Phelan M. Ebenhack/Associated Press After initially opening as underdogs, the Atlanta Falcons are one-point favorites in Thursday's season-opening road game against the Philadelphia Eagles. According to B/R Gambling, the Eagles were originally four-point favorites: The line swing doesn't bode well for Philly since it is 2-9 against the spread in its past 11 regular-season games as a home underdog, per OddsShark. The change likely had to do with Eagles quarterback Carson Wentz officially being ruled out for the game as he continues to recover from a torn ACL suffered late last season. Backup Nick Foles will start in his place on the heels of leading the Eagles on an improbable playoff run that ended with the first Super Bowl championship in team history. Foles was named MVP of Super Bowl LII, as he threw for 373 yards, three touchdowns and one interception, and caught a touchdown in a 41-33 win over the New England Patriots. No. 1 wide receiver Alshon Jeffery will also miss Thursday's game, meaning Foles will be forced to lean on wideouts Nelson Agholor and Mike Wallace, as well as tight end Zach Ertz. Additionally defensive tackle Timmy Jernigan is on the physically unable to perform list and linebacker Nigel Bradham won't play due to a suspension. Video Play Button Videos you might like By comparison, the Falcons are healthy with no key players slated to miss Thursday's contest. Atlanta fell just short in a 15-10 playoff loss to the Eagles last season, but quarterback Matt Ryan, wide receiver Julio Jones and Co. will be out for revenge and a chance to spoil the Eagles' Super Bowl celebration Thursday night.<doc-sep>The Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles will kickoff the 2018 NFL season tonight with a Week 1 Thursday night game against the Atlanta Falcons. This game is a rematch of a Divisional Round playoff game from last year, with the Eagles beating the Falcons 15-10 before taking out the Minnesota Vikings in the NFC Championship game then beating the New England Patriots for Philadelphia’s first Lombardi Trophy. How will 2018 play out for two of the top teams in the NFC? Tonight’s game will be a first step toward redemption for Atlanta or a repeat for the Eagles. Everything you need to know for tonight’s NFL Kickoff is below: Atlanta Falcons (0-0) at Philadelphia Eagles (0-0) Week 1 - NFL Kickoff Date: Thursday, September 6, 2018 Time: 8:20 PM ET Channel: NBC/NFL Network Announcers: Al Michaels, Cris Collinsworth, Michelle Tafoya Location: Lincoln Financial Field | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania NFL Network replay: Friday, September 7 at 4:00 AM, 8:00 AM, and 2:00 PM ... Saturday, September 8 at 4:00 PM Online Streaming: NBC Sports Live Extra; NFL Sunday Ticket, NFL Game Pass (Replays), FuboTV Odds: Falcons -1 | O/U: 44.5 Falcons SB Nation team site: The Falcoholic Falcons SB Nation Twitter: @TheFalcoholic Eagles SB Nation team site: Bleeding Green Nation Eagles SB Nation Twitter: @BleedingGreen<doc-sep>FINAL SCORE The Eagles defeated the Falcons in a barn-burner by the final score of 18 to 12. The reigning Super Bowl champions are 1-0! Big win to start the season. Read on for a recap of the game. FOURTH QUARTER Falcons 12th drive: Ryan to Jones to move the Falcons to the Eagles’ 33-yard line. This is shaping up to be a repeat of last year, huh? Ryan sacked to bring up 3rd-and-17 after a failed screen play. Long is bearing down on Ryan ... but the quarterback gets it off and it’s complete to Jones for a first down. Atlanta calls their second timeout with 1:18 remaining and the ball on the 22-yard line. Ryan completes a pass to Jones to set up 1st-and-goal from the 10-yard line with 24 seconds remaining. Oh boy. Ryan’s first down pass is thrown out of the end zone. 16 seconds remaining. Same deal on second down. 11 seconds remain. Pressure by Cox up the middle forces another incompletion. 