NFL Week 10 Betting: Can Giants shoot down the Eagles' Superbowl challenge?

NFL / Editor / 08 November 2008 / Leave a Comment

Andy Richmond previews three crunch clashes taking place this weekend including the juicy NFC East meeting between New York and Philadelphia.

The mood in the States this week has been all about change with President-elect Obama campaigning on a premise of 'Change - We Need', you might like to work on the sentence construction Barack but I like the sentiment.

The majority of this week's featured teams do not change, however, and have stayed towards the top of the NFL hierarchy by doing what they are good at - executing the game plan week-in week-out.

One side that is certainly true of, especially in this decade is the New England Patriots and they feature in our first match-up this week.

Buffalo Bills at New England Patriots

Unusually, there's a three-way tie at the top of the muddled AFC East, a big change to a division where the Patriots have usually disappeared over the horizon by now. The Bills and Patriots are tied at 5-3 and both come into this game on the back of losses, although arguably the Bills have lost the most momentum after their best start to a season since 1995.

Of course, the one major change that the Pats have had to cope with has been the loss of Tom Brady, back up Matt Cassel has had his up and downs but with the Bills pass-rush moderate to say the least, Cassel could get the chance to throw some deep balls and if RB Sammy Morris returns then we should see a balanced Pats offence.

With the Patriots winning the last nine in this series, the Bills offence will need to improve, they boast enough speed wide out to pose a threat to the ageing Patriots secondary. The Bills running game, however, is not firing this season and New England may be able to contain the ground game with their base defence and cover dangerous Bills receivers Evans and Parrish downfield.

The Bills' 0-2 divisional record is not going to help them in this tight heat, that record could come back to hurt them come the final reckoning in the AFC East.

Buffalo have four starters missing and it looks like that news hasn't filtered into the prices yet.

Recommendation: Conservative call - back the Patriots at 1.57, Bold call - back the Patriots (-4.5) at [2.18]


Indianapolis Colts at Pittsburgh Steelers

The Steelers hold the edge against the Colts, who have had a stumbling start to the season.

Pittsburgh are as solid and dependable as ever and this game sees them start a series of four of the next five games at home. Success in all of those would seal the divisional title and almost keep pace with the Titans in the race for the Number One spot in the AFC.

It goes without saying that the Steelers will play with dominating defence led by sack artists LaMarr Woodley and James Harrison, and Colts QB Payton Manning will need to be on quick release duty to his receiving corps, I just can't see the Colts being able to run on this Steelers "D" at all.

Pittsburgh have doubts at QB where Ben Roethlisberger has a shoulder injury but back up Byron Leftwich did a good job last week in closing out the game and, after his four years at the Jags, he will be more than familiar with the Colts defence which is bolstered by the return of safety Bob Sanders this week.

Handicaps on the back of the Pittsburgh QB news are scarce this week but I would be confident of backing the Steelers giving up possibly 3.5 or 4.5 points at around [1.9]. Expect to see plenty on the ground from the Steelers, especially if Leftwich plays and a ball-controlling effort from the Steelers. The Colts haven't won in Pittsburgh since 1974 and that is set to continue on Sunday.

Recommendation: Back the Steelers (-3.5) at 1.9


NY Giants at Philadelphia Eagles

The Colts-Steelers contest will be rough and tough but not as tough as this one - and this is almost too close to call as the Giants attempt to nobble one of their divisional rivals in the race for post-season. Leading the NFC at 7-1, the current Superbowl champions have arguably improved again this year.

The defence, under the tutelage of Steve Spagnuolo (ex-Eagles linebacker coach), is a dominating and imposing unit and he mixes up his play calling well. It goes without saying that Spagnuolo will be keen to put some heat on rejuvenated Eagles QB Donovan McNabb on Sunday.

The Giants sacked McNabb 12 times in this game last year, something that is unlikely to happen this time around but I'd be surprised if Donovan doesn't hit the turf on a few occasions.

With the Giants sure to play their power game on the ground in the first instance, we could see some long dominating drives, which could control the clock. The Eagles run defence which has been shaky on a couple of occasions this season and will have to be back to its best here.
When they have the ball the Eagles will need to convert far better on their trips to the "red zone", the Giants have a tremendous record inside the 20 this year only allowing five TDs, so the Eagles will have to make the most of their opportunities.

Both defences give up less than 20 points per game so this is going to be a tight, cagey game but the Giants are so good on the road that I'm going to take them to make bold stride towards post season and deal a mortal blow to one of their main rivals.

Recommendation: Back the Giants (+3.5) at [1.8] and back under 43.5 match points at [1.9].