We’re doing our picks a little different this year.

Thanks to our friends at Tropicana Atlantic City and Chalkline, we’ll be tracking our picks using one of their new games. We’ll give you our Eagles picks here with some commentary, but we’ll also be picking all the other NFL games from Tropicana’s given point spread on the games. If you’re still new to sports betting, catch up and be an expert.

And you can be part of the fun as well. Click the link to access our NFL Challenge and be eligible to win various prizes, such as free stays at the Tropicana Atlantic City, gift cards for their sports bars and restaurants, Amazon Echo Dots and much more! If you’re not sure about who to pick and want to see who everyone else picked, check out the consensus picks for each game. The picks are locked at kickoff. And after each week, check out the leaderboard and see where you rank alongside the rest of the Crossing Broad community. You have to be 21 or over to play.

Now onto the Birds, who kick off the regular season tonight against Atlanta. They’ll be starting Nick Foles at quarterback and have some questions at wide receiver to start the year. Atlanta comes in after losing to the Eagles in the NFC Divisional Round last year.

Our predictions are after the jump:

Chris: I don’t think the Birds will win the season opener. They’ll have some kind of Super Bowl celebration hangover and Nick Foles won’t be the Foles we saw during the playoffs. Being thin at wide receiver will hurt as well. I hate to be the negative one, but I do think Atlanta comes out on top. But it’s a marathon, not a race. Falcons 28, Eagles 17 (Falcons +1.5).

Jeff: They’re the defending champs. And yet they’re STILL underdogs. -1.5 AT HOME is a god damn slap in the face.

The banner is going up. They’re not losing this game, especially not to a dome team whose offense they’ve frankly dominated the last two times they played.

Nick will do just enough, Ajayi will have a big game, and my boy Clement will get into the endzone. Let the title defense begin. Eagles 27, Falcons 17 (Eagles -1.5).

Mike: Last time these two teams played each other the Eagles overcame two turnovers and a 10-9 halftime deficit to win the game 15-10 after the Falcons failed to convert four chances from inside the 10-yard line on their final drive. Let’s face it, the Eagles were VERY lucky to have won that game. If Julio catches that pass in the end zone (which he typically does 9 times out of 10), the Eagles don’t move on and eventually win the Super Bowl. It won’t change what happened, but Atlanta has a bad taste in their mouths and will no doubt be looking for some serious redemption by spoiling the Eagles SB festivities tonight.

All things considered, I just can’t buy that BDN will be even close to the same quarterback he was in the Super Bowl. He’s the type of QB who needs several games under his belt before he gets in a rhythm and gains confidence. Against a lesser team, the Eagles could probably squeak out a win, but not against a highly motivated Atlanta squad. The Falcons are strong on both sides of the ball and were good enough to go 5-3 on the road last season. With the Eagles being a little depleted, I’ll lean toward the Falcons to win this one on the road rather easily. Vegas seems to be leaning that way too. The line originally opened at Eagles -4. Today, some sports books have this game all the way down to a pick’em. Falcons 24, Eagles 13 (Falcons +1.5).

Tim: The Eagles defense has had success grounding the Falcons’ offensive attack the past two seasons. One question I have: will the Eagles’ advantage up front cover up the lack of depth in the linebacking corps and ease the secondary’s challenge of containing Julio Jones? If the front four cannot generate consistent pressure, Matt Ryan will have a field day.

On the other side of the ball, questions abound. Nick Foles looked terrible in preseason play, but the Eagles offense was operating with spare parts. I expect Foles to be more effective with the Ajayi-Clement-Sproles tandem at his disposal, plus a mostly healthy receiving corps. I will be most interested to see how the Eagles employ Zach Ertz and Dallas Goedert. It should be fun to watch. Bottom line: I’m taking the Eagles. Eagles 28, Falcons 24 (Eagles -1.5).

Coggin: Too many injuries for the Eagles. No Carson and no Alshon doth not make for an easy season opener against the Falcons. The Eagles lose this one (goddamnit I hope I’m wrong) and start the season off slowly, before catching fire in the second half and winning the NFC East with a 10-6 record. Falcons 20, Eagles 14 (Falcons +1.5).

