Cardinals vs. Giants Gambling Preview/Prediction

October 23, 2009 by Ray M.

NFL: ARIZONA at NY GIANTS

The Giants were blasted at New Orleans last week by the passing of Drew Brees, suffering their first loss of the season. Up next is a club with another prolific passing attack, Arizona, who comes off its best game of the season, a 27-3 win at Seattle. The big differences in this one is that New York will be at home, and playing as a 7-point favorite at Sportsbook.com.

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Fortunately for New York, the Cardinals haven’t had anywhere near the consistency of the Saints. The defending NFC champs have won back-to-back games for the first time in ’09 and are riding a 4-game ATS road winning streak. The Giants are 2-0 at home this year, outscoring opponents 33.5-12.0, and are on a 13-4 ATS run as chalk. Road teams are on a 6-3 ATS run in the L9 games of this H2h series, and under the total has converted in six of the last eight.

Aside from winning at Carolina in the divisional round of last season’s NFL playoffs, Arizona doesn’t have too many recent positive experiences with traveling to the East Coast. Even in making a Super Bowl run last season, the Cardinals had their wings clipped in visits to New England, Philadelphia, the New York Jets, Carolina and Washington, losing all five games by an average of 19.9 points. On top of that, the Giants went into Phoenix last November and walked away with a 37-29 victory.

Last week’s 27-3 win in Seattle did nothing to prepare Arizona for what awaits at the Meadowlands this Sunday. The Giants, one of Kurt Warner’s former teams, have never been kind as an opponent. In six games they’ve sacked him 18 times, and even after last week’s 48-27 thumping in New Orleans their defense still ranks among the NFL’s best.

Despite a season-ending knee injury to safety Kenny Phillips, and the absence of cornerback Aaron Ross for the first six games due to a hamstring injury, teams were averaging an unbelievable 104.8 yards per game before New Orleans. Drew Brees threw for 369 yards and four scores, so Warner represents a critical test for Big Blue. The saving grace is the fact that the Cardinals are a one-dimensional offense.

Quarterback protection has been a major issue in the Cardinals two losses, as they’ve allowed seven sacks. In three wins, Warner has been dropped just four times.

The Giants bring one of the most balanced offensive attacks to the table, and that could be a problem for an Arizona defense currently ranked No. 1 stopping the run (59.6 yards per game), but dead last against the pass (273.2). Eli Manning’s receivers have proven to be quick studies and actually have more big plays than Arizona’s much-discussed duo of Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin. The offense has completed 24 passes of more than 20 yards, and Manning has thrown just three interceptions in 166 attempts.

Since the start of this century, the Giants have dominated the series, posting a 6-2 mark in eight meetings, and own a lopsided 79-41-2 all-time edge.

Log on now to Sportsbook.com for all of this weekend’s football games. And don’t forget to make your picks for the $100,000 Perfect Parlay; just because someone won the six figure payday a few weeks back, doesn’t mean you can’t win it this weekend.