Eagles face red-hot Aaron Rodgers and a curious over/under | Sports-betting notes
Hard to recommend the over with the way the Eagles offense is playing. But take the Birds out of the equation, and there's a line of 27.5 on only Green Bay's point total.
While Eagles nation longs to see more of second-round pick Jalen Hurts, Packers fans couldn’t be happier to see first-round pick Jordan Love essentially take a redshirt year.
There was concern whether the Packers’ decision to trade up to take Love with the 26th overall pick would rattle Aaron Rodgers. It has not. Rodgers is the closest challenger to Patrick Mahomes for league MVP while Love has been active for one game.
Rodgers has had one poor game this season, and has been scorching ever since it. The Pack were flattened by the Buccaneers in Week 6, but since then has thrown 20 touchdown passes and two picks. He needs two scores on Sunday to become the first quarterback in history with five seasons of 35 or more TD passes.
Tom Brady has 28 and probably will join him later on this month.
» READ MORE: Bookies celebrate an epic backdoor cover by the Eagles
The Packers were 2-3 against the spread in November, but the overs hit in four of their five games. The exception was Week 10 when they came out flat and slipped by the hapless Jaguars, 24-20. The total was 46 that day.
The Eagles defense is tied for third-fewest touchdown passes allowed, but here’s a head’s up. Since Ben Roethlisberger lit them up for three scores in Week 5, the Eagles faced slumping Lamar Jackson, Daniel Jones twice, Ben DiNucci and Baker Mayfield and the run-heavy Browns on a sloppy field. They held Russell Wilson to one TD pass last week, but had no answers for wide receiver DK Metcalf.
Not saying the Eagles are bad defending the pass, but Rodgers is on another planet right now. The total of 46.5 points could be dicey given the struggles the Eagles’ offense is having. Instead, give a look toward DraftKings, which on Thursday afternoon was offering +100 on Packers’ over 27.5.
With revenge also on Rodgers’ mind, that feels like a gift.
Sixers win totals
Westgate updated its NBA win totals this week and bumped the Sixers up to 44.5. They had opened at 43.5 on Nov. 7. Teams must play at least 69 games. Pointsbet’s Sixers’ win total was at 43.
DraftKings was offering props on each team’s winning percentage, as opposed to total number of wins. They’re listed incorrectly at 59.5, but it obviously means .595. After a quick bit of math, that would put the Sixers total at 42.8 wins. Both under and over are -110 odds.
Take the under at Westgate and over at DraftKings, and there’s a decent middle if the Sixers finish with 43 or 44 wins. But they must play at least 69 games. What are the odds of that happening?
This & That
Andy Dalton was 8-8 against Baltimore in his days with Cincinnati, but covered five of his last six against the Ravens. Dalton and his new team, the Cowboys, are at Baltimore on Tuesday. Dallas is a 7-point underdog.
Alabama is laying 29.5 at LSU on Saturday. The Tide are 6-1 against the spread this year, compared to 4-3 for the battered Bayou Bengals (3-4 overall). Last year, LSU won this game as 6-point underdogs. This year, their money line is about +1500.
But the most interesting college football game of the weekend is 13th-ranked BYU, which gets to make a surprise visit to No. 18 Coastal Carolina. The Cougars (9-0) are 7-0-1 against the spread this season, 3-0 on the road. Coastal Carolina also is 9-0 straight-up, and a respectable 7-2 against the number. They had been scheduled to host Liberty before a COVID-19 outbreak forced the Flames to cancel. BYU is laying 10.