They were very poor offensively last week but you do have to allow for the fact that T.J. Watt was in the opposing causing havoc everywhere he went. There was nothing in the pass rush from the Philadelphia Eagles against Green Bay last week that suggests that Kirk Cousins is going to be under that sort of pressure here.
That makes me think that we will get a higher scoring match than expected. I think we saw enough from the Eagles offense to suggest that they are going to put points on the board in this one but we also saw enough from them defensively to suggest that they are a work in progress on that side of the ball. Cousins has some good receiving options and a running back who could do some damage against this Eagles defence and that all makes me think that a 44.5 point line is a little on the low side.
Tips
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