After seven months of waiting, the NFL is finally back. Well, it won't technically be back until Thursday at 8:20 p.m. ET when the Falcons and Eagles kick off, but you get the point. 

As is tradition, the defending Super Bowl champion gets to host the first game of the NFL season, and this year, that honor belongs to the Eagles, who rode the momentum of a backup quarterback, thousands of dog masks and a dominant defense to an improbable playoff run that ended with a 41-33 win over the Patriots in Super Bowl LII. 

The atmosphere in Philadelphia should be electric on Thursday and that's mainly because Eagles fans are going to have a lot to celebrate. Not only will they get to see the team's Super Bowl LII banner, but there's also been a gigantic new addition added to the outside of Lincoln Financial Field. 

Thanks to Bud Light, the plaza at the stadium now has a statue of Nick Foles and Doug Pederson getting ready to call the Philly Special. That statue has been up for less than a day and it might have already moved ahead of the "Rocky" statue as Philly's favorite statue. 

As for the Falcons, they're going to start the 2018 season on the same field where their 2017 season ended. The last time we saw the Falcons in game action came on Jan. 13, 2018, when they lost a 15-10 thriller to the Eagles in the divisional round of the playoffs. 

If you're trying to figure out how to watch Thursday's game between the Falcons and Eagles, here's what you need to know. 

So who should you back in Week 1 of the NFL season? Visit SportsLine now to see which teams are winning more than 50 percent of simulations, all from the model that has outperformed 98 percent of experts tracked by NFLPickWatch.com the past two seasons. 

How to watch

  • What: Atlanta Falcons at Philadelphia Eagles 
  • When: Thursday, Sept. 6, 8:20 p.m. ET
  • Where: Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia
  • TV: NBC (Check local listings)
    • Play-by-play: Al Michaels
    • Color analyst: Cris Collinsworth
  • Streaming: fuboTV (Try for free)

We're getting a playoff rematch

If Thursday's night opener goes anything like the last time these two teams met, then we should be in for a treat. The last time we saw the Falcons and the Eagles on the same field came back in January, when the two teams combined to give us one of the most exciting games of the 2017 playoffs. Although the Eagles would end up winning the game 15-10, things weren't decided until the Falcons failed on a fourth-down play from Philly's 2-yard line with just 60 seconds left to play. 

The failed fourth down allowed the Eagles to advance to the NFC Championship Game, where they crushed the Vikings 38-7. 

Nick Foles led the Eagles to both of those wins and he'll be on the field once again in the opener as Carson Wentz continues to recover from his torn ACL. For the Eagles, Wentz won't be the only injured player missing in action on Thursday. The team will also be missing Alshon Jeffery, who led the Eagles in receiving during January's playoff game against Atlanta. The Eagles also won't have LeGarrette Blount, who scored Philly's only touchdown of the game against the Falcons. Blount is now in Detroit after signing a free-agent deal with the Lions. 

For the Falcons, the team you saw last year is basically the team you're going to see on Thursday. The team will be rolling into Philly with Matt Ryan, Devonta Freeman and most importantly, Julio Jones. Jones, who caught nine passes for 101 yards against the Eagles in the playoffs last year, attended all of training camp after re-working his contract with the team in July. If the Falcons hadn't fixed Julio's contract, he was apparently threatening to sit out all of training camp. 

We can forget about all of that now, though, because the offseason drama will officially be behind us at 8:20 p.m. ET on Thursday when the Falcons and Eagles kick off. 

Who will win?

The point spread in this game has taken a big swing over the past couple of days. When the NFL schedule originally came out in April, the Eagles opened up as a 3.5-point favorite. However, that line has now trickled down to just two points in some places after it became clear that both Wentz and Jeffery wouldn't be playing in this game. The Eagles might still be favored, but putting money on them is a bad idea, according to Pete Prisco, who is predicting a Falcons upset in Philadelphia. 

Let's be real: The Falcons should have won in the playoffs last year. And this team is better, while the Eagles are dealing with a ton of injuries, including quarterback, which is why Nick Foles will start. Winning on the road in a Thursday night opener won't be easy, but Atlanta will take it 21-17. 

If you don't agree with Prisco, feel free to check out the rest of our picks for the game by clicking here. Only one of our eight experts is picking the Eagles to win.