4th-and-10 from the 10-yard line with 7 seconds left. It’s incomplete! But there’s a penalty. Illegal contact by Jordan Hicks. Falcons at the 5-yard line with one second left. Ryan’s pass to Jones along the sideline in the end zone is ... INCOMPLETE FOR THE SECOND TIME THIS YEAR! THE REIGNING SUPER BOWL CHAMPS WIN! EAGLES WIN, 18-12. Eagles 11th drive: Foles’ deep pass for Wallace was tipped down by a Falcons defender. Would’ve been a big one. Underthrown. Sproles pick up a crucial first down by making a defender miss after a short reception. Clement gets a HUGE hole to run up the middle into the red zone. Eagles o-line parted the sea with that one. Then Ajayi has a big run for a touchdown! His second of the night. Good guys take the lead. Eagles go for two points ... and Ajayi punches it in for two! EAGLES LEAD, 18-12. Falcons 11th drive: Sidney Jones blows up a screen to knock the Falcons back to 2-and-25 on their own 18-yard line. Chris Long strip sacks Ryan but the Falcons recover to bring up 3rd-and-28. Fletcher Cox did a great job of collapsing the pocket there. Falcons get 14 on a dump off and then have to punt. Nice job by the D. Eagles 10th drive: Foles completes a 3rd-and-4 to Agholor but Ertz is called for offensive pass interference. Bull. Eagles back to 3rd-and-14. Foles’ pass to Ertz is dropped. Not a good game for the Eagles’ starting tight end. Punt coming. Falcons 10th drive: Tevin Coleman rushes for a 9-yard touchdown. Eagles defense makes it look way too easy. Atlanta takes the lead. But they miss the extra point! FALCONS LEAD, 12-10. Eagles 9th drive: Agholor gets a carry for a nice gain. Goedert immediately gets drilled as he catches a pass over the middle and the ball is picked off by Deion Jones. Crap! Falcons 9th drive: ﻿3rd-and-5 and Ryan gets SACKED! But Barnett gets called offsides for the second time in this game. Ugh. Falcons have third down from the Eagles’ 15-yard line ... and IT’S PICKED! Rasul Douglas comes up with the clutch interception. Beauty. It's back to Sul for everybody this time of year.#FlyEaglesFly pic.twitter.com/4lItAgRfrz — Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) September 7, 2018 THIRD QUARTER Falcons 8th drive: The Falcons have to punt after McLeod forces a pass breakup. But then Tre Sullivan decides to be dumb and touches the punted ball with his foot and the Falcons recover. So, so stupid. Eagles 8th drive: Ertz drops a would-be first down catch over the middle on third down. Brutal. Falcons 7th drive: Darby breaks up a Ryan pass to Jones on third down and the Falcons have to punt. Great play by Darbs. Eagles 7th drive: Goedert makes his first NFL career catch to put the Eagles at 3rd-and-1. Then Ajayi powers forward for a conversion. Then AGHOLOR THROWS A PASS TO A WIDE OPEN FOLES! PHILLY SPECIAL REDUX! You gotta love Dougie P. Foles then completes a pass to an open Ertz over the middle to move into goal-to-go territory. Ajayi takes a 1-yard carry for an Eagles touchdown. Boom! EAGLES LEAD, 10-6. Falcons 6th drive: Jalen Mills bites hard on a double move and allows a deep reception to Julio Jones. The play is originally ruled an incompletion due to Jones bobbling the ball but Jones secured it and was in. Easy decision for Atlanta to challenge. BUT WAIT! It’s called incomplete. Wow. Big break for the Eagles there. Ryan gets called for intentional grounding on second down to bring up 3rd-and-22 from the Falcons’ own 20-yard line. Atlanta checks down and then has to punt. Eagles 6th drive: Jason Kelce back at center after limping off near the end of the first half. Foles completes a pass to Ertz and then Ajayi runs for a first down. Robert Alford drops a SURE pick from Foles. Ertz was wide open but the ball was out so late. Eagles end up having to punt. Halftime stat: Hey, I really like DeAndre Carter, but uh, what is up with this playing time distribution here? I’d say this isn’t the best personnel usage decision. https://t.co/LlVd3f2z0T — Brandon Lee Gowton (@BrandonGowton) September 7, 2018 SECOND QUARTER Eagles 5th drive: Foles targets Wallace deep and it looks like there might be penalty but no call. Foles targets Wallace along the sideline but the ball is out of bounds. Eagles have to punt, but Johnston draws a roughing the kicker penalty. Eagles get the first down and kneel to mercifully end the first half. Ugly. Falcons 5th drive: The Falcons start at their own 11-yard line after a 58-yard punt by Johnston. The Eagles’ punter sure has a leg. Rodney McLeod almost makes an incredible play by jumping in front of a route but the safety drops it. Gotta catch that one, Rod. Darby forces a pass breakup on third down to force the Falcons to punt. Eagles 