Eagles open as double-digit favorites against the Steelers

The Philadelphia Eagles are hefty 11-point favorites in their first game back from their bye, a Week 8 home matchup against the Pittsburgh Steelers. This much is according to our friends over at DraftKings Sportbook.

The Birds are certainly the more inspiring side on paper. There’s the whole undefeated thing, for starters. The Steelers, meanwhile, are very much defeated. They’re 2-5 through seven games. Pittsburgh ranks dead last among NFL teams in point differential (-55).

The Steelers’ two wins this year were home contests against the Cincinnati Bengals and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Bengals game was a three-point win in overtime and it occurred when T.J. Watt was healthy. The Bucs game was a two-point win and it looked more impressive before Tampa got blown out by the Carolina Panthers in Week 7.

Pittsburgh’s most recent loss came to the Miami Dolphins on Sunday Night Football. Rookie quarterback Kenny Pickett threw three picks, giving him seven on the season. That’s seven interceptions to just two touchdown throws. Rough start for the Ocean Township, NJ native who grew up as an Eagles fan (get used to seeing that storyline this week).

It goes without saying that this is a winnable game for the Eagles. They typically take care of business when Pittsburgh comes to town; they haven’t lost to the Steelers in Philly since 1965.

That being said, Mike Tomlin teams cannot be totally discounted when expectations are working against them. No team has been better against the spread as underdogs since he was hired in 2007. The Steelers are 48-28-5 (63.2%) against the spread and 39-42 (48.2%) straight up in that span.

Shortening the sample to the last several years, the Steelers are 23-10-1 (69.7%) against the spread and 17-17 straight up as underdogs. Those are the third- and fourth-best marks, respectively.

The Steelers might be able to cover such a big spread. But the Eagles are winning the game.

What say you?