Philadelphia Eagles vs New Orleans Saints: Jumpstarting the offense

Decision that could be made sooner

Eagles finally made a decision that was probably long overdue. After benching Carson Wentz last week vs Packers and seeing Jalen Hurts inject some life into their offense, they decided that it is the time to start the rookie. I believe that decision should be made earlier, but I can understand why it was not. Carson Wentz had some really good seasons with this team and under this staff and they were hoping he could fight out of this slump, but eventually he wasn't able to do it. His ball was inaccurate, he was not reading the defenses well and it obviously affected the production of the entire offense.

I don't think that Jalen Hurts is someone with an enormous ceiling for the NFL game. But right now, he should give them more chances to win, considering he is a dual-threat quarterback and that he displayed some nice throws last week in the second half. He was getting through the progressions faster and was more accurate. Shockingly, at 3-8-1, Philadelphia is still not completely out of the playoff picture. If he manages to jumpstart this offense and get them back into the conversation, he will create a proper QB controversy, going into the 2021 season.

More of a traditional role

On the other side, New Orleans Saints have an interesting Qb situation on their own. Drew Brees got injured a couple of weeks ago, which gave an opportunity to Taysom Hill. He was listed as a Qb, but the Saints used him as a gadget player. He was mostly on special teams and they used him all over formation, for some trick plays, trying to utilize his insane athleticism. But, in absence of Brees, he showed that he is capable of running an offense as well.

Surely, he is not as good of a passer as Brees and will probably never be. Also, this team is pretty talented top to bottom and well coached, so he was not in a tough situation to begin with. But we must give credit where credit is due. He won all three of his starts, which is always tough to do in the NFL. He never threw for more than 233 yards, but he contributed in different ways, mostly adding another dimension to this offense, as a runner.

Eagles vs Saints betting tips

But in this game, he might be forced to show more as a passer. Allowing 4.2 ypc is not as good as in some previous seasons, but this Eagles defense is not very easy to run against. They have a stacked front-7 with several Pro-bowlers that can win against those blocks at point of the attack and prevent chunk yardage on the ground. I'm not sure that anybody has managed to do that against New Orleans in the last three games and force Hill into more of a traditional QB role.

Those 4.2 ypc allowed were also the result of fatigue. With offense playing so bad, the defense was on the field too much. If Hurts manages to get the offense going a little bit and extend some of the drives, it will have a positive impact on defense as well, because they'll have time to recover and save some energy. That is why I believe that getting more than a touchdown with Philadelphia at home is a solid value spot. I can see them keeping this one closer than expected.

Also, don't forget to check out our new feature for comparing outright odds. These two opponents are both part of the NFC conference. Odds for winning it can be found with this link: https://theplayer.com/odds/american-football/usa/nfl/nfl-nfc-conference-winner