Eagles are road favorites against the Giants in Week 17

The Philadelphia Eagles won’t be able to relish the role of the underdog this Sunday like they could against the Dallas Cowboys in Week 16. The Birds are four-point road favorites for their must-win Week 17 game against the New York Giants, according to DraftKings Sportbook.

This line means the Eagles would be favored by 10 points if the game was taking place at Lincoln Financial Field. That’s not so crazy considering the Eagles were favored by eight points when the Eagles hosted the G-Men on Monday Night Football back in Week 14.

Of course, that matchup was hardly a cakewalk. The Eagles were down 17 to 3 before ultimately coming back to win in overtime. They can’t just expect to show up to MetLife Stadium and get an easy win that’ll allow them to officially clinch the NFC East crown.

The last time these two teams played, both sides were riding losing streaks. The Eagles had lost three games in a row while the Giants were losers of eight straight. Now the Eagles have won three games in a row while the Giants are winners of their last two tilts.

Another key difference for New York is that they’ll have a different quarterback under center this time. First-round rookie Daniel Jones will be making his first career start against the Eagles on Sunday. The Duke alumnus has certainly shown potential this season; he’s coming off a five touchdown and zero interception performance in an overtime win over Washington. He’s clearly better than a washed up Eli Manning.

Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images

But Jones also has his faults. Namely, fumbling the ball. We all know Carson Wentz has struggled in that area but Jones isn’t much better. The rookie quarterback has fumbled 16 times in 12 games this year, with 13 coming in his last seven starts. If you include his college and preseason appearances, Jones has fumbled 38 times in his last 52 games played. A recovered fumble or two could mitigate the damage that Jones can do to the Eagles’ secondary.

There’s naturally some uneasiness about the Eagles’ chances of winning this game. The team has disappointed at many turns this year; losing to the Giants and blowing their playoff spot is far from unthinkable.

But the Eagles won’t be overlooking the opponent that just took them to overtime earlier this month. This team knows they can’t rely on the Dallas Cowboys (10.5 point home favorites) losing to Washington.

Just like last time, it might not be pretty, but I do think the Eagles find a way to win in New Jersey on Sunday.

What say you?

BETTING HISTORY: The Eagles are 5-8 against the spread as road favorites since the Doug Pederson and Carson Wentz eras began in 2016. That’s tied for the fourth worst cover percentage in the NFL during that span. The Eagles are 6-7 straight up in those 13 games, which is the sixth worst winning percentage. Meanwhile, the Giants are 1-9 against the spread AND straight up as home underdogs since Pat Shurmur was hired in 2018.