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Morning Coffee: A FanDuel Best Bet for Monday Night Football
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The Philadelphia Eagles looked nearly unbeatable throughout the first 12 weeks of the regular season.
Their outlook is much different after the past two weeks.
Coming off back-to-back losses to the San Francisco 49ers and Dallas Cowboys, the Eagles still control their own path to the NFC East division title.
But they no longer control their path to the No. 1 seed in the NFC after a loss to San Francisco that gave the 49ers the head-to-head tiebreaker.
Tonight, the focus will be on what is in Philly’s control, with a chance to get back into the win column against an opponent that has hit a wall over the past month.
The Seattle Seahawks were on track to contend for a playoff spot in the NFC following a 6-3 start. Since then, the Seahawks have dropped four in a row to fall to 6-7.
All of a sudden, Seattle is on the outside looking in.
The Seahawks went 3-1 against the spread during their four-game slide, but covering the number won’t help Pete Carroll’s team at all in a crowded NFC playoff race.
Can Carroll’s squad figure out a way to get back in the win column and push Philly’s losing streak to three?
Or will the Eagles get back on track as they compete with the 49ers and Cowboys for NFC supremacy?
This is the Morning Coffee for Monday, Dec. 18, 2023.
Eagles, Seahawks set for clash of struggling NFC teams
The Eagles and Seahawks went a combined 14-4 straight up through the first 10 weeks of the regular season.
Both teams were on track to return to the playoffs. Both teams have struggled mightily ever since.
Philadelphia has lost consecutive games by 20 or more points for the first time since 2015.
Seattle has lost four straight games for the first time in the Pete Carroll era.
For as bad as both teams have been of late, the Eagles are still considered the much better team on paper.
That’s especially true with Seahawks QB Geno Smith considered a long shot to play tonight due to a groin injury.
Jalen Hurts is sick but is expected to play tonight.
Philadelphia was a 4.5-point favourite on the lookahead line for tonight’s game at FanDuel. After falling as low as -3, the Eagles are currently a 3.5-point favourite at FanDuel.
The Seahawks are a perfect 7-0 straight up against Philadelphia under Carroll. I don’t believe that streak will continue tonight.
Meanwhile, the total for tonight’s game has fallen two points, from 47.5 to 45.5, over the past 48 hours at FanDuel.
After an 11-1 run to the under on Monday Night Football, each of last week’s two Monday night games went over the total.
Seattle and Philly both rank among the bottom 10 teams in the NFL in both points per game and yards per game allowed this season.
Still, the total has ticked down at FanDuel in anticipation of another lower scoring prime-time game. That makes sense with Hurts battling an illness and Smith either limited or out.
All of this needs to be taken into consideration before betting on Monday Night Football.
A FanDuel Best Bet for Monday Night Football
Metcalf has registered 50 or more receiving yards in seven of his previous eight games. In fact, he has a reception of 27 or more yards in seven of his previous eight games.
That includes last week when he had two catches for 52 yards on Seattle’s first drive.
Tonight, he’ll face a Philadelphia defence that has allowed the second most yards to wide receivers this season.
In fact, the Eagles defence has been so bad this season that defensive assistant Matt Patricia will be calling the plays for the first time this season tonight.
Metcalf’s receiving yards prop is up to over/under 63.5 at FanDuel. I’m confident he can get me the 50 yards I need for the first leg of this Same Game Parlay.
Meanwhile, the rookie first-round pick Smith-Njigba has shown steady improvement throughout his debut season.
Smith-Njigba has averaged 42.0 receiving yards per game over the past month. He’s registered 25 or more receiving yards in nine straight games.
I’ll bet on that trend to continue against a struggling defence in a crucial home game tonight.