NFL Picks – Philadelphia Eagles @ New England Patriots

NFL Picks – Philadelphia Eagles @ New England Patriots

by Thomas Quaynor

Opening weekend of the NFL season kicks off with the Philadelphia Eagles going on the road to face the New England Patriots on Sunday at Gillette Stadium. Philadelphia is coming off a tremendous season in which they went 14-3, earned the top seed in the NFC and advanced to the Super Bowl where they narrowly lost to the Kansas City Chiefs. New England finished 8-9 in 2022 and missed the playoffs for the second time in the last three seasons. Philadelphia is a 4-point favorite and the total is 45. These teams last played each other four years ago with New England winning 17-10 at Philadelphia. 

New England will honor Tom Brady in a ceremony before the game on Sunday. Brady played 20 seasons and won 6 Super Bowls with New England. Brady signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers prior to the 2020 season, won his seventh Super Bowl ring in 2021 and retired after last season. Brady played a total of 23 seasons in the NFL, won seven Super Bowls, five Super Bowl MVP’s, three NFL MVP’s, led the NFL in passing touchdowns four times and was selected to the Pro Bowl fifteen times. 

THE SKINNY ON BOTH TEAMS

On September 30, 2001, a second-year quarterback who was drafted in the 7th round out of Michigan named Tom Brady made his first NFL start for the New England Patriots against the heavily favorite Indianapolis Colts. His head coach was defensive mastermind Bill Belichick, who was also in his second year with New England (like Brady) and had a losing record as an NFL head coach up to that point. The Patriots franchise had been mired in mediocrity for the previous four seasons so Brady’s first NFL start was largely overlooked by most people. Brady and the Patriots went on to wallop the Colts 44-13 that afternoon, they finished the 2001 season 11-5 and stunned the mighty St. Louis Rams to win the Super Bowl, and the rest was history. 

From 2001 to 2019 (19 seasons), the combination of Tom Brady and Bill Belichick formed one of the greatest dynasties in sports history as they would win 6 Super Bowls, make 9 AFC Championship games and 17 playoff appearances with New England. New England allowed Brady to walk as a free agent following the 2019 season and the franchise has not been the same since. They’ve only made the playoffs once in the 3 years Brady has been gone. New England has also failed to find an adequate replacement for Brady at quarterback.

New England is hoping 3rd year quarterback Mac Jones (2,997 yards, 14 TD, 11 INT, 65.2 COMP%) makes a leap to superstardom this season. The former first-rounder out of Alabama has been solid in his first 2 NFL seasons (36 TD. 24 INT in 31 games) but New England needs more consistency out of him for them to return to the elite status they had with Tom Brady. Third year running back Rhamondre Stevenson emerged as a star last season finishing with a team-high 1,040 rushing yards along 421 receiving yards and 6 total touchdowns

In the offseason, New England signed two intriguing free agents in enigmatic wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster and running back Ezekiel Elliott. Smith-Schuster appeared to be on his way to superstardom after a spectacular 2nd season in which he put up 111 catches for 1,426 yards and 7 touchdowns for Pittsburgh in 2018. He has yet to come close to matching that production in 4 seasons since then. Smith-Schuster did post 933 yards last season with Kansas City, which was his highest yardage total since 2018 and the second-most in his career. Despite heading into his 7th NFL season, Smith-Schuster is still just 26-years-old, so its possible he could regain the All-Pro form he showed in his first 2 NFL seasons as he’ll likely enter the season as New England’s WR1. 

After being selected fourth overall in the 2016 NFL draft, Ezekiel Eliott immediately took the NFL by storm as he led the NFL in rushing with 1,631 rushing yards, rushed for 15 touchdowns and averaged 5.1 yards per carry. Those numbers ended up being career-highs for Elliott, who was a 3-time Pro-Bowler and 2-time NFL rushing yards leader in his 7 seasons with Dallas, Elliott is 28-years-old so he may have a lot left in the tank after Dallas basically gave up on him. He’ll begin the season as Ramondre Stevenson’s back-up but with Bill Belichick’s unpredictable way of handling his running backs, Elliott may split carries with Stevenon or eventually take over the lead role at some point in the season. 

The 2022 New England Patriots were one of the top defenses in the NFL last season. They were tied for third in sacks and third in interceptions. Leading the way for the defense is superstar defensive lineman Matt Judon, he finished with a career-high 15.5 sacks last season and was named an All-Pro for a 4th straight year. Defensive end Deatrich Wise Jr. (7.5 sacks, 2 forced fumbles in 2022), Linebacker Josh Uche (11.5 sacks, 2 forced fumbles in 2022) and safety Kyle Dugger (78 tackles, 3 interceptions, 8 passes defended in 2022) are also returning standouts from the defense. New England also has high expectations for rookie cornerback Christian Gonzalez (Oregon) who they selected 17th overall in April’s draft. 

The Philadelphia Eagles had a historic season in 2022 as they won a franchise-record 14 games and set a franchise-record with 70 sacks. Wide Receiver A.J. Brown set a franchise record with 1,496 receiving yards in 2022. After an up-and down first two seasons, quarterback Jalen Hurts was exceptional last season in his third year. Hurts passed for 3,701, 22 touchdowns to 6 interceptions and racked up 760 rushing yards with 13 rushing touchdowns. Hurts finished second in the MVP race.  

The aforementioned Brown leads a talented group of skill position players for Philadelphia. Wide Receiver DeVonta  Smith (95 catches for 1,196 yards, 7 touchdowns in 2022) and Tight End Dallas Goedert (55 catches for 702 yards, 3 touchdowns in 2022) return and will be joined by free agent running backs D’Andre Swift (931 total yards, 8 total touchdowns for Detroit in 2022) and Rashaad Penny (346 rushing yards, 6.1 yards per carry in 5 games for Seattle). Philadelphia’s offense could be even more explosive in 2023 if Penny and/or Swift can stay healthy. 

THE PICK

Philadelphia may have the most complete team in the NFL when you look at the weapons on offense and all the pressure they can put on opposing offensive lines and quarterbacks, lay the 4.5…Philadelphia 27, New England 17