NFL betting, odds: Dallas Cowboys now sizable favorites against Eagles after Jalen Hurts injury news

On Monday afternoon, the NFL betting market started acting strangely. For seemingly no reason, Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts lost his status as favorite to win NFL MVP. Additionally, the line for Week 16's meeting between the Eagles and Dallas Cowboys was moving quickly and strongly against Philadelphia. We knew something was up, but we didn't have confirmation about what exactly was going on.

ESPN's Adam Schefter reported that Jalen Hurts suffered a sprained shoulder in Philadelphia's win over the Chicago Bears on Sunday. His status for this weekend is in question and there's a very good chance the Eagles are forced to start backup Gardner Minshew.

Line moved quickly

When betting lines for Week 16 were first posted late on Sunday night, the Eagles were installed as 1.5-point road underdogs against the Cowboys. Many were probably surprised to see the Eagles open as underdogs. Sure, Dallas is the home team, but the Eagles have been the better team all season long.

On Monday afternoon, the line started moving in favor of the Cowboys. Slight line variations early in the week are normal and don't usually set off alarms. However, by late Monday afternoon, the Eagles were 5-point underdogs. That much movement was far from normal and immediately bettors knew something was up.

When Schefter reported the news, the line moved even more. Currently at BetMGM, Dallas is favored by six points at home. The total has also seen a massive move, dropping five points from 51.5 points down to 46.5 points.

Minshew is expected to start at quarterback for Philadelphia if Hurts can't go. Minshew started for one and a half seasons in Jacksonville in 2019 and 2020. Over the last two seasons with the Eagles, he's appeared in seven games and made two starts. Overall in his career, Minshew is completing over 63% of his passes and has a 41-12 TD-to-INT ratio, making him one of the more viable backup quarterbacks in the league.

Is the move too much?

Talk about things coming full circle.

Last week, Micah Parsons made headlines when he appeared on Von Miller's podcast and openly questioned whether Jalen Hurts was a product of his surroundings.

“If we look at the Eagles,” he wondered, “is it Hurts or the team?”

While Parsons was ripped for asking the question and giving the Eagles and Hurts bulletin board material, a lot of NFL fans have been asking similar questions this season. Even Hurts' biggest fans know he's not at the level of Patrick Mahomes. Philadelphia depends less on Hurts than the Chiefs do on Mahomes or the Bills do on Josh Allen. That's not a slight on Hurts. He's doing exactly what he has to do and even more. You don't lead a team to a 13-1 record if you're not doing your job exceptionally well.

We got our answer as to how the betting market views Hurts this week. Philadelphia going from Hurts to Minshew is worth 4.5 points in the betting market. That's a pretty significant move.

There are certainly people out there who agree with the premise of what Parsons was saying on that podcast. If you're one of those people who thinks Hurts is at least somewhat a product of the Eagles' talent and system, you should be champing at the bit to bet Philadelphia this week.

The Eagles have a great defense, they have arguably the best offensive line in football and they have two top-level receivers in A.J. Brown and Devonta Smith. In Minshew, Philadelphia has one of the best backup quarterbacks in the league.

Bettors now have to ask themselves the same question that Parsons was asking last week when figuring out how to bet this weekend's meeting between the Eagles and Cowboys. And Parsons might just get the answer to the question he was asking.