Tennessee Titans vs. Philadelphia Eagles: Prediction, Preview, Picks & Odds - 12/4/2022

Time: 1 p.m. ET

Venue: Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia, PA

Where to watch: FOX

DraftKings: Eagles -4.5

FanDuel: Eagles -5.5

BetMGM: Eagles -5

Caesars: Eagles -5.5

Titans: 7-4 (1st place, AFC South)

Eagles: 10-1 (1st place, NFC East)

Titans: lost 20-16 vs. Bengals

Eagles: won 40-33 vs. Packers

I don't think anybody would have thought when the trade happened the night of the NFL draft that both of these teams would be in first place in their respective divisions and one of them would carry an undefeated start all the way until Week 9. Nonetheless, the Tennessee Titans have found ways to stay afloat without a true #1 receiver after trading said #1 receiver to their opponent this weekend, V10-1 Philadelphia Eagles. And of course, who else would be leading the Eagles in receiving right now? none other than A.J. Brown.

Brown will face his former team for the first time since the Titans traded him to Philadelphia on the night of the NFL draft. If you recall following that night, Brown sent out a couple of tweets that were very interestingly phrased toward the Tennessee front office. And the only thing I can think of is how in the world did Tennessee not pay him. The trade has somehow benefited both teams. The Titans have not lost a step and are currently in a comfortable lead atop the AFC S, while Philadelphia has a legitimate superstar receiver that young quarterback Jalen hurts can throw the ball to whenever he wants.

The Titans are coming off a rare loss as this season would unfold, losing 20-16 to the Cincinnati Bengals in a rematch of the AFC divisional playoff matchup from last year. Ryan Tannehill completed 22 of 34 for 291 yards last week and he's looking for his fourth straight game with 250 passing yards and a quarterback rating of at least 90. He's also been very good at not turning the ball over with zero interceptions in five of his last six starts. Considering there's a lot of pressure right now with Tannehill seemingly competing for the future of his job with Malik Willis waiting in the wings, it is up to Tannehill to try and get Tennessee to a very deep playoff run. They have been close over the last number of years, but they have not found a way to breakthrough.

The reason why it is on Tannehill to perform is that Derrick Henry clearly is not built to last into January. It's not that he can't, but when you are spending the entire season carrying a team literally on your back, you are going to run out of gas eventually. But it was another strong day for Henry last week in the loss, at least in the receiving game. He caught a career-high 79 receiving yards as opposed to only 38 rushing yards and he has at least 115 scrimmage yards in eight of his last nine games. That is absolutely good quality. But Henry cannot be the only beneficiary on the offense. 38 rushing yards is not going to get it done in this economy, especially when he is the main proponent on the offense.

If the Titans are going to have any chance in winning this game, then they need to find some balance within the offense. Particularly, it's going to have to fall on Tannehill to have a big game and not tax Henry so much. Because if Philadelphia gets the ball, most times and none, the Eagles are going to buy your way to score. Because that's all they've done this entire year is score the ball in bunches. The Eagles ran for a combined 363 yards last week in the 40-33 win over the Green Bay Packers, without a doubt the highest single-game total this season and the most by any team since the Baltimore Ravens ran 404 yards in week 17 of 2020.

157 of those yards came from Hurts, the fourth most rushing yards by a quarterback in a single regular season game all the time. If you wanted to give him the MVP now, I don't think anybody would be stopping you. He is on one of two quarterbacks this year, along with Miami Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa, to throw for at least 15 touchdowns and only three interceptions or fewer. Almost half of his touchdowns have gone to the newly acquired brown, who caught his 7th touchdown pass of the season last week and now has five in his last four home games. Funny enough, brown is already 1/3 of the way of matching his total touchdown output that he had in Tennessee for three years. Football is a weird sport, man.

Until proven otherwise, it looks like Philadelphia is back on track. I do have questions about their defense over the last number of weeks, but right now the way that offense is playing, you can't go against it. Hurts will hurt the Tennessee defense and this should be a decent two-score victory for the Eagles. Eagles by 14

Titans are 12-3 ATS on the road against NFC East teams since 1992.

Titans are 62-36 ATS in non-conference games since 1992.

Eagles are 11-3 ATS at home after the first month of the season the last 3 years.