Sunday Night Football: NY Giants at Philadelphia Eagles

Added on Nov 21, 2010 by Jack Thurman in

NFL

First place in the NFC East will be on the line this Sunday Night as the Philadelphia Eagles host the New York Giants. Both teams have 6-3 records though Philly is off a dominating win over Washington while the Giants are trying to bounce back from an embarrassing loss to the Dallas Cowboys.

New York Giants at Philadelphia Eagles
November 21, 2010 5:20 PM Pacific

Had this game been played two weeks ago there’s a good chance the Giants would have been road favorites. You’ll recall the talk at the time was how the Giants were ‘playing better football than any team in the league’. Philadelphia was playing well too, but the combination of last weekend’s Dallas win over the Giants and the Eagles beatdown of Washington has completely changed the dynamic of this matchup. Public bettors–particularly in the NFL–have a tendency to overreact to particularly good or bad performances and especially when these bogus storylines are hyped by ESPN and the other catch phrase spewers in the mainstream sports media.

The reality of the situation is that not much has changed. Credit where credit is due–Michael Vick has performed well and most impressively has shown that he’s learned to be a better quarterback. But while the public and the sports media are on the verge of penciling the Eagles into the Superbowl, its important to keep their performance in perspective. That impressive win came against a Washington team with no shortage of personnel issues as well as internal chemistry problems between the coach and several players. The Giants’ loss to Dallas isn’t quite as serious as some would suggest–the Cowboys were a desperate team and played like their professional lives were at stake which in some cases they were.

Even if you buy into the ‘Vick is back’ hype we’re still not sold on his supporting cast. They’ve overachieved so far, but lets not forget that the general idea coming into this season was a ‘youth movement’ in Philly. The defense doesn’t have much experience, and there’s a ton of injuries on both sides of the ball–particularly along the offensive line. Vick’s mobility helps compensate for some of their shortcomings, but they’ll be facing a nasty Giants’ pass rush. The loss to Dallas actually sets this game up better for a strong effort by the Giants than a victory would have. Eagles, meanwhile, have nowhere to go but down from that performance against the Redskins and enter this contest off a short week due to the Monday Night game. Giants have been excellent on the road in recent years–currently on a 19-9 SU/ATS run. Giants win outright.

Bet New York Giants +3′ over Philadelphia Eagles