Morning Coffee: Eagles a popular pick to win and cover on Monday Night Football

The National Football League thrives on unpredictability.

It’s the feeling that, on any given Sunday, any team can beat the odds.

That’s the magic that makes every game of the year must-watch television.

If Week 2 is any indication, we’re in for an absolutely thrilling ride this season.

NFL underdogs have gone 7-8 straight up and 10-5 against the spread this week.

So far this season, underdogs of six points or more are a perfect 8-0 against the spread.

The three biggest betting favourites have all lost outright, creating absolute chaos in Survivor Pools.

Seven teams are a perfect 2-0 against the spread.

None of them are among the top 10 choices to win the Super Bowl at FanDuel this morning.

Will Week 2 end the same way that it started with another upset on Monday Night Football?

The Philadelphia Eagles opened -3.5 against the Atlanta Falcons and got as high as -6.5, before settling at the current number -5.5.

The Eagles are a top five choice to win the Super Bowl and an obvious home favourite for tonight’s game.

At the same time, Philly has failed to cover the spread in each of its last seven games when laying four points or more.

As it turns out, FanDuel bettors aren’t concerned at all about that recent trend.

Per the FanDuel traders, a whopping 86 per cent of the stakes for Monday Night Football are on the Eagles to win and cover the spread.

This is the Morning Coffee for Monday September 16^th, 2024.

Eagles A Popular Pick To Win, Cover On Monday Night Football

Remember when we faded “Primetime Kirk Cousins”?

It wasn’t that long ago that Cousins was 0-9 straight up and against the spread on Monday Night Football.

He’s since gone 3-1 SU and ATS on MNF since 2020.

Still, I’m fading Cousins and the Falcons tonight.

Atlanta is 3-9 ATS in its previous 12 games as an underdog and 2-7 ATS in prime-time games dating back to 2018.

More importantly, Cousins looked severely limited in a Week 1 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers in which he was held to just 155 passing yards on 26 attempts.

Cousins threw two interceptions and was sacked twice.

Drake London was limited to two catches for 15 yards on three targets.

Kyle Pitts finished with three catches for 26 yards but salvaged his fantasy performance with a touchdown.

The Falcons’ run-pass splits were nearly even and Bijan Robinson averaged just 3.8 yards per carry on 18 attempts despite breaking off a 13-yard run.

Considering the Eagles held Jordan Love to a 50 per cent completion rate and generated enough pressure to keep him off balance for an entire game, I’m not predicting Cousins to lead Atlanta to an upset win tonight.

On the other side of the ball, the Falcons could be in tough to contain a Philly offence that exploded for 31 points in two quarters in its win over Green Bay.

The Eagles won’t have No. 1 receiver A.J. Brown, but they will have running back Saquon Barkley, who torched the Packers for 132 scrimmage yards and three touchdowns.

The Falcons defence just gave up 134 rushing yards to Najee Harris, Jaylen Warren and Cordarrelle Patterson.

How will they slow down a Pro Bowl-calibre running back that ranked fifth in yards after contact in Week 1?

Barkley is coming off one of the top-five best fantasy performances of his career in his Eagles debut and with Brown out of the lineup I expect another strong performance.

I already locked in a Texans-Eagles moneyline parlay and Barkley anytime touchdown as recommended plays late last week.

This morning, I’ll add a Same Game Parlay with Barkley 60+ rushing yards and Philadelphia to win outright as a FanDuel Best Bet at -130 odds.

Hopefully, we can complete the hat-trick tonight!

Go Birds!

Have a great day, everyone!