Houston vs Philadelphia – NFL Sports Book

The Houston Texans and the Philadelphia Eagles are playing on a short week as they meet at Lincoln Field in Philadelphia for the NFL Thursday night prime time game.

The Eagles are don’t have time to think about their first loss with Michael Vick as a starter as they will face the Texans WITH Andre Johnson in the lineup. The early betting at the NFL Sports book sides with the Eagles with 67% of the bets.

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The NFL Sports book lines have the Eagles as 8½-point favorites. Check the NFL sports book for the latest moneyline. The game total is set at 51 points.

NFL Sports Book Betting Lines

December 2, 2010

Houston Texans +8½ -110

Philadelphia Eagles -8½ -110

Game Total 51

Location: Lincoln Field – Philadelphia PA

Game Time: 8:20pm

TV: NFL Network

The NFL announced that Texans star receiver Andre Johnson wouldn’t be suspended for his fight with Tennessee Titans CB Cortland Finnegan.

The decision only fine Johnson raises a couple of questions. First Johnson did what 90% of the league wanted to do, Cortland Finnegan is not a popular player around the league.

Still, when players are being fined $50,000 and threatened with suspension for aggressive hits during the game, it send the wrong message that it’s OK to rip an unpopular players helmet off and punch him in the back of the head.

Second question, is the league knew the Texans are playing the Eagles on the NFL owned Network, so did they not suspend Johnson because they didn’t want their ratings to slip? The Texans will have trouble beating the Eagles as it is but without Johnson, it would have been an almost impossible task.

The Eagles took their first defeat under Michael Vick when the Chicago Bears sacked Vick 4 times and the Eagles defense let Jay Cutler throw four TDs.

Still in defeat, Vick threw for a season high 333 yards and a couple of touchdowns. He should be set for a huge game against the Texans second worst pass defense in the league.

The Texans will need to rely on Mario Williams to chase Vick from the pocket and then rely on the linebackers to contain him.

Houston has been respectable against the run but with Vick and leading running back LeSean McCoy, they’ll be in trouble. The Eagles are averaging 146.6 yards per game.

The Texans do boast the league’s leading rusher in Arian Foster, Foster is rushing for 104 yards a game and has scored 13 combined touchdowns.

Look at some NFL Sports book trends, the Texans are 1-3-1 ATS in their last five games following a straight up win. The Eagles are 11-2 ATS in their last 13 games in Week 13. The Over is 4-1-1 in the Texans last 6 road games.

It wouldn’t have mattered for the NFL if they had suspended Johnson. The Texans will be beat down by the Eagles and as we’ve seen, Michael Vick is good for TV ratings. Take the Eagles -8½

NFL Betting Pick: Eagles -8½