Keenum and Foles Meet to Decide NFC Champion
On Sunday evening, the Minnesota Vikings will visit the Philadelphia Eagles to play for the NFC Championship with the winner moving on to Super Bowl LII. Odds makers opened the line with Philadelphia +3.5, but that has been bet down to +3 on most sportsbooks. The over/under point total was opened at 38 but sits at 38.5 as of Saturday morning.
The top-seeded Eagles have been tagged for the second straight week as home dogs. Last week in the divisional playoff they Eagles did away with Atlanta while the Vikings scored a last-second improbable touchdown to escape with a win over the New Orleans Saints.
The Vikings will be led by signal caller Case Keenum, who this season has thrown for 3,547 yards and 22 touchdowns. His 61-yard touchdown to Stefon Diggs was the difference in Minnesota’s 29-24 win over the Saints.
Eagles starting quarterback Nick Foles was seriously thinking of retirement one year ago after losing his starting position to Carson Wentz, but after Wentz went down with a season ending injury, Foles has stepped up and helped lead the team to the conference championship game.
Diggs started slow last week for the Vikings but ended the day with 137 yards receiving on six catches. In his past five games, Diggs has 28 catches and four touchdowns. Adam Thielen leads the team in receptions with 91 and the pair of wide outs will cause big problems for the Eagles secondary. Latavius Murray has 22 touchdowns on the season for Minnesota.
Philadelphia running back Jay Ajayi finished with 54 yards rushing and 44 receiving in last week’s win over the Falcons. However, this week the Eagles offense will be facing the league’s top-rated defense.
Foles’ favorite receiver is Alshon Jeffrey who caught four passes last week, with each resulting in a first down. He has scored seven touchdowns in the nine games he has played against Minnesota during his career.
Minnesota has lost its last five trips to the NFC Championship game and has not played in the Super Bowl since Super Bowl XI.
The Eagles have lost their last two trips to the NFC Championship.
The home team has won eight straight NFC title games.
Prediction: Eagles in Upset 24-21
