Written by Aaron Fischman
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Sunday Night Football: New York vs Philadelphia

Philadelphia comes into Sunday night’s game as slight favorites with a 50.7 percent chance of victory according to the AccuScore forecast. The Eagles, who will be hosting the Giants, have won seven of the last eight head-to-head meetings.

AccuScore projects about 2.5 turnovers to be forced by the Giant defense, while it estimates the Giants will commit 1.9 turnovers. The Giants currently rank third (tied with the Buccaneers at +4) in the NFC in turnover margin, while the Eagles are tied with the Panthers for last (-6). Nevertheless, each team boasts a 2-1 record.

The Eagles won each of their first two games by a single point before being demolished by the Cardinals last week. The Giants are coming off the opposite result after they forced five turnovers (committing none) en route to a 36-7 victory over the Panthers. In the game, back-up running back Andre Brown amassed 130 total yards and two touchdowns successfully filling in for the injured Ahmad Bradshaw. Despite Bradshaw’s return, Brown is expected to play a significant role Sunday night with the two runners forecasted to combine for more than 100 yards on the ground.

This week’s AccuScore calculation for the starting quarterbacks looks like this:

Eli Manning – 82.4 QB rating, 246.9 passing yards, 1.7 TDs, and 1.1 interceptions
Michael Vick – 82.3 QB rating, 252.2 passing yards, 1.2 TDs, and 1.3 interceptions

In the three starts against the Giants since Vick became an Eagle, he’s thrown for 676 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions. In last year’s meeting in Philadelphia, the Giants emerged victorious, 29-16. Manning clearly outplayed Vick, and Eagles halfback LaSean McCoy’s 128-yard rushing effort was wasted. The two-time Super Bowl champ threw for four touchdowns and no interceptions while Vick finished with 176 passing yards and an interception.

See all of AccuScore’s picks against the spread, on the moneyline and Totals for this game on the NFL Expert Picks page

A year after notching the third most sacks in the NFL, the Giants currently rank in the middle of the pack with just two per game. They do, however, rank second in passing yards per game with just a little more than 18 yards behind the pass-happy Detroit Lions.

Receiver Hakeem Nicks is listed as doubtful for New York most likely missing his second consecutive start due to foot and knee issues. In last week’s win, Ramses Barden stepped up to make nine catches for 138 yards. The performance produced more yards than any of Barden’s single-season outputs over his first three years in the league. Victor Cruz, who was one of only three receivers to top 1,500 yards last season, is projected to lead all receivers with 73.0 yards and 0.5 touchdowns.