Eagles Want to Continue Flying as They Face Rebuilt Jags’ Defense
By Charles Jay
The Philadelphia Eagles made the playoffs last season in coach Chip Kelly’s first season at the helm. They are looking to keep up that momentum as they begin the 2014 NFL season at home, taking on a team in the Jacksonville Jaguars that is in the rebuilding phase. No one really looks forward to playing Philadelphia, because they operate at such a breakneck pace on offense. But Jacksonville coach Gus Bradley likes to think he has improved his defense a great deal. We will see, as pro football betting action at Vietbet gets underway at 1 PM ET at Lincoln Financial Field.
Last season Jacksonville started 0-8, but closed with some strength, winning four of their last eight games, ending up with a 4-12 straight-up mark in which they went 6-10 against the NFL pointspread. Including their playoff defeat, Philadelphia was 10-7 straight-up and 8-9 against the points.
One of the highlights in the off-season for the Jags was drafting Central Florida quarterback Blake Bortles with the #3 pick. He looked good in the pre-season, but the club is being patient with him, and will start veteran Chad Henne for the time being. One of the more noticeable personnel moves the Eagles made was to cut wide receiver DeSean Jackson, who caused more than his share of off-field controversy and is now with the Washington Redskins (are we allowed to say that?).
In the pro football betting odds that have been established by the people at Vietbet, the Eagles are considerable favorites in this game:
Philadelphia Eagles -10
Jacksonville Jaguars +10
Over 52 Points -110
Under 52 Points -110
Henne has been around the league for quite a while, and he has never been known as a quarterback who was going to blow anyone’s doors off. This team will wait for Bortles to be ready, and he really looked good during the exhibition schedule, completing 63% of his passes for over ten yards per attempt, with no interceptions. At some point the job will be his. Until then, defense has to carry the Jaguars. Bradley was the former defensive coordinator with the Seattle Seahawks, and helped to build that nasty stop unit that eventually won a Super Bowl. He went out and acquired Chris Clemons, a defensive end he had worked with in Seattle, and contributions from him are badly needed, because this team had only 31 sacks last season. No one in the league had fewer.
But Vietbet patrons are aware that Jacksonville gave up 132 rushing yards per game as well, so clearly there are a lot of holes to fill. And if you are vulnerable on defense, this high-paced attack of Kelly’s is a pretty good bet to exploit that. The Eagles finished second in the league in offense last year, and got an unbelievable season out of Nick Foles, who started the season on the bench, but after replacing Michael Vick threw for 27 touchdowns with only two interceptions. Also, LaSean McCoy led the league with 1607 rushing yards. On the surface, it looks as if these guys can attack you anyway they want. NFL bettors can expect that Zach Ertz, the tight end entering his second season, will play a bigger part in the offense. But who is going to replace Jackson’s production? After all, he had 1332 yards through the air. And Jeremy Maclin may or may not be over his knee injury. Somehow, most people figure that Kelly will find a way to move the ball.
Jacksonville has brought some new personnel into the offense, including Allen Robinson and Marquise Lee, two talented rookie receivers. Vietbet customers know that there will be a lot of pressure on Toby Gerhart, Adrian Peterson’s former backup in Minnesota, who will be taking over as the feature back. As we mentioned, this team is in a rebuilding phase, but they better figure out a way to chew up clock so that their defense doesn’t get tired.
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