Philadelphia Eagles vs Houston Texans (11/3/22 8:15 pm EDT)
Line: Philadelphia -14
O/U: 45
Philadelphia Eagles vs Houston Texans Overview
The NFL’s NFC East will take on the AFC South when the Philadelphia Eagles head into Texas to take on the Houston Texans in a Thursday Night Battle for division supremacy. The Eagles are coming off a 35-13 thrashing of the Pittsburgh Steelers while the Texans lost 17-10 to their division rival, the Tennessee Titans.
Philadelphia Eagles Analysis
Seven games up, seven games down, and the Eagles are the only undefeated team in the NFL with no signs of slowing down after walloping the Steelers last Sunday. Despite playing in the best division in football this season, Philadelphia remains the top team in the NFC East and with the 12th-hardest strength of schedule in the league, it’s hard to believe they haven’t dropped a single game yet. Sunday’s win puts them at 4-0 at home, 5-2 against the spread, and 4-3 versus the over/under.
While many expected the Eagles to be a playoff team, no one thought they would be the best team in the NFL at nearly the midway point of the season. Looking at the team numbers, you begin to see why Philadelphia is the best team so far as they play great on both sides of the ball. On offense, the Eagles are averaging 395.4 yards a game of total offense, third in the NFL, and their two turnovers over seven games are the best in the league. On defense, Philadelphia is tops in the NFL with 16 takeaways so far while they’re giving up only 298.1 yards to opposing offenses, good for third overall.
A variety of different players are contributing this year to head coach Nick Sirianni’s team beginning with starting quarterback Jalen Hurts, easily one of the best QBs in the NFL this season. He’s thrown for 1699 yards with 10 touchdown passes against only two interceptions while adding another 303 yards rushing and six TDs on the ground. His go-to guy this year has been wide receiver, AJ Brown who has 39 receptions for 659 yards and five TDs to go with a 16.9 per-catch average.
Houston Texans Analysis
Not even halfway through the year, it’s been a long, sad season for the Texans as they dropped to 1-5-1 after losing a close game to the Titans in Week 8. The loss is their second in a row and fourth out of their last five games with their lone win on the season coming in a surprise road victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars. With only one win through seven games, the Texans are the only team with a single victory along with the Detroit Lions. Houston has gone 3-3-1 versus the spread and 3-4 against the over/under.
The 2022 season started off fine as the Texans fought hard against the Indianapolis Colts to open up the year with a tie. That would turn out to be a mere silver lining as Houston would go on to lose their next contests before beating Jacksonville in Week 5. The biggest issue with the Texans is they just don’t do anything very well, ranking low on both offense and defense. On the offensive side of the ball, their 288.7 yards of total offense ranks dead last in the league while on defense their 403.6 yards allowed ranks second to last.
Starting quarterback David Mills has been shaky all year although he has had a few bright spots with 1502 yards thrown so far to go with eight TDs and six picks. Rookie running back Dameon Pierce has been one of the few bright spots for the team this year, rushing for 539 and three TDs so far. With the inconsistent play from Mills this year, the Texans haven’t gotten a lot of production out of the wide receiving corps with Brandin Cooks leading the team with 354 yards on the season and 50.4 yards per game.
Free Pick: Eagles -14
This is one of those lines that makes you do a double-take because it’s so large but it’s fair when you look deeper at the two teams and their performances over seven games. On one end of the spectrum, you have the abysmal Texans who will likely be fighting for the top pick at the end of the year while the Eagles are aiming for the best record and a first-round bye in the playoffs. Philadelphia has won all three games on the road whereas Houston remains winless at home. The Texans’ inability to succeed on both offense and defense could turn this game into a blowout in the first half. It’s a lot of points but we like the Eagles -14.
