The Eagles are back from the bye week to play a struggling Pittsburgh Steelers team while, let's be real here, much bigger things are happening across the street.
At 6-0 and the last undefeated team in the NFL, playing some of the league's best football, none of us at PhillyVoice can really see the Steelers posing much of a challenge.
Wrote Shamus Clancy:
This game has 2017 Eagles energy to me where a wire-to-wire great team is just trouncing below-average and mediocre squads. The 2-5 Steelers are in a rough spot in a road matchup against the NFL's last unbeaten team. Mike Tomlin is perpetually an underrated coach, but even he can't get his Steelers out of this early hole.
I don't expect this one to be close and it may be over by halftime. The Eagles' formula of building big leads and burning the clock with a high-level run game repeats itself once again. [PhillyVoice]
A look around the rest of the football world says more of the same. It's an extremely rare down year for the Steel City while the Birds are firing on nearly all cylinders.
• Inquirer.com: The Inquirer beats all see an Eagles win here. There's going to be a 1 in the loss column at some point, but as Jeff McLane writes, it probably won't happen here:
There could be a lull coming off a bye, and there is bound to be an unexpected loss sometime this season, but I don’t see it this Sunday. [The Inquirer, $]
• The Athletic: The Eagles came into the week as huge 10.5-point favorites against Pittsburgh, and from a lot of angles, that seems like a pretty sound bet. For senior writer Vic Tafur, it's the last time the Steelers faced a mobile quarterback in the Bills' Josh Allen. They got trounced. Now they'll face Jalen Hurts on fresh legs.
The Steelers have the seventh-most run-heavy offense in the NFL (45.9 percent early-down pass rate in the first 28 minutes, according to the Cook Index), but RB Najee Harris ranks last in success rate (29 percent) among 10 RBs with 100-plus carries. The Eagles rank sixth in defensive DVOA on first down and fifth on second-and-long. And while Pickett has held up well under pressure (ninth in EPA/DB under pressure), the Eagles added Quinn and you have to figure a talented Eagles secondary is licking its chops.
Meanwhile, Jalen Hurts will have fresh legs, and the Steelers defense was vulnerable the last time they faced a top rushing quarterback. Josh Allen had his second-fewest rushing attempts of the season (five) in the Bills’ 38-3 win over the Steelers, but one run went for 21 yards and another went for 16.
The pick: Eagles (-10.5) [The Athletic, $]
MORE: Eagles at Steelers: Predictions, betting odds and more for Week 8
• Gregg Rosenthal, NFL.com: Mark down an Eagles win for Rosenthal too. Not a lopsided one like most are forecasting though. He's predicting a 28-22 final score.
Najee Harris showed signs of life last week, but he'll need to be even better this week. That’s because James Bradberry and Darius Slay have developed into the best cornerback tandem in football, the rare duo that matches up just fine with the Steelers’ wideouts downfield. T.J. Watt could be back, and every Steelers loss except the one to Buffalo has basically come down to the final possession, so I’m not expecting a lopsided result. [NFL.com]
• Pete Prisco, CBS Sports: A 30-17 Eagles pick. The Birds will just have too much going for them.
The battle of Pennsylvania features a Steelers team playing a second straight road game against an Eagles team that is coming off a bye. That's a big edge for the Eagles. The Philadelphia attack is a tough one to prepare for on a short week having played Sunday night. Give me the Eagles to win easily. [CBS Sports]
• ProFootballTalk: Again, the Eagles will have way too much going for them. The Steelers won't be able to keep up.
MDS’s take: The Eagles will run all over the Steelers as they keep the NFL’s only undefeated record intact.
MDS’s pick: Eagles 24, Steelers 10.
Florio’s take: Kenny Pickett needs more reps to work toward his ceiling. He’s got a long way to go to get there.
Florio’s pick: Eagles 31, Steelers 17. [PFT]
MORE: All of Jimmy Kempski's Week 8 NFL picks
• Sheil Kapadia, The Ringer: Kapadia sees the Eagles coming out on top and won't be shocked if it's a blowout. His only hangup, spread-wise, is that 10.5 is a big one to cover no matter who they would play.
The Eagles are the much better team right now, and a blowout would not be surprising, but this is a big number, and I generally lean toward Tomlin when he’s an underdog.
The pick: Steelers (+10.5) [The Ringer]
• Bill Bender, The Sporting News: Eagles for the win, 28-17.
They should play this matchup more often. The home team has won the last four meetings, and Philadelphia has a bye week to prepare for the Steelers' defense, which has been generous to receivers. Jalen Hurts will exploit that, and Kenny Pickett will help the Eagles pad their NFL-best +12 turnover differential. [The Sporting News]
• Vinnie Iyer, The Sporting News: Eagles, but just shy of the 10.5-point spread.
These two teams once were mashed up into the "Steagles." But on opposite sides of the Keystone State, Pittsburgh and Philadelphia are going in very different directions this season. The Steelers' defense has played better and the offense has flashed with Kenny Pickett, but there are just too many critical mistakes. The Eagles, coming off a bye, will have their defense well rested to thwart Pickett and on the other side, Jalen Hurts and his receivers can cause major problems.
Pick: Eagles win 24-14 but fail to cover the spread. [The Sporting News]
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