Giants vs. Redskins Prediction & Pick Against The Spread

WASHINGTON REDSKINS @ NEW YORK GIANTS -4.5

Football season is about to kick off… finally.  This Thursday we’ll be treated to a classic NFC East rivalry, where the real football is played.  In all honesty, I wouldn’t bet on football until at least week 4 until we get a real feel for where teams are at.  Example: The Lions started last season 6-2 and everyone thought they were playoff bound, but they finished with a 7-9 record. However, you may be itching to start betting on football again so let’s break down this matchup.

The first thing that comes to mind is the loss of Strahan and Umenyiora.  Most people will be thinking the Giants will have no pass rush, and the Redskins new west coast offense will be able to expose the Giants when Jason Campbell gets all the time in the world in the pocket.  Don’t be fooled by the loss of the Giants two Pro-Bowl DEs.  The Giants won’t get close to the amount of sacks that they piled up last season, but their pass rush will still be effective.  Justin Tuck and Mathias Kiwanuka are as good as most DE tandems in the league and the Giants also picked up former first-round draft pick Jerome McDougle from the Eagles off waivers who had a strong preseason (2.5 sacks in 4 games).  The Giants also have to overcome the loss of S Gibril Wilson, which they should be able to do with first-round pick Kenny Phillips.  The Giants CBs are solid: Aaron Ross is probably the best young (3 years of experience of less) CB in the league and Corey Webster gets the job done.  I’m not worried about the Giants defense at all.

On offense, Eli Manning looked as sharp as ever during preseason and the pressure will be off him this year, so he won’t be constantly harassed if he throws an INT since he delivered the Lombardi trophy to Giants fans.  That will only help his game.  I think Eli will have a huge season building off last year’s.

I’m not sold on the Redskins.  I think they’ll have a 6-10 season and be in the basement of the NFC East.  Their receivers clearly aren’t getting the job done, which prompted the Redskins to go out and draft two of the top WRs in the draft (Devin Thomas and Malcolm Kelly).  Those two should have little to no impact in this game since it takes WRs usually at least 2 years before they can step onto the field and make an impact.  The Redskins are also putting a lot of pressure on Jason Campbell by making him learn a completely new offense, but he is comfortable with the transition since it is the type of offense that he ran in college at Auburn.

You also have to be alarmed that the Redskins gave up 71 points in their final 2 preseason games, but I don’t like reading too much into preseason games and the Redskins only gave up 24 in their first two.

The spread is -4.5 and I think the handicappers go this one right since I can easily see a Giants win by 4, but being the defending Super Bowl Champions at home in the NFL season opener, they clearly have the edge.

Prediction — Giants defeat Redskins – 24-13

Pick Against the Spread: Giants -4.5 — Confidence 3/5
Pick Straight Up: Giants — Confidence 4/5