NEW YORK GIANTS @ NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS 
Vegas Line: Giants + 9
Rob’s Line: Giants + 8.5
This is a Hollywood matchup and a repeat of Super Bowl XLII, the last time these two met. That was the night when New England were hoping to repeat the undefeated season of the 1972 Miami Dolphins, but 18-0 became 18-1 and, if you’ve never seen it before, look up David Tyree’s catch in the fourth quarter. Supporting my own teams aside, I can count on one hand the amount of times I’ve actually been compelled to leap out of my chair when watching sport. Tyree’s catch was one of those moments.
Despite the line on this game, it’s an intriguing matchup and I have a small theory on the Giants based on their form since Week 3 and it does bode well for them coming into this one.
They travelled to Philadelphia in Week 3 for a big game against a strong division opponent and won convincingly. The following week at Arizona they squeaked past the Cardinals having trailed by ten with four minutes to play. Next up came the shocker at home to the Seahawks and the 27-24 win over the Bills in a ripsnorter of a game. They came back from their bye last week and should have lost at home to the Dolphins, having started very sloppily and finding themselves in a 14-3 second quarter hole.
They’ve raised their game when they’ve needed to this season and there’s not many more difficult places to go than New England so motivation levels will be high. However, they do have injuries with both running back Ahmad Bradshaw and wide receiver Hakeem Nicks ruled out. There was hope that both may play, but they didn’t even travel so that’s a considerable blow. Nicks is the greater loss as the Giants possess the league’s fourth ranked passing offense and he leads the team in receptions with 38.
Brandon Jacobs will pick up the running slack in Bradshaw’s absence, but he’s averaging just three yards per carry this season and the Patriots rank ninth against the run so coach Tom Coughlin will have to get inventive with his offense this week.
With New England susceptible against the pass (they rank dead last), they have to be made up at Nicks’s absence and when you throw in to the mix the fact that Bradshaw ranks joint third on the team in receptions (24), that’s a huge chunk of receiving offense that the Patriots all of a sudden don’t have to deal with.
Tom Brady’s stats (24 of 35, 198 yards, 2 TDs) don’t appear too bad in last week’s loss in Pittsburgh, but they don’t tell the whole story. The Steelers went into that game being told they’d been too predictable on defense when facing Brady in the past so, learning from that, showed a few different looks on that side of the ball, took an early ten point lead and never relinquished it. While the Patriots may be bruised by that defeat, Brady, as you can see, didn’t come out of it too badly and he’ll be ready to face the Giants on Sunday.
His supporting cast of receivers, led by Wes Welker and featuring Rob Gronkowski, Aaron Hernandez and Deion Branch will be a test for the Giants’ 13th ranked pass defense and with Brady directing from behind, we should see the ball firing about in all directions.
Yes, the Giants are guaranteed to play hard, but they also don’t stack up well against the run, allowing 130 yards per game, and I feel as though the loss of Nicks and Bradshaw may be almost insurmountable when on the road against the Patriots, a Patriots team hurting after that loss to a serious playoff rival last week. I take New England to cover and to win by ten.
No comments:
Post a Comment