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
Week 15 in the NFL wraps up with a “Monday Night Football” clash between the Seahawks and the Philadelphia Eagles at Seattle’s Lumen Field.
The Seahawks (6-7) have lost four straight games to difficult opponents, including their most recent – a 12-point defeat to the 49ers.
The Eagles (10-3) have dropped two straight games for the first time this season after their thrilling overtime victory against Buffalo three weeks ago.
Both starting quarterbacks are listed as questionable for Monday’s game.
While Jalen Hurts (illness) is expected to play for the Eagles, Geno Smith (groin), who missed last week’s game against the 49ers, is a game-time decision.
Drew Lock would step into the starting role again for Seattle if Smith is unable to go.
Let’s take a look at three of my favorite PrizePicks selections for Monday’s matchup.
Wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba has seen his role grow as the season has progressed.
Last week, he played more than 70 percent of the snaps for just the fourth time this season. He had seven targets after coming off a season-high 11 targets the previous week.
The first-round rookie has recorded more than 3.5 receptions in consecutive games and in six of his last nine.
While the starting quarterback role is in question, it should not matter for JSN.
Smith-Njigba proved to be Lock’s favorite receiver last week, earning a team-leading 22.6 percent of the targets. He was the first-read on an impressive 27.3 percent of Lock’s dropbacks.
JSN also runs the majority of his routes (57.1 percent last week) from the slot, where the Eagles’ defense is most vulnerable.
The Seahawks are likely to be forced to the air in a negative game script. Smith-Njigba should have plenty of opportunities to beat his 3.5 receptions projection.
Hurts is putting together an MVP-caliber campaign, and he is doing most of his damage through the air.
The rushing touchdowns are still there thanks to the “Brotherly Shove” but he is not getting nearly as many designed runs as last season, especially when you remove QB sneaks from the equation.
Hurts has racked up 460 rushing yards through 13 games this season compared to 686 rushing yards through 13 games a year ago.
He has recorded fewer than 34.5 rushing yards in five of the last seven games. One of the two games he beat the projection was by just 1.5 yards.
It is yet to be determined how effective Hurts will be as he deals with an illness that saw him downgraded to questionable on the injury report late last week.
With the illness as a variable and lower rushing volume overall this season, expect Hurts to stay under this rushing yards projection.
Smith, who is just 93 yards shy of his second-consecutive 1,000-yard season, has averaged 69.8 receiving yards per game this season, and he has gone over 56.5 receiving yards in five of his last six games.
He is the very clear No. 2 option in the Eagles’ high-powered offense. He ranks second on the team in many key metrics, including yards, receptions, target share, air-yards share and first-read rate.
The Seahawks have a solid pass defense, but top wide receiver A.J. Brown and tight end Dallas Goedert should draw plenty of attention.
Smith is coming off back-to-back games with double-digit targets. If he is able to earn that type of volume again this week, he should easily beat this receiving yards projection.