The 49ers will head into their Week 2 matchup against the Eagles as favorites on the road once again. Tipico has San Francisco as the 3.5-point favorites going into Philadelphia.

This is an interesting number because the Eagles are coming off a blowout 32-6 win over the Falcons in Atlanta. The 49ers needed to hold off a late Lions rally to escape Detroit with a 41-33 win.

In a vacuum the Eagles’ win was more impressive, but there were enough weird things that factored into the 49ers’ collapse to think the 41-17 lead they had with two minutes left was a better indicator of the team they are.

This is why picking games is so difficult for the early part of the year. Figuring out what’s real and what’s a product of early-season strangeness is nigh impossible without the benefit of seeing three or four games first.

San Francisco should be the better team going into their game against the Eagles, but the hook on the 3.5 has us leaning toward the home team.