Carson Wentz will make his season debut in Week 3 as the Philadelphia Eagles play host to Andrew Luck and the Indianapolis Colts. Kickoff is scheduled for 1:00 EST on Sunday, September 23, at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. The game will be available on Fox in various markets.
If we look at the Week 3 NFL betting odds, the Eagles are 6-point favorites at home. That line has only moved slightly after Philadelphia opened at -6.5. The over/under for the game is set at 47.5 points.
As mentioned, Wentz is back in the fold this week for the 1-1 Eagles. With Nick Foles under center, the Eagles were able to pull out a close game against the Falcons in their season opener. However, Foles couldn’t keep up with Ryan Fitzpatrick last week in a loss to the Buccaneers. Of course, the Philadelphia defense didn’t help out much by allowing over 400 yards of offense, most notably a pair of 75-yard touchdown passes. They will certainly be looking to do better this week against Luck and the Colts.
Speaking of Luck, he led Indianapolis to their first win of the season last week against the Redskins. The Colts actually looked good against the Bengals in Week 1 but suffered a 2nd half collapse and let the game slip away. However, despite a rather modest effort from Luck and the Indy offense, the Colts were in complete control of last week’s game in Washington. They’ll look to repeat that kind of effort with another road game against an NFC East opponent this week.
Obviously, the pressure in this game is all on the Eagles. Even as reigning Super Bowl champs, their fan base won’t take kindly to losing at home or falling to 1-2. Plus, now that Wentz is back, there are no excuses for not looking like one of the league’s elite teams. The Colts, meanwhile, have lower expectations with Luck coming back from a full season away. They’re more or less playing with house money on the road against the defending Super Bowl champs.
No one’s debating whether or not the Eagles are the better team, but they are facing some question marks heading into this week. After the way the Colts won on the road last week, you have to give them a little bit of respect. I think Indianapolis will be good enough to make this a close and competitive game, so I’ll lean toward the Colts and the points.
Surprisingly, the Colts were most impressive on the defensive side of the ball last week. They only allowed Washington to score nine points, and really, they weren’t as bad as the final score indicates Week 1 against the Bengals. The most important part of last week’s win is how they stopped the run. Adrian Peterson was outstanding in Week 1, only to be held to 20 yards on 11 carries against the Colts. As a team, the Redskins only managed 65 yards and just under three yards per carry against the Indianapolis defense.
If the Colts can put together a similar performance this week, they’ll definitely be able to stay close with the Eagles. Both Jay Ajayi and Darren Sproles are listed as questionable for Week 3. The same is true for left tackle Jason Peters, so the Philadelphia running game doesn’t look like it’ll be at full strength. With Wentz seeing his first action of the season, the Eagles will no doubt want to protect him as much as possible with a good running game, especially since he didn’t get any snaps during the preseason.
The other problem Wentz may face is a lack of wide receivers. Alshon Jeffery is likely to miss the game with a shoulder problem while Mike Wallace was placed on IR during the week. That leaves the Eagles with Nelson Agholor, tight end Zach Ertz, and the recently re-signed Jordan Matthews as their primary targets. Wentz will certainly be comfortable with that trio, but it’s not exactly an ideal situation if the Eagles want to get their offense humming upon Wentz’s return.
Of course, the Indianapolis offense has questions of their own. The offensive line has struggled to generate much of a running game. It doesn’t help that Marlon Mack is battling a hamstring injury, leaving everything on the shoulders of rookies Jordan Wilkins and Nyheim Hines.
Naturally, that puts a lot of pressure on Luck’s shoulders. Luck has a nice set of receivers around him, but when he feels like everything is on him, he can sometimes force careless turnovers. He’ll also be facing a talented Philadelphia defense that will be upset about their performance last week and hoping to put pressure on Luck and force him into making bad decisions.
All things considered, I think both offenses will struggle to find consistency in this game. However, I also think Luck might be a little more ready than Wentz to carry his team if needed. I’m not sure if that’ll be enough for the Colts to pull off another surprise win on the road. But it’s enough for me to believe Indianapolis can keep this game within six points and beat the spread.