First-year Indianapolis Colts head coach Shane Steichen is going against his former team tonight for the first time since being the Philadelphia Eagles offensive coordinator during their Super Bowl run last season.
These are two teams going in two completely different directions, with the Eagles hoping to make it back to the Super Bowl and the Colts undergoing a rebuild. With two different mindsets heading into the 2023 season, how will that impact each team’s approach to tonight’s game? We break down the betting odds, give out picks, and more.
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[tallysight url=”https://tallysight.com/widget/offers/pro-football-network/dynamic/sportsbooks:1,2,3,4/promos:1?id=7829b26f-55d5-4702-9739-31ad1bcb4c65″]Indianapolis Colts (-4.5) vs. Philadelphia Eagles
Blewis: No. 4 overall pick QB Anthony Richardson is confirmed to start tonight, and several other Colts starters will get reps as well, according to Steichen.
The Eagles, on the other hand, are not expected to play their starters, wanting to play it safe heading into the regular season. They haven’t been a competitive preseason team under Nick Sirianni either, with a record of just 1-5-2.
With all of that being said, are the Colts getting overvalued here?
That’s a lot of points in a preseason game, and are we sure Richardson is going to play more than a couple series at best?
Even if he does, it’s far from a guarantee he sets the world on fire in the second game of his career. And I doubt Steichen is going to call for many designed runs for Richardson to put him at risk for injury.
MORE: Win-Loss Predictions for Every NFL Team
For the Eagles, we should expect to see more of rookie QB Tanner McKee, who has been impressive through two preseason games. At least better than Marcus Mariota, that’s for sure.
Conventional wisdom would be to back the team playing more starters, but I’m going to zag here thinking that’s overly baked into the odds.
Pick: Eagles +4.5 (-110)
Soppe: Since shifting to the three preseason-game schedule, we’ve seen a few trends develop, and I’m using them to guide my action for this final week of practice games.
In the third week of the preseason over the past two seasons (all stats refer to outright wins):
- Entered the game undefeated and not facing an undefeated team: 11-5
- Entered the game winless and not facing a winless team: 4-10
- Winner of the first quarter in Week 3: 22-5*
*Does not include games that were tied after the first 15 minutes or games that ended in a tie. If you’re around, attacking these games in a live-betting environment might be well worth your time, even if you have to lay some juice.
If I had to pick one of the defeated teams to pick on, it would be the reigning NFC champs. The Eagles aren’t worried about many moving pieces entering 2023, so why would they put much effort into the final week of the preseason that comes on a short week?
The Colts, on the other hand, have as many question marks as anyone. We’ll get a look at Richardson again, and Indianapolis will undoubtedly want to have him entering the regular season with confidence in his arm.
The Jonathan Taylor situation is a mess for this franchise, though the story I’m telling is that this coaching staff is going to want all of the live reps they can get. By August standards, what the Colts bring to the table in terms of offensive competition and motivation is elite, so I’ll lay the points.
Pick: Colts -4.5 (-110)
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The biggest news out of Indianapolis this week has been the organization giving Taylor permission to seek a trade. The Colts have shown no interest in giving Taylor a contract extension as teams have become increasingly resistant to pay running backs. But Taylor wants a pay raise plus the security of a long-term deal.
As mentioned earlier, the biggest storyline coming out of Indianapolis this game is Richardson starting. With him starting, expect other starters on offense to play as well to help him get into a rhythm before the start of the season.
With Taylor not playing and on the trade block, the Colts have several young running backs in the mix for playing time. Zack Moss is currently out with a broken arm, however, so expect Deon Jackson, rookie Evan Hull, Jake Funk, and veteran Kenyan Drake to be in the mix for the time being.
Philadelphia Eagles Roster and Injury Report
The Eagles suffered a handful of injuries in last week’s preseason game against the Cleveland Browns. Most notably, rookie pass rusher Nolan Smith left the game with a right shoulder injury, and CB Zech McPhearson was put on injured reserve after tearing his Achilles.
The training camp battle that has received the most notice in Philadelphia has been the competition at running back. The Eagles have a lot of depth at the position, with five guys in the mix to make the team.
Trey Sermon, who is most likely the odd man out, should get the majority of the snaps again this week. After losing a fumble early in the game, Sermon had an impressive outing, going for 54 rushing yards on five carries, including a 33-yard TD run.