Another reason for all of the Eagles love to this point at the betting windows is how well Philadelphia played in the NFC championship game. Bettors are influenced by what they saw most recently, and that certainly seems to be the case with all the Eagles action. After all, the Patriots are a machine against the spread. They’ve covered the spread the last 13 times they’ve been favored by seven or fewer points,
according to OddsShark. The Patriots have covered the spread in 10 of their last 12 games and 11 of their last 15, OddsShark said, which is amazing because they’ve been the NFL’s premier team for years and betting lines usually reflect that.
But recency bias has a strong influence, and the last thing fans saw was a huge Eagles win over Minnesota.
“I thought it was recency bias to open it at 6,” Alexander said of the opening line. “We saw Tom Brady struggle a bit against Jacksonville (in the AFC championship game) and we saw Nick Foles became Johnny Unitas against Minnesota. It’s totally recency bias. It’s amazing. How many times do you have to see this movie?”
Alexander said he took the Patriots in last year’s Super Bowl, and will be taking them again this year.
“I’ll happily take Tom Brady over Nick Foles on a neutral field,” Alexander said.