NFL WEEK 11 – FALCONS vs. GIANTS
Be honest. You didn’t see this coming, did you? Nobody figured the Giants to slide into the tank like this – four straight losses, after five straight wins to open the season, slip sliding to the point where today the East Rutherfords are just another team that will have to find a way to win some late-season games to remain relevant in the playoff picture.
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Time: Sunday 1:05 ET
Venue: Giants Stadium, East Rutherford, N.J.
MoneyLine: Falcons +250 (-110) / Giants -300 (-110)
Opening Spread: Giants -6.5
Over/Under: 46
Injuries, especially in the secondary, have certainly hurt. And the scheduledefinitely stiffened after a steady early-season diet of Oaklands, Kansas Citys, Tampa Bays and Washingtons. But New York has had time to work new players into the lineup, and by now the Jints should be used to playing decent teams. They had better be, because between now and mid-December New York will have to face the likes of Atlanta (Sunday), Denver, Dallas and Philadelphia. Of the final 7 games on the schedule, the only gimmee putt is Dec. 21, and that’s on the road (at Washington).
But for Giants fans fretting that the season is spinning hopelessly out of control, there are some bright spots to hang their hats on:
***The secondary will get a big boost Sunday with the return of cornerback Aaron Ross, who has missed the entire season with hamstring problems.
***Atlanta will likely be at less than full strength due to the expected absence of injured running back Michael Turner, which will enable NY’s front 7 to concentrate more on pressuring Falcon QB Matt Ryan.
***Ryan has problems of his own, and his spotty play over the last month has caused the Falcons to go into their own 3-losses-in-4-games tailspin.
Further, the Giants are coming off their bye week, which has given them a badly needed respite from both answering questions about their cliff dive. It also has given Tom Coughlin time to breath again; no one takes loss harder than Coughlin does.
Everyone from Coughlin to the locker room towel boy knows that New York needs an effective Eli Manning down the stretch if the Giants are to make a run for the NFC East title or, lacking that, grab a playoff spot. Manning denies that he is still bothered by plantar fasciitis, which first surfaced in October, at the height of the Giants’ 5-0 start. But his numbers have dipped, and he is now only the 14th-highest rated QB in the league. On top of everything, cold weather is due in the Northeast, and Manning has never been able to throw the ball well in even mild winds.
Meanwhile, the bloom is off the rose in Atlanta, where the NFL’s consensus team of the future now is just another team in the playoff conversation and has zero chance of bettering last season’s 11-5 record. New Orleans has drained all the oxygen in the NFC South, and the 5-4 Falcons need a victory as badly as the Giants do.
Is this a game that neither team can win?
Comment on this game below, hit us with your pregame NFL picks and predictions…
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Lawrence Paul is a regular contributor to the Cappers Picks Blog, and is a free-lance gambling and travel expert from Massachusetts.
