Monday Night Football Props – Quarterback Focus for Eagles-Redskins Game

When the Philadelphia Eagles and the Washington Redskins square off, at least during this NFL betting season (who knows the way things change from year to year in this business), the focus is going to center on the performance on the quarterbacks when it comes to the football props on Monday night.

For tonight’s game the guys on stage are Donovan McNabb, who was benched during a critical point in the game by coach Mike Shanahan, and Michael Vick, who was, well, benched by the feds for a couple of years.

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Neither guy really won last time out, because McNabb hit eight of 19 passes, and Vick got knocked out of the game trying to score a touchdown. So here they are again, and we’ve got Monday night football props on them. The over-under on passing yards for Vick is 235.5, while for McNabb the figure is 227.5 yards.

Philadelphia Eagles (5-3 SU, 3-5 ATS) at Washington Redskins (4-4 SU, 5-2-1 ATS)

Live at FedEx Field

Landover, MD

Monday, November 15 — 8:30 PM ET

TV: ESPN

NFL Odds:

Philadelphia -3

Washington +3

Total 43

Monday Night Football Prop

MICHAEL VICK – TOTAL PASSING YARDS

Over 235.5 yards -115

Under 2353.5 yards -115

Are the animal rights people going to picket the stadium tonight? I hope so. But that won’t faze Vick, who has endured some verbal abuse on his way to the top of the Eagles’ quarterback ladder. Unless you’re going to marry yourself to Kevin Kolb no matter what, and resign yourself to keeping Vick in the position of "Wildcat quarterback," there’s really one logical choice for the guy who will lead this team on the field, based on what each of them can actually do physically.

Vick brings that threat of a run that comes out when it needs to, and that has to be a factor in this Monday night football prop. He came in relief in the game against the Packers and topped 100 yards. Last week against the Colts, as he was returning to the lineup, he had 74 yards on ten carries. He keeps the defense honest, to say the least.

Against the Lions and Jaguars he went for 284 and 291 yards, respectively, and those were the only two full games he played until last week. Unlike those two aforementioned teams, the Redskins are not of the feline variety, but they are actually more permissive, giving up 281 yards a game through the air.

Vick has gone for 8.1 yards per completion. For purposes of this Monday night football prop, we’re figuring him for about 30 throws tonight, and I wonder whether Washington will look to pay some special attention to LeSean McCoy, who had 174 total yards the first time these teams played.

That’s a good question, because DeSean Jackson and Jeremy Maclin only had 34 yards between them. It seems the Redskins were a little pre-occupied with the deep threats. That actually worked pretty well, because the Eagles only scored 17 points. The problem was that the ‘Skins only had 12. I’m figuring on a similar strategy tonight. That may limit what Vick can do through the air, but he’ll use his legs to set up opportunities.

JAY’S PLAY: UNDER 235.5 YARDS (-115) **
(Graded on a scale of 1-4 stars)

Monday Night Football Prop

DONOVAN McNABB – TOTAL PASSING YARDS

Over 227.5 yards -115

Under 227.5 yards -115

Why was Donovan McNabb benched by Mike Shanahan in that game against the Lions, two weeks ago? Well, it might have had something to do with the way he was performing in that particular game, as Washington had turned a win (and cover) into a loss. Shanahan could point to numbers as well, which show that McNabb’s passer rating when it comes to the final two minutes of a half is 41.5. Yikes! You think we should consider that in our Monday night football prop?

I was reading an article this week that discussed the way McNabb has performed with and without Clinton Portis in the lineup. It appears that when he hasn’t had Portis, he has thrown for more yards (253 per game) but with less efficiency, and I guess that makes some sense, since Portis was an outstanding back who could take pressure off him, but without him, the Redskins are relying on Ryan Torain, a guy Shanahan drafted when he was in Denver and who is nursing a bothersome hamstring. The basic theme there is that McNabb will be forced to throw more, and the Eagles know it. Okay, that would seem to set itself up for a game where McNabb will let loose a little more here.

You certainly don’t want to base anything on his numbers from the last meeting between these two, back on October 3, when he was just eight of 19 for 125 yards. This doesn’t mean that I like McNabb very much, or think he’s going to win, but I would be willing to give him the benefit of the doubt that he can get over the figure laid out in this Monday night football prop. Unless, of course, he’s got to do any two-minute drills. LOL!

JAY’S PLAY: OVER 227.5 YARDS (-115) **
(Graded on a scale of 1-4 stars)

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