Falcons and Eagles Kickoff NFL 2018 Season

Eagles Open Defense of Super Bowl Championship

The Atlanta Falcons and the Philadelphia Eagles play their season openers Thursday Night. Lincoln Financial Field hosts the Week 1 contest. Kickoff is set for 8:20 pm EST on NBC's Thursday Night Football.

Oddsmakers opened the Eagles as -5.5-point favorites versus the Falcons, while the game's total opened at 46.5. The game is now down to a PK and the total is down to 45.

The Eagles have had a 6-month party since winning the city's first NFL Championship.  They are ready to defend that title.

The Eagles began their postseason journey last season with a 15-10 triumph over the Falcons in the NFC divisional round. They embraced the "underdog" role despite being the top seed. They played it to the hilt. Becoming David who kept knocking off Golaith's.

Foles is Starting for the Eagles

Nick Foles has been named the starter for Thursday's matchup. He famously relieved the injured Carson Wentz late in the season.  He steered Philadelphia to a 41-33 win over New England in the NFL's signature game. Foles also garnered Super Bowl MVP honors in the process.

He has a wide receiver corps in flux due to injuries to start the season. The Eagles scored a league third-best 28.6 points per game in 2017. That may not be possible early this season.

They may need to rely on Jay Ajayi, Corey Clement and a ground game that ranked third with an average of 132.2 yards per contest. The Eagles boasted the NFL's stingiest pass defense in 2017.

Philadelphia became the 11th team in NFL history with three players score at least eight touchdown receptions last season. Zach Ertz led all NFC tight ends with 74 receptions and 824 yards to go along with a career-high eight scores. Alshon Jeffery had nine TDs. Wideout Nelson Agholor had eight TDs.

Agholor is ruled out for Thursday's contest as he recovers from offseason shoulder surgery.

Defensive end Brandon Graham had a career-high 9.5 sacks in 2017. He had a huge sack on Brady in the Super Bowl, as well as one in the last encounter against Atlanta.

Linebacker Nigel Bradham also registered a sack in the last meeting versus the Falcons. He had a team-leading 88 tackles in the regular season.

Falcons Need to Have a Balanced Attack

Atlanta's Matt Ryan  is a Philly area native. He followed his 2016 NFL MVP season by eclipsing 4,000 yards for his franchise-record seventh consecutive campaign. He signed a five-year, $150 million contract on May 3.

Five-time Pro Bowl wide receiver Julio Jones led the NFC with 1,444 receiving yards in 2017. He has four straight 100-plus receiving yard performances versus the Eagles.

Devonta Freeman and Tevin Coleman fueled Atlanta's eighth-ranked offense last season. They kept defenses off balance by combining for over 2,100 yards from scrimmage and 16 touchdowns.

Atlanta LB Deion Jones joined Carolina's Luke Kuechly and Jacksonville's Telvin Smith as the lone players to record 100-plus tackles and three-plus interceptions last season.

PREDICTION: Falcons 24, Eagles 14

Recent Form

Name	Record	ATS	Offense	Defense	Diff	ATS Home	ATS Away	OU Record	OU Home	OU Away
Atlanta	11-7	8-10	21.61	19.06	2.55	5-3	3-7	5-13	2-6	3-7
Philadelphia	16-3	13-6	29.00	18.16	10.84	7-3	6-3	10-9	4-6	6-3

Power Stats

Yards Per Point

Name	Offense	Defense	Differential
ATL	16.56	16.87	-0.31
PHI	13.03	17.77	-4.74

Yards Per Pass

Name	Offense	Defense	Differential
ATL	11.35	9.57	1.78
PHI	11.21	10.42	0.79

Yards Per Rush

Name	Offense	Defense	Differential
ATL	4.21	4.17	0.04
PHI	4.42	3.87	0.55

Team Records

Atlanta Falcons

Name	Record	Home	Away	ATS	ATS Home	ATS Away	Offense	Defense	Diff
Overall	11-7	5-3	6-4	8-10	5-3	3-7	21.61	19.06	2.55
vs Conf	10-4	5-1	5-3	8-6	5-1	3-5	23.07	18.36	4.71
vs Div	4-2	3-0	1-2	3-3	3-0	0-3	21.67	18.50	3.17
Last 3	2-1	1-0	1-1	2-1	1-0	1-1	19.33	12.67	6.66

Philadelphia Eagles

Name	Record	Home	Away	ATS	ATS Home	ATS Away	Offense	Defense	Diff
Overall	16-3	9-1	7-2	13-6	7-3	6-3	29.00	18.16	10.84
vs Conf	12-2	7-1	5-1	10-4	6-2	4-2	28.14	16.29	11.85
vs Div	6-1	2-1	4-0	4-3	1-2	3-1	29.00	20.29	8.71
Last 3	3-0	2-0	1-0	3-0	2-0	1-0	31.33	16.67	14.66

Supergrid

Title	Stat	Rank	Stat	Rank
Away Team Overall Scoring vs Home Team Overall Defense	21.61	15	18.16	4
Awy Team Road Passing vs Home Team Home Passing Defense	241.20	9	214.70	14
Away Team Road Rushing vs Home Team Home Rushing Defense	109.50	11	71.20	2
Home Team Overall Scoring vs Away Team Overall Defense	29.00	1	19.06	6
Hme Team Home Passing vs Away Team Road Passing Defense	223.10	19	226.10	14
Home Team Home Rushing vs Away Team Road Rushing Defense	128.10	9	111.90	14