Phil: For the past few weeks I have not been able to shake the feeling that the Eagles are going to split their first two games. Either they will lose at home to Atlanta, and then blast Tampa Bay down there, or they will ride the momentum of celebrating the Super Bowl title by beating Atlanta again, and then play poorly in Tampa in a classic trap game situation. The injury list for the Eagles coming into this game, combined with their absolutely destitute preseason performances, have left them a scant one-point favorite at home against a team they beat in the playoffs last season. I do not trust the Eagles nearly as much as I did in either the Minnesota or New England playoff games last year, because of the injuries and because we haven’t seen them try to win a game since the Super Bowl. But I just can’t take the Falcons on the road on opening night. That team can say all they want to about how blowing that 28-3 lead in the Super Bowl against the Patriots is deep in the past. Don’t you believe it. Some losses follow for you forever. That’s one of them. Eagles 26, Falcons 23 (Eagles -1.5).

Anthony: Last year, my Crossing Broad colleagues hated me. They never wanted me to pick the Eagles to win because it was sure to be wrong. That’s because I did pick the Eagles to lose more often than all of my other homer compatriots and I ended up being wrong a few times (don’t believe that final record, Chris refused to give me credit for picks made before I joined CB).

That said, I think this Eagles team wins 10-11 games and is back in the playoffs without much question. Now, we can sit here and nitpick on Good Foles vs. Bad Foles and wonder how Peters and Sproles will look and gee, will the receivers get open without Alshon on the field and oh my will Matty Ice take advantage of our miserable linebacker situation? But why go that deep into it? It’s Week 1 in the NFL. It’s sure to be very volatile. Good teams will lose. Bad teams will win. Barring catastrophic injuries it won’t have a major impact on January football. Just know, the Eagles are good, but so are the Falcons.

This will be a good game. A really good game. And when the Falcons win, a lot of old, familiar, negative feelings will flow through the veins Eagles fans. But don’t let it bother you. It’s only one game. Your team will be just fine. Trust me. Falcons 19, Eagles 17 (Falcons +1.5).

Bob: A few months ago, I figured everybody would still be riding the emotional wave of a Super Bowl win, overconfidently glossing over a very good and dangerous Falcons team in this game. Silly me.

I liked the Falcons in that context, but with half the city in a panic over the team’s sluggish preseason, many have already written this game off as a loss. I just don’t see it. The Eagles rode the disrespect angle hard last season, and I don’t see why they can’t do it again here. The short point spread concerns me, but I’ll take the better defense, one that has handled the Atlanta offense in each of the past two seasons, at home in front of a raucous crowd where the Eagles only lost one (meaningless) game a season ago. Eagles 23, Falcons 17 (Eagles -1.5).

Russ: I’ve gone back and forth on this every day for the last week. My typically cynical view of a new Eagles season has been tempered a bit. One on hand, the lack of Alshon Jeffrey could look large, while seasoned vets like Darren Sproles and Jason Peters will have some rust to knock off. Speaking of the latter, I am not a believer in a bounce back season. JP is an undisputed Hall of Famer, but I have no confidence in his ability to stay healthy nor operate on an island at left tackle. Can Jalen Mills stop Julio Jones? Will Matt Ryan take advantage of an Eagles linebacking corps without Nigel Bradham? When Kyle and I recorded Crossing Broadcast on Wednesday night, I said the Eagles would win close or lose big. But, it’s GameDay. Eagles 30, Falcons 24 (Eagles -1.5).

Kevin: Nick Foles struggles early without Alshon Jeffery while the rest of the offense knocks off the rust. The Birds defense and the ravenous crowd keeps the team in the game until Steve Sarkisian and Matt Ryan ultimately bottle it in the second half. Eagles 17, Falcons 14 (Eagles -1.5).

Kyle: Eagles 52, Falcons 0 (Eagles -1.5).