Eagles vs. Giants predictions: Rounding up the experts NFL divisional playoff picks

For the second straight season under Nick Sirianni, the Eagles are in the playoffs. But unlike last year, Sirianni’s first at the helm, this run didn’t come as a surprise. They were expected to be here — although maybe not the NFC’s No. 1 seed — and they certainly won’t be underdogs when they host the New York Giants in a prime-time divisional round matchup on Saturday night.

In fact, a year after losing to Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Bucs in the wild-card round, the Birds are a 7.5-point favorite in this one, according to FanDuel, as they look to beat the Giants for the third time this season, and the second time in as many games.

However, Eagles fans learned first hand in 2018 that you can never count an underdog out — if you could, there wouldn’t be a Lombardi Trophy on display at the NovaCare Complex — and beating a team three times in the same season is always a tough task. With that in mind, let’s take a look at what the local and national media are saying about this NFC East playoff matchup as we round up some predictions, starting right here with our own beat writers.

Inquirer beat writer predictions

While all three of our Eagles writers believe the Birds will advance to the NFC Championship game next weekend — against the winner of Dallas and San Francisco — not all of them think it will be an easy victory for the Birds. Here’s a snippet of EJ Smith’s prediction, which doesn’t have the Eagles covering the spread...

The wild-card weekend provided a valuable lesson for the Eagles as they enjoyed their first-round bye.

Whether it was too-close-for-comfort wins for the heavily favored Buffalo Bills or Cincinnati Bengals or the Jacksonville Jaguars’ wild upset, the perils of playoff football were apparent. Games hardly go as expected and often come down to a few pivotal moments.

This will likely be the case for the Eagles on Saturday even against a team they handily defeated roughly five weeks ago. The Giants have gotten significantly healthier since then, plus rookie head coach Brian Daboll and his staff have fine-tuned their schemes to maximize the talent on the Giants roster. ...

Prediction: 31-27

EJ Smith

To see more of the reason behind EJ’s pick, as well as why Jeff McLane and Josh Tolentino believe the Eagles will win — and by how many points — .

National media predictions

Here’s a look at what football analysts around the country have to say about this week’s Eagles-Giants matchup ...

· ESPN.com: Four of the five experts who have made their pick so far are going with the Eagles on Saturday night.

· NFL.com: Gregg Rosenthal is predicting an Eagles win this weekend, but doesn’t quite have them covering the spread.

· CBS Sports: Seven of their eight experts are picking the Eagles to win. And when it comes to the spread, just two think they’ll cover.

· Sports Illustrated: Each of the five football writers at MMQB are picking the Eagles to advance past the Giants.

· Yahoo! Sports: Frank Schwab only picks against the spread, but we don’t have to speculate on who he’d be taking straight up, as he has the Birds covering the 7.5-point spread.

· The Athletic: In a rare sweep, all 10 of the football writers at The Athletic are taking the Eagles.

· USA TODAY: Four of their six writers are picking the Birds; but it gets more interesting, as they also pick conference and Super Bowl winners — two have the Eagles reaching the Super Bowl, while four are taking the 49ers. None have the Birds winning it all.

· Pro Football Talk: Michael David Smith has the Eagles winning easily on Saturday night. Mike Florio, on the other hand, has their season coming to an end.

· Sporting News: Over at The Sporting News, Bill Bender has the Eagles squeaking past the Giants in a close one. And when it comes to picking against the spread, Vinnie Iyer has the Birds both winning and covering.

Local media predictions

Who knows a team better than the experts who follow them day in and day out? Let’s take a look at who the local writers are picking ...

· Bleeding Green Nation: All six Eagles writers at BGN have the Birds advancing.

· NJ.com: In a newsroom divided between Eagles writers and Giants writers, there’s at least one thing they can agree on: an Eagles win.

· NorthJersey.com: Even at a site that sounds like it should be Giants-leaning, it’s a clean sweep for the Eagles, although it’s worth noting here that some of their prognosticators are Philly-based writers — or at least cover the Philly teams.