The New Orleans Saints will host the Philadelphia Eagles this Sunday at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in the divisional round of the NFL playoffs. The winner will earn a spot in the NFC Championship Game.
The Saints received a first-round bye by securing the NFC?s No. 1 seed, while the Eagles punched their tickets to the divisional round by defeating the Chicago Bears on Wild Card Weekend.
The Eagles vs. Saints showdown is scheduled to kick off at 4:40 p.m. ET.
NESN.com?s trio of Mike Cole, Ricky Doyle and Andre Khatchaturian made their against-the-spread picks for each of this weekend?s divisional-round matchups. Here are their picks for Eagles vs. Saints.
Philadelphia Eagles at (-8) New Orleans Saints, Sunday, 4:40 p.m. ET
Mike: Saints. At some point, a team is really going to expose Philly?s secondary. The Eagles have done a nice job of getting to this point despite the injuries, but this feels like the week it really catches up with them. Drew Brees is not Mitchell Trubisky, and the latter still was able to move the ball with relative ease on Philly last week, at least in the second half. Saints wideout Michael Thomas must be feeling pretty good watching the tape of Bears receiver Allen Robinson going off for 10 catches and 143 yards.
Ricky: Saints. The Eagles will do whatever they can to turn this game into a rock fight, with the trenches being instrumental in who emerges victorious. But the Saints are more than capable of handling that type of battle — on top of boasting a prolific offense. The Bears went 0-for-3 in the red zone against the Eagles last week, but the Saints, who rank fourth in red-zone scoring percentage, won?t leave those points on the board. Also, who can forget the Saints? 48-7 beatdown of the Eagles in Week 11? Here?s an interesting nugget pointed out by CBS Sports? John Breech: Since 2012, there have been 14 teams that got a playoff rematch after losing to a team by 20 or more points during the regular season. Those teams have gone 1-13 SU in the rematch.
Andre: Saints. The Eagles are the only remaining playoff team with a negative yards-per-play differential. The Saints have put up at least 30 points in every home game with Brees as the starting quarterback since Week 2. The Saints? rush defense is one of the best in the league, allowing 3.6 yards per carry in the regular season. Philly won?t be able to get the run going and Nick Foles will be forced to throw the ball a ton. His story is cute, but keep in mind he?s thrown five interceptions in his last four games.
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