Thursday Night Football Preview
Line: Philadelphia Eagles (-14) | O/U 43.5
Week 9 is around the corner and we’ve got an interesting matchup on our hands for Thursday Night Football. The two teams competing this week could not be further apart on the spectrum. One is currently the last undefeated team while the other is scouting who they’ll pick near the top of the 2023 draft.
Another interesting factoid about these teams is that each of their city’s respective MLB franchises are competing against one another for a World Series title. If you haven’t figured it out by now, the Week 9 edition of Thursday Night Football is being played between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Houston Texans.
Team Breakdowns
This matchup is interesting, and not because it’s expected to be competitive. The Eagles have provided a blueprint for struggling teams on how to build a winning team while the Texans are attempting to achieve that from square one. Houston can only hope to take a similar path back to relevancy for the next few years.
As far as head-to-head matchups go, there might not be one as lopsided as this one for the rest of the season. The over/under for this game is currently set at 43.5 while the Eagles are, understandably, 14-point favorites.
The Eagles:
Notable Injuries: DT Jordan Davis (Questionable)
The Philadelphia Eagles are currently the powerhouse of the NFC. Sitting at 7-0 with stellar units on both sides of the ball, it’s looking like nobody will be slowing them down any time soon. At this point, no other team in the conference appears to be anywhere close to their level as well. Sure you have the Minnesota Vikings and Dallas Cowboys with solid records. But the Eagles took care of both of these teams handily. It’s never a great idea to look far ahead, but the Eagles are clearly the favorite to take a spot in the Super Bowl this year.
On defense, this team has been impressive in every area. They’re tied for third in yards allowed per game, fourth in passing yards allowed per game, but just 15th in rushing yards allowed per game. The team is also allowing the lowest scoring rate in the league as just 24.7 percent of their opponents’ offensive possessions have resulted in a score.
Their personnel on the defensive side is made up of a strong group. Their cornerback trio of James Bradberry, Darius Slay, and Avonte Maddox is second to none. They have two strong edge rushers in Hasson Reddick and Brandon Graham. Defensive tackle Javon Hargrave has turned into a star and Fletcher Cox continues to be a solid veteran presence. The Eagles also recently traded for a solid pass rusher in Robert Quinn, so they’re making their already strong group even scarier. Unfortunately, the unit will likely be without their rookie defensive tackle Jordan Davis as he left their Week 8 game wearing a walking boot on crutches.
On offense, the Eagles have been just as dominant as their defense, if not better. They are the third-best offense in the league in terms of yards per game, 10th in passing yards per game, and sixth in rushing yards per game. While they have been prolific, the numbers could be even better if the offense didn’t continuously take their foot off the gas in the second half of most games.
HIM#PITvsPHI | #FlyEaglesFly pic.twitter.com/iPzJw3GsnF
— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) October 30, 2022
The personnel on the offense is even more impressive than the numbers. Quarterback Jalen Hurts has taken a massive step forward from his 2021 season and is now in the MVP conversation. Much of this massive step has been due to the offseason addition of superstar receiver A.J. Brown with the established options of wide receiver DeVonta Smith and tight end Dallas Goedert. Philadelphia also has one of the best offensive lines in the league and a running back in Miles Sanders who heavily benefits from that.
This roster is stacked from top to bottom and is led by a head coach in Nick Sirianni that clearly has a good idea of how to make the most of their talent. There is a strong possibility that a beatdown is in store for the Texans on Thursday.
The Texans:
Notable Injuries: WR Brandin Cooks (Questionable), WR Nico Collins (Questionable), CB Desmond King (Questionable)
On the opposite side of the field from the Eagles is a team that is in shambles, but they do have some pieces that are promising for the future. Ever since the Deshaun Watson fiasco, the Texans have been a team that is spiraling downward toward another top-5 pick in the NFL draft. The silver lining of that trend is that this 2023 draft class has some young options that can change the fortunes of numerous franchises.
