Nice work by Loyola Marymount as the Saturday free play. Here’s this week’s NFL comp.
GIANTS at REDSKINS
Take: GIANTS -2.5
There’s always a certain amount of consternation involved when choosing to back the Giants. I don’t think there’s a team in the NFL that has snatched defeat from the jaws of victory as often as the Giants have this season. Nevertheless, they’re still the team on top in the NFC East, and even with a tough closing schedule, the Giants will be in command of the division with a win today at Washington.
Looking at the matchup on paper, with no situational analysis, the Giants are simply better than the Redskins across the board. They’ve got the better efficiency numbers on offense, on defense, and on special teams as well. They’re in possession of the better RPI data for the most part as well. Basically, the Giants do almost everything a little better than Washington does. They aren’t slam dunk wins, but the pattern can’t be disputed.
Then there’s the scheduling, and I would consider this to be somewhat vital. The Giants are off the bye week following a really tough loss to the Patriots. They’ve had plenty of time to get that difficult decision out of their system, while also healing up physically, which can be huge at this time of year.
As for Washington, they got their lunch handed to them last week at Carolina. The good news is it’s easy to put that loss in the archives and not dwell on it. The bad news is they got knocked all over the place by the Panthers and I can’t see the hosts being as fresh as the visitors here.
There’s also a nifty angle in play here for those who like a little technical support. Rested divisional road favorites are a very strong situational winner going back several seasons.
The fly in the ointment remains the Giants disturbing propensity for screwing things up at the end of the game. That has to be at least a mild concern here. But with so many variables, both from a statistical and intangible standpoint, favoring the Giants, that’s the side I have to play here. I’m on the Giants minus the small spot.
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TWO 2* NFL Best Bets + CBB Grinder 2* Best Bet loaded.