NFL Betting Preview: Detroit Lions at New York Giants

Added on Oct 11, 2010 by Jack Thurman in

NFL

The Detroit Lions ‘broke their maiden’ for the 2010 NFL season this past Sunday with a blowout win over St. Louis and will now try to keep that momentum going as they head to the Meadowlands to take on the New York Giants. The Giants are off back to back wins, beating Chicago at home and Houston on the road. Detroit is expected to be without starting quarterback Matthew Stafford once again this week (listed as ‘doubtful’ on the official NFL injury report).

Detroit Lions at New York Giants
October 17, 2010 10:00 AM Pacific

It might not have shown up in the W/L record so far, but this Detroit Lions team is headed in the right direction. Despite playing without starting quarterback Matthew Stafford the Lions have played hard for head coach Jim Schwartz as evidenced by their 4-1 record against the spread. The significance of the Lions giving a strong showing every week cannot be minimized and should underscore the quality of Schwartz’s coaching. Now that they’ve ended their 10 game losing streak overall and got their first win of the season, their next challenge is to win on the road where they’ve got a 23 game losing streak. Detroit’s last win away from home was in 2007 under Rod Marinelli, when they won 16-7 at Chicago.

At first glance, this may seem like a daunting venue for a team with so little recent success away from home but in many ways the Giants are the diametric opposite of this Lions team. While Detroit is headed in the right direction despite their 1-4 SU record, it’s become readily apparent that this Giants team isn’t what they once were despite entering this contest with a winning record on the year. New York is 3-2, but have caught any number of scheduling breaks with the victories coming at home against a weak Carolina team and a Chicago team with horrendous pass protection and injured quarterbacks. They did manage to beat Houston on the road and while it was a convincing win its important to keep in mind that the Texans have a ton of injury issues as well as a defense that isn’t as far along in the development process as their offense (ranked #31 in total defense and #32 in passing defense). The Giants also have a ton of injury issues of their own, and particularly on the defensive side of the ball. Perhaps the biggest potential absence is linebacker Keith Bulluck who missed the Houston game with a broken toe and is questionable for this contest.

New York is in a potential lookahead situation with a road game against the Dallas Cowboys on deck, while the Lions have a bye week up next. The Giants have been a poor ATS investment in the past year or so, and are currently on a 5-11 ATS run. For our purposes, the fact that Stafford will likely miss this game works in our favor–it’ll take him some time to get in sync with the offense. Getting a good price in a game that the Giants could very well think they can ‘phone in’ we’ll take the hard working Lions who could pull off the outright upset here.

Bet Detroit Lions +10 over New York Giants