4th drive: Gibson makes a real bad decision to take the ball out of the end zone. An Eagles special teams penalty forces the offense to start at their own 5-yard line. Not good. Foles completes a pass and the refs call a (bad) roughing the passer penalty on the Falcons to put the ball out to the 24-yard line. Sproles drop a short pass on 2nd-and-3 despite being wide open. Foles’ third down throw to Zach Ertz is high and off target. Cameron Johnston time. Falcons 4th drive: Jones turns Ronald Darby around in coverage (yikes) to move the Falcons to the middle of the field. Falcons complete a pass for eight yards and then a roughing the passer penalty on Chris Long makes it 15 more. Jordan Hicks trucks the crap out of Freeman in pass protection and takes down Ryan. The guy is a BEAST when healthy. Unfortunately for the Eagles, Matt Bryant makes his 52-yard field goal attempt, because of course he does. FALCONS LEAD, 6-0. Inject this into my veins. God I love football. pic.twitter.com/zbcExf4h5S — Aaron Nagler (@AaronNagler) September 7, 2018 Eagles 3rd drive: Foles hits a tightly covered Agholor for a first down. Good ball, great catch. Agholor snags another contested ball. Then Foles completes a ball to DeAndre Carter (first NFL catch!). Ajayi powers forward with a strong run. Boy does he run hard. Sproles takes a handoff to convert on 3rd-and-inches. Foles has a third down throw to Mike Wallace broken up but the Falcons corner got flagged. Desmond Trufant had a handful of Wallace’s jersey before the ball arrived. Kind of a bail out there with Wallace playing that route soft. Foles almost completed a great ball to Dallas Goedert along the sideline in the end zone but it was just a little too far out where Goedert couldn’t keep his feet in. I like the idea there. Jake Elliott makes a 26-yard field goal to cap off the 14-play drive. TIE GAME, 3-3. Falcons 3rd drive (continued): Atlanta’s screen pass on third down goes nowhere. Fletcher Cox helps to blow it up. Falcons have to punt. FIRST QUARTER<doc-sep>
The Philadelphia Eagles are 8-1 straight up and 7-1-1 against the spread in their last nine home games against the Atlanta Falcons. The Eagles begin their quest for a second straight Super Bowl this Thursday night hoping to continue their home success against the Falcons. Philadelphia is a 1.5-point home favorite at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com. This game opened with the Eagles as 5.5-point favorites but has moved down with the news that Carson Wentz will not be ready to play in the season opener. Philadelphia Eagles Nick Foles steps in for the injured Wentz as he did at the end of the 2017 season. Last year, Foles went on an incredible run in the postseason with six touchdowns and only one interception, earning the Super Bowl MVP Award and leading the Eagles to a 3-0 SU and ATS record. More recently, Foles ended the preseason with no scoring drives, two interceptions, six sacks and two fumbles. Which version of Foles the Eagles get on Thursday night will play a major role in how this game turns out. The Eagles were a reliable bet as a betting favorite last season with a 13-1 SU and 10-4 ATS record in their last 14 games as one per the OddsShark NFL Database. Atlanta Falcons The Falcons entered their NFC Championship Game against the Eagles last year on the heels of a 7-2 SU and 6-3 ATS run. Atlanta was a road favorite in that matchup but came a goal-line stand short of advancing to the Super Bowl. Given their history of struggles against the Eagles and the fresh pain of defeat from last season, the Falcons should be ready with their best effort on Thursday. Thursday night’s total is set at 44.5 points. The UNDER is 7-0 over Atlanta’s last seven games. Football fans were anxiously awaiting the return of Carson Wentz, but that wait will have to continue as the Eagles don’t want to take any chances with their franchise quarterback. In the meantime, it will be up to Nick Foles to find last season’s form in a hurry as the Eagles won’t be able to give Wentz much more time if he doesn’t. For more odds information, betting picks and a breakdown of this week’s top sports betting news check out the OddsShark podcast with Jon Campbell and Andrew Avery. Subscribe on iTunes or listen to it at OddsShark.libsyn.com.