Early Week 1 NFL odds have the Eagles as significant road favorites against Washington

The 2020 NFL schedule is here and so are early betting lines for Week 1 games.

It’s not exactly a shock to see the Philadelphia Eagles favored against Washington, the team that ended up with the No. 2 overall pick in this year’s NFL Draft.

But it is worth noting the Eagles are significant five-point road favorites, according to DraftKings SportsBook. The average matchup has the home team favored by three points so this line speaks to the perceived disparity in this game.

The Eagles are 6-0 straight up and 5-1 against the spread in their last six games against Washington. Philly has won those games by a combined score of 185 to 111, which comes out to an average margin of victory of 12.3 points.

There’s reason to feel good about betting on the Birds beyond recent history. Washington could be dealing with the disadvantage of a shortened offseason as they have a new head coach in Ron Rivera and a second-year quarterback in Dwayne Haskins. With no OTAs in sight and the plan for training camp uncertain, Washington won’t have a normal summer to implement their new systems. Meanwhile, the Eagles are returning their same head coach and quarterback combination that they’ve had since 2016.

Washington could end up winning more games than they did in 2019 (low bar) but I feel good about the Eagles’ chances in this game, assuming it takes place. As always, there will be a lot of midnight green in the stands at FedEx Field.