September 23, 2024
The Eagles beat the Saints. The defense made an impressive turnaround within a week, and when the offense needed points late, Saquon Barkley took off for a massive touchdown run and Dallas Goedert broke out at just the right time.
They took down one NFC South upstart, 15-12, to jump to 2-1, and now it's on to another in Baker Mayfield and the Tampa Bay Buccanneers.
Here's a look at the odds across several sportsbooks heading toward Sunday down in Tampa:
| Sportsbook | Spread | Money Line | Total O/U |
| DraftKings | PHI -2.5 | PHI -135 TB +114 | 45 |
| FanDuel | PHI -2.5 | PHI -144 TB +124 | 45.5 |
| BetRivers | PHI -2.5 | PHI -141 TB +115 | 45 |
| BetMGM | PHI -2.5 | PHI -145 TB +120 | 45.5 |
| Bally's | PHI -2.5 | PHI -141 TB +115 | 45 |
The Eagles' defense got carved up by Kirk Cousins and the Falcons at the last second to lose in Week 2 last Monday, and the Saints had emerged as one of the NFL's surprise offensive powerhouses with complete drubbings of the Panthers and then the Cowboys through their first two weeks.
The Eagles' defense, which was supposed to be strong in the trenches, was instead struggling to get to the quarterback and struggling even more to stop the run, and going up against Alvin Kamara and a New Orleans rushing attack that averaged 180 yards out of the gate, it looked like it was going to be an unfavorable matchup for Philly heading toward Week 3.
But Vic Fangio adjusted and his players responded. Jalen Carter looked like a beast off the line again, Jordan Davis made his first sack in a good while, and the Eagles held Kamara to just 87 rushing yards and the Saints only 89 in total.
In a low-scoring game, where the Eagles were trailing 3-0 all the way up until the fourth quarter, the defense held it all together while the offense had to work past early turnovers and questionable (at best) gambles until Barkley and Goedert broke them through.
"Shoutout to the defense, they played great the entire game," Goedert said afterward.
Sunday wasn't without its cost, however. Britain Covey left with a shoulder injury, and Lane Johnson and DeVonta Smith both had to exit for concussion evaluations, making for major hits to the offensive line and receiving corps.
Much like New Orleans, the Bucs caught many off guard with a 2-0 start sparked by wins over the Commanders and then the NFC-contending Lions, though they did crash back to Earth a bit on Sunday with a 26-7 loss to the Denver Broncos.
Mayfield got sacked seven times and threw a pick as the Tampa offense struggled to move against Denver across the board. Still, Mayfield has been a QB who has rediscovered himself down in Tampa and the Bucs still boast one of the better receiving duos in football to be mindful of between Mike Evans and Chris Godwin.
And for the Eagles, there's also the matter of the Bucs being the ones to eliminate them in the Wild Card round last season, which brought 2023's disastrous collapse to completion.
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