Shield your eyes because this defense is dreadful. They are currently a bottom-three unit in the league in terms of yards allowed per game. Their pass defense has been below average and slightly mediocre, but their run defense is another story. In rushing yards allowed per game, Houston is the worst team in the NFL. The Chicago Bears are the second-worst team at stopping the run, and the Texans are allowing 30 more rushing yards per game than them.
As far as defensive personnel goes, there really isn’t much to cover other than their cornerbacks. Steven Nelson has been a surprising member of this group with productive play for most of the season. The third overall pick from 2022, Derek Stingley Jr., has been solid while not allowing a touchdown all year. The third man, Desmond King, is having a career resurgence as he’s been shutting down receivers in the slot this season. Unfortunately, King is questionable for Thursday’s game, but he hasn’t been ruled out just yet.
Desmond King is balling for the #Texans this season and has gone incredibly under the radar.
King has allowed only 156 yards and zero touchdowns through 6 games. 🔥 pic.twitter.com/qys0z3dKDl
— Nick Schwager (@NickSchwagerNFL) October 29, 2022
Much like the defense, the offense doesn’t have much to talk about other than a couple of solid pieces. They currently rank 31st in yards per game, 25th in passing yards per game, and 26th in rushing yards per game. They also just failed to deal their solid veteran wide receiver, Brandin Cooks, by the trade deadline because they didn’t like the draft packages they would be getting in return. This is another characteristically bad move by this Texans franchise, and there is the rumored possibility that Cooks sits for the rest of the season as he was clearly hoping to move to a winning situation.
The only player on offense worth talking about is rookie running back Dameon Pierce. Pierce has proven to be an absolute steal of a draft pick from the fourth round in 2022. He’s currently 12th in the NFL in rushing yards while also having his fair share of beast-mode-esque runs. Outside of him, quarterback Davis Mills has been beyond disappointing and wide receiver Nico Collins appeared to be making progress prior to his injury. Those are the only two skill position players worth talking about outside of Pierce and Cooks.
As a whole, this team has some major work to do. They will most likely continue to lose more games as they aim for their second straight top-three pick in the upcoming NFL draft.
Eagles vs. Texans Prediction
Barring a disaster of catastrophic proportions, the Eagles should win this matchup over the Texans. Houston is completely outmatched in every facet of the game, so we can just throw their chances out the window.
The real question here is if the Eagles can cover. They’re 14-point favorites and they’ve beaten opponents by more than 14 on three separate occasions this season. They’ve had trouble with easing up in the second halves of games, but they appeared to have moved past that after their Week 8 game against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
I think Philadelphia builds off of their dominant win against Pittsburgh with another beatdown against Houston here in Week 9. They look like they’ve figured out how to stop slowing down their own offense, and there’s no defense that matches up worse against their dominant rushing attack than the Texans.
The Pick: Eagles 30-13
NFL DFS Showdown Flex Targets
D/ST – Eagles ($7,000)
Against a team as inept as the Houston Texans, the Eagles’ D/ST could be a solid play this week. Philadelphia has been shutting down opponents on defense this season, and that should be no different in Week 9. They have the highest turnover percentage in the league as 21.9 percent of their opponents’ offensive drives end in a turnover. Against a struggling quarterback in Davis Mills, this Philadelphia defense could be in for a field day.
WR – Quez Watkins ($1,400)
Trying to find value picks on this slate is tough. With one team being so inept and the other being a powerhouse, the options are a little thin on who can fill out the rest of your showdown roster. If you’re looking for a player like that, Quez Watkins offers some upside. He’s been operating as the Eagles’ WR3 in most weeks and he has the capability of being the recipient of long touchdowns from Jalen Hurts. When looking for a dart throw this week, keep an eye on Watkins.
RB – Boston Scott ($1,800)
With the Eagles blowing out the Steelers in Week 8, Boston Scott was given a decent amount of run at the end of the game. He didn’t rack up a ton of yardage, but this showed who the Eagles feel comfortable handing the ball off to when they’ve built up a big enough lead. With the Texans being such heavy underdogs, there is a chance that Scott sees rushing work earlier in this matchup. On a slate with few values, he could be a solid play considering his price and likely path to usage.
