THURSDAY NIGHT PRESEASON NFL: NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS AT PHILADELPHIA EAGLES

BY ADAM GREENE

It was a rough first full week of the preseason for yours truly. After feeling full of myself for nailing the Hall of Fame game I got cocky. Felt like I had these scrub games filled with practice squad players, future Subway sandwich artists and guys that will be rotating your tires at Pep Boys in two weeks figured out. I did not.

You can argue that these games are not important and you’re right… unless you’ve got money on them.

It turns out that the teams that were good in the regular season last year were pretty good in the first week of preseason too. And maybe the squads that are seriously competing for a Super Bowl have developed some solid depth. Who knew?

At any rate, I’ve got two more weeks to figure this out before I toss it all out the window for the NFL regular season.

NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS AT PHILADELPHIA EAGLES (+1.5, O/U 38.5)

Location: Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia, Pa.

Broadcast: NFL Network

Kickoff: Aug. 19, 7:30 p.m. EST

NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS (1-0)

Mac Jones didn’t look like complete garbage last week in New England’s 22-13 win over the Washington Football Team, going 13 of 19 for 87 yards, no touchdowns and no picks and Twitter did what it does — overreact. Regardless of what anyone tweets, spits into their fuzzy mic on talk radio or types into an article, Jones isn’t winning this job over Cam Newton. That’s not to say he won’t get it later in the year if the season goes down the tubes, but I don’t see that happening either. What Jones can do, possibly, is win you some preseason money as he will probably once again play the lion’s share of snaps in this game.

PHILADELPHIA EAGLES (0-1)

While both Jones and Newton looked fine for the Pats last week, the Eagles can’t say the same about their starting QB, Jalen Hurts. Hurts finished 3 of 7 in a 24-16 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers and while he didn’t play a lot, you’d like to see a little more than that with him on the field. That’s why I expect he’ll get at least a quarter Thursday night before head coach Nick Sirianni tosses the keys to Joe Flacco and Nick Mullins. You know what you have in Flacco. You even know pretty much everything you need to know about Mullins. What you want to see is Hurts make some good decisions and plays before giving him the hook.

THE PICK

I’m not ready to jump anywhere near the Mac Jones bandwagon just yet, but I have no complaints about what I saw last week. Even with Hurts playing more and Flacco taking over, I like New England here on the road with a team that, even with its reserves, looks better than last year’s squad. Patriots 20, Eagles 13

Last week

Straight up: 6-10

Against the spread: 5-11

Preseason

Straight up: 7-10

Against the spread: 6-11