Written by Rohit Ghosh
Follow @RohitGhosh on Twitter
It took seven weeks, but the New York Giants finally did it: they got into the win column after taking care of the Vikings on Monday night. This week New York heads to Philadelphia to face an Eagles squad that has lost its last nine home games. The Eagles boast the league’s top rushing offense – can the Giants defense, a unit that held Adrian Peterson to 28 yards rushing on 13 carries last week, contain LeSean McCoy this week in Philly?
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AccuScore has the Eagles as slight 53.6 percent favorites in this matchup. The average rounded score after 10,000 simulations is 26-24, with the Eagles having just a 40 percent chance of covering the -5.5 spread. The Giants are 1-7 against the spread (ATS) in their last 8 games on the road. The Eagles are 0-5 ATS in their last 5 games at home. With the trends not giving much lean in either direction, it is probably best to go with AccuScore on this one. There is a 57.4 percent chance the total combined score stays UNDER 51.5; the total has gone UNDER in 11 of New York’s last 14 games on the road.
Projected Leaders
Passing: Eli Manning (NYG) 267.1 yds | Michael Vick (PHI) 230.3 yds
Rushing: LeSean McCoy (PHI) 108.7 yds | Peyton Hillis (NYG) 39.8 yds
Receiving: Hakeem Nicks (NYG) 88.3 yds | DeSean Jackson (PHI) 60.3 yds
What to Watch For
Coming into Week 8, Philadelphia’s LeSean McCoy leads the NFL with 97.9 yards per game on the ground. The Eagles offense is first in the league in rushing offense averaging 165 yards per game. The Giants are 20th in the league against the run giving up an average of 110 yards per game. The simulations almost guarantee a touchdown for McCoy this week.
The biggest issue for the Giants will be their inability to put pressure on opposing quarterbacks. They are last in the league with just six sacks. Given how successful Vick has been against the Giants in his career (20 carries of at least 10 yards), we can expect the Philly offense to look more like the one Chip Kelly envisioned than the one that showed up against Dallas last week.
Prediction
Philly is the favorite, but AccuScore data suggests taking the points and New York on the spread. In what is projected to be a close game.
McCoy will have a bounce-back game after having one of the worst performances of his career last week. Eagles by 6.
