NFC playoff hopefuls before the season started, the San Francisco 49ers and Philadelphia Eagles are not exactly where they'd like to be a quarter of the way through this season. The Niners are winless, and Philly has a carousel at quarterback.
So San Fran will be looking for its first win and the Eagles will be looking for a good performance from their young QB when the two teams hook up at The Stick on Sunday Night Football this weekend (8:20 pm Eastern, NBC).
Earlier this week
BetJamaica.com opened San Francisco as a field-goal favorite for Sunday night's game, with an OVER/UNDER of 38. As of Friday morning the Niners are listed at -3 at -130, with the Eagles getting the three points at +110. And the total has held steady in early betting.
San Fran is also giving -175 on the BetJam NFL betting moneyline, with Philadelphia getting +155 to win that game outright.
The Niners are probably the biggest disappointment in the league so far this season.
BetJamaica.com sent San Fran off this season as -170 favorites to win the NFC West, and with a regular-season wins OVER/UNDER of nine. But the 49ers are 0-4, losing 31-6 at Seattle, 25-22 at home to New Orleans, 31-10 at Kansas City and, last Sunday, 16-14 at the buzzer in Atlanta.
Philly started the post-McNabb era with a 27-20 home loss to Green Bay, and lost new QB Kevin Kolb to a concussion. Then, with Michael Vick at the helm, the Eagles won at Detroit 35-32 and at Jacksonville 28-3. But last Sunday, as five-point home favorites, Philly lost to Washington 17-12, and lost Vick to a rib injury.
So Kolb is expected to step back in to the starting role for the Eagles.
Philly might also be without RB LeSean McCoy, who also got his ribs racked last Sunday.
These two teams met in Week 15 of last year, when the Eagles outgained the Niners 422-261 on their way to a 27-13 victory at The Linc.
So far this season home teams are 36-26 straight up but only 29-32 vs. the
BetJamaica.com NFL pointspreads. And while home favorites are 22-13 SU, they're just 13-21 vs. the numbers. And chalk overall is 35-27 outright, and a pocket-picking 24-37 ATS.
Philly is getting outrushed this season, on average, by a 137-132 YPG margin. And San Francisco is getting outgrounded 108-79. Looking at the league as a whole, teams that outrush their opponents have won 43 of 62 games outright so far this season, and are 41-20 vs. the BetJam pointspreads.