Head To Head Summary

Name	Record	ATS	OU	Score	Rush	YPR	PA	CP	PY	TY	TO +/-
Atlanta	4-6	4-5-1	3-7	18.50	108.50	3.97	34.80	59.20	222.40	330.90	1.70
Philadelphia	6-4	5-4-1	3-7	23.70	113.40	4.25	36.10	65.37	272.40	385.80	1.40

Head To Head Detail

Date	Away	Home	Score	Line	Total	OU Result	ARY	APY	ATY	ATT	HRY	HPY	HTY	HTT	Away Team Attempts	Home Team Attempts	Away Team Completions	Home Team Completions
Jan 13, 2018	ATL	PHI	10-15	86	195	281	0	96	238	334	2
Nov 13, 2016	ATL	PHI	15-24	48	255	303	1	207	221	428	1
Sep 14, 2015	PHI	ATL	24-26	63	336	399	2	105	290	395	2
Oct 28, 2012	ATL	PHI	30-17	146	246	392	0	92	178	270	0
Sep 18, 2011	PHI	ATL	31-35	133	314	447	3	138	180	318	2
Oct 17, 2010	ATL	PHI	17-31	65	228	293	2	154	320	474	1
Dec 6, 2009	PHI	ATL	34-7	103	277	380	0	61	234	295	3
Oct 26, 2008	ATL	PHI	14-27	77	258	335	3	192	240	432	1
Dec 31, 2006	ATL	PHI	17-24	159	219	378	1	43	350	393	1
Sep 12, 2005	PHI	ATL	10-14	51	250	301	3	200	119	319	3

NFL Betting Odds and Trends

Atlanta Falcons
Atlanta is 7-3 SU in its last 10 games
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Atlanta's last 5 games
Atlanta is 2-6 ATS in its last 8 games on the road
Atlanta is 13-6 SU in its last 19 games on the road
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Atlanta's last 6 games on the road
Atlanta is 4-12-1 ATS in its last 17 games when playing Philadelphia
Atlanta is 4-10 SU in its last 14 games when playing Philadelphia
The total has gone UNDER in 10 of Atlanta's last 13 games when playing Philadelphia
Atlanta is 1-7-1 ATS in its last 9 games when playing on the road against Philadelphia
Atlanta is 1-8 SU in its last 9 games when playing on the road against Philadelphia
The total has gone UNDER in 6 of Atlanta's last 8 games when playing on the road against Philadelphia

Philadelphia Eagles
Philadelphia is 12-4 ATS in its last 16 games
Phil is 15-2 SU in its last 17 games
Philadelphia is 7-2 ATS in its last 9 games at home
Phil is 11-1 SU in its last 12 games at home
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of Philadelphia's last 5 games at home
Philadelphia is 12-4-1 ATS in its last 17 games when playing Atlanta
Philadelphia is 10-4 SU in its last 14 games when playing Atlanta
The total has gone UNDER in 10 of Philadelphia's last 13 games when playing Atlanta
Philadelphia is 4-1 ATS in its last 5 games when playing at home against Atlanta
Philadelphia is 8-1 SU in its last 9 games when playing at home against Atlanta
The total has gone UNDER in 6 of Philadelphia's last 8 games when playing at home against Atlanta

Team Last 5 Games

Atlanta Falcons

Date	Opponent	score	Result	line	ATS Result	offensive rush yards	offensive passing yards	offensive total yards	defensive rush yards	defensive passing yards	defensive total yards	turnovers	Location
Jan 13, 2018	PHI	10-15	L	-2.5/40.5	L/U	86	195	281	96	238	334	-2	A
Jan 6, 2018	LAR	26-13	W	6/48	W/U	124	198	322	115	246	361	-2	A
Dec 31, 2017	CAR	22-10	W	-5/44.5	W/U	60	311	371	87	161	248	-3	H
Dec 24, 2017	NO	13-23	L	5/51	L/U	67	264	331	86	229	315	1	A
Dec 18, 2017	TB	24-21	W	-7/49.5	L/U	201	209	410	84	289	373	-1	A

Philadelphia Eagles

Date	Opponent	score	Result	line	ATS Result	offensive rush yards	offensive passing yards	offensive total yards	defensive rush yards	defensive passing yards	defensive total yards	turnovers	Location
Feb 4, 2018	NE	41-33	W	4.5/49	W/O	164	374	538	113	500	613	0	A
Jan 21, 2018	MIN	38-7	W	3/39	W/O	110	346	456	70	263	333	-3	H
Jan 13, 2018	ATL	15-10	W	2.5/40.5	W/U	96	238	334	86	195	281	2	H
Dec 31, 2017	DAL	0-6	L	3.5/40	L/U	70	149	219	129	172	301	1	H
Dec 25, 2017	OAK	19-10	W	-10/46	L/U	78	138	216	137	137	274	-3	H

Next up:
Atlanta home to Carolina Sunday, September 16
Philadelphia at Tampa Bay Sunday, September 16

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