Best NFL Pick Thursday Night Edition: Week 2
Be sure to check out any relevant information before kickoff as this article is written the day before!
New York Giants at Washington Football Team
Quite the interesting NFC East divisional matchup of two underperforming clubs. The Giants and WFT both lost their week 1 matchup against AFC West division teams. The Giants lost 27-13 to the Broncos and the WFT lost 20-16 to the Chargers.
The most interesting key factor in this game is injuries affecting both teams. The WFT lost their fan favorite starter Ryan Fitzpatrick to a hip injury that has him on the IR. He was replaced by Taylor Heinicke in the middle of the game and threw for 122 yards on 11/15 passing and a touchdown. Not terrible for a backup. Jones also had a mediocre performance going 22/37 for 267 yards and one passing touchdown. The Giants get the slight advantage as Jones seems capable of the big play.
Despite losing their week 1 matchup, it showed that Gibson can reliably carry the ball to take throwing pressure off Heinicke as he rushed 90 yards on 20 carries but did cough up the ball once. Much better than Barkley played for the Giants as he went for only 26 yards on 10 carries in limited play. His longest gain was for 5 yards but his role should increase as the Giants are being careful with their prized running back. Barkley is expected to play to Thursday. Despite being a better back overall, Gibson gets the rushing advantage since Barkley isn’t 100%.
Another injury that is concerning who missed week 1 and who will likely miss week 2 is Evan Ingram. The latest intel says he will most likely not play as caution is taking precedent. However, the Giants still have plenty of weapons at receiver with Golladay, Shepard, and Rudolph. The Giants certainly have the receiver advantage with WFT not having a breakout receiver in week 1 compared to Shepards 113 yards and 7 catches and a touchdown.
This game appears to come down to who gets the crucial stops to set up a field goal instead of the touchdown and who can get the big play since these defenses are relatively equal with the slight advantage going to WFT on defense.
The WFT is the favorite to win with a ML of -170 and spread of -3.5. The line was initially offered at -4.0 but has since moved in favor of the Giants cover. The +3.5 Giants is advisable since these teams are relatively equal and the Giants will likely get the big play. Heinicke still seems timid to throw the long ball. I except a 20-17 game going either way.
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