Intro
The Philadelphia Eagles travel to Los Angeles for a fantastic Monday Night Football matchup with the Chargers. The visiting Eagles have lost 2 games in a row heading into this game and a win would be a huge boost for their playoff chances after the Cowboys lost this week. The Chargers blew out the Raiders in their last game 31-14 and have won 4 out of their last 5 games. A massive story leading into this game is the health of Chargers’ QB Justin Herbert who suffered a broken hand in their win a week ago and underwent surgery last Monday. Herbert’s health will be an important factor in this matchup as he has passed for 2,842 yards and 21 TD’s already this season.
Analysis
As mentioned above whether or not Herbert plays will be paramount, but the return of rookie RB Omarion Hampton who had missed the Chargers’ past 7 games will be a big boost. The Eagles have been struggling to finish games getting outscored 24-6 in the 4th quarter the past 2 weeks losing to the Cowboys 24-21 and the Bears 24-15. The Eagles have been less than stellar on offense scoring 22.5 ppg (19th) and will face a Chargers defense which ranks 3rd in total defense allowing just 275.2 ypg. The Chargers have been exceptional against the pass this year giving up only 168.3 pass ypg good enough for 2nd in the NFL. The Eagles’ defense has adopted a “bend don’t break” style allowing 347.2 ypg (25th), while surrendering just 20.8 ppg (9th).
Picks
With Herbert not at 100% and the Eagles coming off of 2 disappointing losses, I expect the Eagles to be extra motivated for this game. Philadelphia has struggled to score on offense and facing a stout Chargers defense it’ll be an ugly affair where points are hard to come by so I’m going to take the 1st half point total of 21 to go under. In the end, however I expect the Eagles to win this game outright as visiting favorites. I’m also going to target Dallas Goedert to get over 27.5 receiving yards as the Chragers have struggled to cover TE’s this season.
The Bookie of Eli 
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