Rob’s Sports Quickies: Eagles Week 2 Preview, Looking at the Line, Maybe Preseason Matters, more

It’s a quick week for the Eagles, so what better time to introduce Rob’s Sports Quickies on the “Ink.”

Quick turnaround. The Eagles play tonight, four days after they played in the late afternoon window on Sunday. But the NFL is concerned about player safety, right? Hosting Minnesota, the Birds could face a tough task defensively against the Vikings.

Last week, the Eagles gave up 316 passing yards and 3 touchdowns to New England quarterback Mac Jones, and that was after a disastrous start for the Patriots offense that included an interception, a fumble by Ezekiel Elliot, and three 3-and-outs. Now, they face an often-criticized Kirk Cousins who passed for 344 yards and 2 touchdowns in a losing effort to a Tampa Bay defense with seven starters who remain from their 2020 Super Bowl championship, per ESPN. Fourth year receiver Justin Jefferson accounted for 150 of those yards on 9 receptions. Cousins also threw an interception and lost two fumbles in the 20-17 loss.

It doesn’t help things for the Eagles efforts to slow Minnesota’s passing attack that cornerback James Bradberry is out with an injury tonight. Reed Blankenship (safety) is also out and Fletcher Cox (defensive lineman) is listed as “questionable.” Minnesota will be missing their starting center and possibly an offensive tackle, which, as cold as it may sound, could help the Eagles.

On the offensive side of the ball for the Eagles, Kenny Gainwell (running back), their leading rusher with 54 yards on Sunday is also out.

The line on the game. As of Thursday morning, the Eagles are -6 (-110) at home versus the Minnesota Vikings on Sugar House. The number dropped from -7 earlier in the week (depending on the sportsbook). I lean towards Minnesota to cover the number, but not necessarily win. This is not an official pick. (See below.)

Bird watching and a correction. The Eagles game is on local television without Prime tonight. See it on Fox 29 in Philadelphia. Local areas of each team playing on TNF will get Prime games on regular stations. This is a correction from my post last week when I suggested fans without Prime wouldn’t see another Thursday night game until Thanksgiving. My apologies. I’m 99% sure this is a change from last year, but I can’t find anything calling it a new policy of airing these games in local area of the teams playing. Is it possible the NFL really loves us fans. ❤ Nah.

More Quickies from the NFL:

Fixing Thursday Night Football. The NFL should go back to a shortened Thursday night schedule in the middle of the season. They could give teams off the week before and the games might not suck. 😂😂 Yeah, I know, never gonna happen. Amazon will reportedly pay $10 billion over 10 years for the right to put TNF on Prime, and they’re not looking for less games.

Maybe preseason matters. The Eagles offense looked like it hadn’t played a game since February. Know why? It hadn’t! In fact, I saw most or all of 5 different games this week – the Kansas City Chiefs, Pittsburgh Steelers, Eagles, New York Giants, and Buffalo Bills. They all achieved different levels of pedestrian offenses this week. Granted, the San Francisco 49ers (against the Steelers) and Dallas Cowboys (versus the Giants), looked dominant. But it’s a shame teams can’t be better prepared for the season. Like, maybe have practice games. Oh, wait. 🤔 It’s become standard practice for media commentators, many former players, to excuse poor play in September because guys are “getting into shape” as if they couldn’t possibly play in the preseason because they might get hurt. It’s absurd reasoning. They could just as easily get hurt in the opener. (Uhm, see my next “quickie.”) Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni admitted that he was “re-evaluating” playing starters in the preseason next season. I actually heard Barrett Brooks, who usually wears pompoms for players, on Birds Huddle say that starters should play more in the preseason. I doubt it happens, but it should.

That was quick. Did you enjoy Aaron Rodgers first season for the New York Jets? Four plays. It lasted four plays. The 39-year-old quarterback tore his Achilles tendon on the first set of offensive downs in the season opener on Monday night against Buffalo. I’m not dancing on anybody’s grave. I have no negative feelings about the Jets or Rodgers. But could we please turn down the hype machine in the off-season? Rodgers going to Jets was a never-ending story all spring and summer. And maybe this is more evidence that guys can actually play in the preseason instead of being treated like fine China for fear of getting hurt, and actually be prepared to perform well in the opener.

No, Antonio. Former Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown took to Twitter / “X” after the team lost Diontae Johnson for several weeks to a hamstring injury. He posted, “Hear Me Out.......” with a picture of himself in a Steelers uniform.

This is a guy who became nothing but a headache for a Steelers team that was on the rise at the time and coupled with Le’Veon Bell to basically destroy the team. This is a guy who quit on Tom Brady and the playoff-bound Tampa Bay Bucs in the middle of a game, literally taking off his pads and leaving the field. The Steelers, who looked totally unprepared on Sunday and were beaten by a 49ers team that is simply better than they are, doesn’t need Brown. A new head coach, yes. Not an aging wide receiver on a young team that will inevitably quit on the team after becoming a distraction. Pittsburgh, just say, “No.”

Picks. Did you think I forgot? Actually, I might make this a separate post tomorrow. Last week I was 5-1 or 5-2, depending how you look at it. I lost what was essentially a free bet of $20.50 on Kansas City -6.5 over Detroit on DraftKings. I told readers to tread lightly as I made the bet hours before learning Travis Kelce was hurt. On Sugar House, where I put up real money, I was 5-1 for +$45.35. My loss on Utah for -$10 was a slightly bad call as their expected starting quarterback, Cam Rising, was hurt in the Rose Bowl and is still out. But my play was based on what I saw the previous week, and he didn’t play then either. I was 2-0 in the NFL. See comments or tomorrow’s post for picks and add your own!