Atlanta Falcons vs. Philadelphia Eagles, 9/4/18 Predictions & Preview

Falcons vs. Eagles Total Prediction

The NFL season will kick off in Philadelphia on Thursday night with a rematch of one of the Divisional round playoff matchups from last year. Will the Falcons and Eagles generate enough offense to push the score over the betting total in the season opener?

Game Snapshot

451 Atlanta Falcons at 452 Philadelphia Eagles

8:20 p.m. ET, Thursday, September 6, 2018

Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia, PA

Public Betting Trends

According to oddsmakers from online sports book BetNow.eu, the Eagles are 2.5-point favorites to beat the Falcons. The total, meanwhile, sits at 45 points. As of this writing, 51% of the public betting tickets are on the Eagles to cover the point spread.

Atlanta Falcons

Falcons coach Dan Quinn on the 52-man roster coming together, with one spot remaining: ``We'll for sure keep digging. I think it's always good to know over the first couple weeks of the season, there's still some movement that could take place, and it's a little bit fluid. But we knew coming in this was going to be a really tough and competitive group, some spots more so than others.'' Falcons have 2 QB, 3 RB, 6 WR, 3 TE, 9 OL, 9 DL, 6 LB, 10 DBs, 3 specialists.

Philadelphia Eagles

Eagles coach Doug Pederson confirmed Nick Foles will start the season opener. NFL Network's Ian Rapoport reported as much on Saturday, but the Eagles resisted making it official until now. Recovering from an ACL injury, Carson Wentz has yet to be cleared for contact, making it possible Foles starts multiple games. Coming off a dreadful preseason, Foles will not be a recommended streaming option against the Falcons on Thursday night.

NFL Betting Trends

Atlanta

The under is 7-0 in the Falcons’ last seven games overall.

Philadelphia

The under is 4-1 in the Eagles’ last five home games.

Prediction

These two teams managed just 25 combined points back in January when they met in the Divisional round of the NFL playoffs. Now, every year is different but there’s no reason to believe that Thursday night won’t feature plenty of defense in Philadelphia. The Eagles have a top-5 defense and after cracking the top-10 a year ago, the Falcons have one of the better young defensive units in the league as well. In fact, the only defense to slow down Nick Foles and the Eagles in the playoffs were these Falcons, who are fast at every level. I see a defensive slugfest in the season opener.

 

NFL Week 1 Preseason Prediction: Falcons/Eagles under 45