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Eagles are underdogs once more: Saints favored by more than a touchdown

The Birds can expect to be getting points from the bookies for most of the next two months. Time to put the mask back on?

Jalen Mills famously wears a dog mask following the Eagles win over Minnesota in last year's NFC Championship Game.
Jalen Mills famously wears a dog mask following the Eagles win over Minnesota in last year's NFC Championship Game.Read moreYong Kim / Staff photographer
    by Ed Barkowitz | Columnist
    Published 

The Eagles won a Super Bowl last season lugging the perceived indignity of being underdogs throughout their playoff run.

"How can the bookies make us underdogs?" they would fume. "We went 13-3 and were the NFC's No. 1 seed."

They can expect the return of that label for most of the next two months starting Sunday. It'll be interesting to see if they again don the underdog masks as motivation, though stopping opposing offenses on 3rd-and-15 also wouldn't hurt.

Vegas Vic, the oddsmaker for Philly.com, is opening the Eagles at +7.5 for Sunday's visit to New Orleans. It's the first time this season the Eagles (4-5) will be underdogs. New Orleans (8-1) has won eight consecutive games and the Saints just pasted the Bengals, 51-14 for their sixth consecutive cover.

Drew Brees has led the offense to 40 or more points five times in the first nine games this season. Only the 2013 Broncos and the 2000 Rams had ever done that.

Oh, and the Eagles, who are 3-6 this season against the spread, just lost cornerback Ronald Darby for the season. Could get ugly in the Superdome.

>> WEEK 10 IN REVIEW: Eagles facing a major challenge in Brees and Saints

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Lines via VegasInsider.com and Vegas Vic