(1-5)New York Giants at (1-4-1)Philadelphia Eagles (-4.5, 44)
Breakdown: Week 7 in the NFL gets underway with a surprisingly important game in the NFC East. The Giants are fresh off their first win of the season and looking to parlay that momentum into a win over their bitter division rival Eagles, who have been hobbling their way through the season thanks to numerous injuries. Thanks to the (2-4) Cowboys ineptitude at the top of the division, first place is potentially up for grabs in Thursday’s matchup so let’s take a look at how things stack up.
Philadelphia hasn’t exactly been blowing the doors off with their offense, but things have started to come together in the last few weeks so it’s a shame that running back Miles Sanders is going to miss this game. Boston Scott should have a heavy workload as they have been one of the teams most snake-bitten by the injury bug and they’ll have a handful of starters missing again, but at least they’ll be getting DeSean Jackson back in their receiver group. The Eags’ offense ranks 22nd in total yards and 21st in yds/play, but they are 10th in total rushing and 4th in yds/attempt. Shockingly, the Giants’ defense is 13th in total rushing defense and 8th best in yds/game. So, it’ll be interesting to see how it shakes out but I expect Philly to have at least moderate success on the ground.
Without Saquon Barkley, the G-Men are 29th in total rushing and 30th in yds/game, but the passing offense isn’t far behind at 27th overall and 30th in yds/game. That’s extra disappointing when you’d expect a development year for QB Daniel Jones. To be fair, neither of these teams throws the ball well as they are both in the bottom-five in QB-rating and adjusted net yards per pass attempt. However, neither team defends the pass all that well either. Philly’s D is 19th in passing yards against but 12th in yards/game, while New York is 21st in passing yards against and 16th in yards/game.
Ultimately, their records and stats back-up the notion that these teams are pretty evenly matched and division games are usually tight anyway. With the numbers fairly even, it comes down to intangibles. The Eagles have a sizeable experience advantage and the better coach in Doug Pederson and I’ll take Carson Wentz over Jones. Philly has been playing better lately, even in defeat. My buddy Jason will be happy to hear I’m rolling with the Eags on this one.
Pick: Eagles
Vs Spread: Eagles
Over/Under: Over 44