Giants Try to Widen Gap in NFC East – at Washington in Week 13
Finally – a Monday Night game that has some intrigue!!! The New York Giants, holder of a two game lead in the NFC East attempt to hold off one of the teams on their heels – the Washington Redskins, winners of two straight division games. The New York Giants looked rested, confident and very much like the elite team we imagined last week in their beat down of the Packers. The Redskins also looked very good in their Thanksgiving Day win at Dallas. The Giants topped the Redskins, 27-23, in the teams’ first meeting of the season, a Week 7 matchup at MetLife Stadium at East Rutherford, N.J Are you ready for a shootout? It should be fun!
New York Giants (7-4) vs. Washington Redskins (5-6)
Date/Time: Monday, December 3, 8:30 PM ET
Venue: FedEx Field
Broadcast: ESPN
Giants vs. Redskins Betting Lines from betonline.com
Spread: Giants -2 1/2 (-110)
Moneyline: Giants -145: Redskins +125
Over/Under: 51 points
The New York Giants emerged from their bye looking like a different team last week – focussed, crisp and ready to make a patented late season run at the Championship once again. They were surely in a funk before their week off but looked like world beaters against a Green Bay Packers team that was emerging as a favorite in the NFC. Eli Manning snapped his touchdown-less streak at three games and Ahmad Bradshaw looked refreshed – look out NFC!
The Giants enter Monday night’s game with he 9th best passing game in the NFL and the 13th best rushing attack and they are 6th in the NFL in scoring with an average of 27.73 points per game. They are a top tier offense that can look so good one minute and so bad the next! The Giants seem to have figured out their mid-season issues and now they get a crack at the league’s 31st ranked pass defense!
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New York’s defense has underachieved a tad this season but this unit is coming on as the season is wearing on – right on cue! The G-men are a disappointing 25th against the pass and 16th against the run. They will have to be sharp this week against RG III who made them look silly in Week 9.
The Washington Redskins have won two straight games to put them back in the playoff hunt. Led by a rookie QB and rookie RB the Skins are no joke, that’s for sure. Full marks for their win in Dallas last week – it was impressive and it was deserved.
Robert Griffin III will put his streak of two straight four-touchdown games on the line Monday night – he has been absolutely on fire leading the league’s 19th ranked passing attack. The return of Pierre Garcon from injury surely helps this team – they had been sadly lacking reliable pass catchers before his return! The Skins will enter Monday night with the second best running game in the league – thanks to Alfred Morris who has been a beast and to Griffin who has also done his job in the running game. With each passing week, Washington becomes more balanced more potent and more exciting on offense![soliloquy id=”82219″]
Washington’s defense continues to be a sore spot – teams are passing at will on this team as demonstrated by the 301.36 yards per game average that they surrender – 31st in the NFL. The Skins do own the 3rd best rushing defense in the NFL but the pass defending woes has made the team 25th in the league in points allowed – 25.91 per game.
Betting Prediction: A few trends to consider:
• The total has gone UNDER in 6 of the NY Giants last 7 games on the road
• The total has gone UNDER in 5 of the NY Giants last 6 games
• NY Giants are 5-1 SU in their last 6 games when playing on the road against Washington
• NY Giants are 8-2 SU in their last 10 games on the road
• The total has gone UNDER in 4 of Washington’s last 5 games
• The total has gone UNDER in 4 of Washington’s last 5 games when playing NY Giants
• The total has gone OVER in 8 of Washington’s last 11 games when playing at home against NY Giants
• The total has gone OVER in 6 of Washington’s last 9 games at home
A lot of people are on the Redskins this week and rightfully so. But Washington is still a step away from being considered elite – in the category of the Giants. This game should be close but you have to love the Giants to emerge by at least a field goal. In a high scoring game take the G-men to knock the Skins down a peg and to all-but-end Washington’s improbable playoff run this year.
Pick: New York Giants -2 1/2
