Washington lost for the second-straight week with a 31-23 loss to Arizona on Sunday. Philadelphia lost for the fifth time in their last six outings with a 32-14 defeat at the hands of Cincinnati last week.
The Redskins have averaged 28 ppg over their last five contests as the offense has been productive both in the running and passing game. Rookie RB Robert Kelley is averaging almost 5.0 ypc since he was anointed as the starter. The Eagles allow about 100 ypg on the ground and the o-line will have their hands full with DT Fletcher Cox on the inside. QB Kirk Cousins has a 21-8 TD/INT ratio for the year and should do well against a pass defense that yielded 332 passing yards to a Bengals squad missing their top two pass catchers. WRs Pierre Garcon, DeSean Jackson and Jamison Crowder are all capable of making big plays and take turns being Cousins’ top target on a game-to-game basis. TE Jordan Reed is expected to miss this game with a shoulder injury but TE Vernon Davis has had a career resurgence as his backup. Davis has 36 catches on the year and still has the speed to beat many LBs. No player on Philadelphia has more than 5 sacks on the year and they were blanked last week. Cousins has only been sacked 16 times on the year.
Eagles’ rookie QB Carson Wentz played poorly last week but also threw 60 passes. He was picked off three times and now has a pedestrian 12-11 TD/INT ratio. He has been sacked 26 times on the year and looks like he is getting rattled. While he has played better at home, he hasn’t been the player he was in the first three weeks of the year. Washington hasn’t been great at pass defense but the Eagles played without WR Jordan Matthews last week and he is questionable this week. TE Zach Ertz had nine receptions and a TD last week and has to be accounted for. OLBs Ryan Kerrigan (10) and Trent Murphy (8) are the leading pass rushers for Washington and watch the RT spot for Philadelphia where they are on their third-string RT (Allen Barbre). RB Ryan Mathews (knee) missed last week’s game and is questionable for this game. Rookie RB Wendell Smallwood and RB Darren Sproles are his replacements but neither has a big impact on the running game.
Public Money Consensus
In this weeks NFL matchup between the Washington Redskins and the Philadelphia Eagles the early public money is definitively on the Redskins to win this game by over 80%. The over bet here also appears to be the trend with 76% believing this game will go over the posted total line of 46.5.
