Tonight sees the beginning of Week 2 of the 2024 NFL preseason as the Philadelphia Eagles and New England Patriots take to the field in Foxborough. We already got a glimpse of the potential action, as these two teams have been together for joint practices during the week.
However, preseason games can be tough to judge, so let’s look at what we know and what storylines might be at play on Thursday Night Football with our first set of Week 2 NFL preseason picks and predictions.
Philadelphia Eagles vs. New England Patriots Odds, Picks, and Predictions
- Spread: Patriots -2.5
- Moneyline: Eagles +124, Patriots -148
- Total: 36
If you’ve been following along with the Patriots’ beat reporters, you will know it’s been a tough week of practice. While the defense has stood up admirably against the Eagles’ offense, the Patriots’ offensive line has been a major concern, which throws huge question marks around the offense’s potential.
If this were a regular-season game, you would fairly easily make the Eagles favorites, even on the road. However, it’s Week 2 of the NFL preseason, and history tells us that Philadelphia’s primary starters won’t see much action this week.
In last year’s preseason, Jalen Hurts took no part, and neither did his main weapons. That is unlikely to change, and even if Hurts were to suit up, it would probably be a brief appearance. That somewhat explains why the Patriots are favored here.
Last week, New England showed us basically everyone who was healthy at some point. That’s likely to be the case again this week and helps explain why they’re favored. The question is whether the Patriots’ starters are significantly better than the Eagles’ backups (which must be a chilling thing to read as a New England fan).
Ultimately, this game will be of fairly low quality in terms of offense. Sure, the Patriots may use their starters on offense, but the Eagles’ defense has some pretty good players and plenty vying for roles when the regular season begins.
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Last week, Philadelphia held Baltimore out of the end zone for three quarters (albeit with Josh Johnson and Devin Leary), and they should be pretty stingy against a Patriots offense that was hardly fluid last week themselves. New England scored seven points in the first half before adding 10 in the fourth quarter when Joe Milton III briefly lit up the field in his appearance.
The Eagles’ offense managed just 16 points last week, and it lacked any real zip. The Patriots’ defense is good enough to suffocate a Kenny Pickett-led offense that is playing safe ball. However, there’s no certainty that New England can outscore anyone by three points, so taking the spread either way is a no-go for me.
In last week’s preseason action, 11 of the 16 games went under this week’s total, including the games involving these two sides. Week 2 can sometimes result in more scoring with more starters on offense taking the field, but we don’t expect much to change for these two teams.
Therefore, let’s take the under in a game that could struggle to see 20 points scored, let alone 36.
Prediction: Patriots 10, Eagles 9
