NFL Preview: New York Giants at Philadelphia
By Andy Richmond
November 9th, 2008
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 handicap one of their divisional rivals in the race for post season.
Currently 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, although I’m sure he 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 wasn’t hitting the turf on a few occasions.
With the Giants sure to want 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 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 5 TD’s – the Eagles may well have to make the most of their opportunities.
With both defenses allowing less than 20 points per game this is going to be a tight, cagy game but with the Giants being so good on the road I’m going to take them to make bold stride towards post season and deal a mortal blow to one of their main rivals.
View the Betfair chart for this game here.
