Preseason NFL Spread – Patriots at Giants

The New York Giants and New England Patriots finish off their 2010 Preseason campaign on Thursday from the new Meadowlands Stadium with the NFL Spread set at -3 in favour of the home team. Both teams will be looking to head into the regular season on a strong note as the Giants and Pats both dropped their last preseason contest.

New England Patriots vs. New York Giants (Meadowlands Stadium – East Rutherford, NJ)
Thursday September 2nd at 7 PM ET – TV: WTTV

NFL Lines:
New England – PS +3 (-105) ML +150
New York – PS -3 (-115) ML -170
Total –  37 ½

Of those losses, the Patriots have to be a little more concerned with theirs as they were beat at home by the lowly St. Louis Rams. That cost their backers money if they had them straight up, and even more so if they had an NFL Spread Pick on the Pats. It is preseason, but losing at home to the worst team in the league is bad, no matter when it happens.

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As bad as that loss was, I still feel they are looking better than the Giants this preseason who are on a two game losing streak after beating the New York Jets in the inaugural game at the New Meadowlands Stadium. The Pittsburgh Steelers beat them 24-17 in their second preseason game, and the Baltimore Ravens made them look bad in a 24-10 loss last week. And considering how the Giants ended last season on a very sour note, you know they’re looking for a big win against a good team to boost moral before heading into the regular season.

For the Pats, they just need to get back to what they were doing in the first two weeks of preseason. They looked in midseason form in beating the reigning NFL champions, New Orleans Saints, in Week 1. The Atlanta Falcons were up in Week 2 and were no match for a Pats team that was again very crisp, taking out the Dirty Birds 28-10. From a betting perspective, they won both contests against the NFL Spread.

The game against the Rams is obviously a black eye on what had been a very impressive preseason, and they’ll be looking to take out some frustration on a Giants team that still has a lot of questions to answer heading into the final tune-up game of the year. Of those questions that need answering is at the quarterback position. Not necessarily the starting quarterback spot as Eli Manning is healthy after taking a Brandon Jacobs helmet to the dome, but the backup situation has gotten very interesting since Jim Sorgi was put on the season ending DL with a shoulder injury.

All kinds of media attention has been swirling around Matt Leinart who is apparently being shopped by the Cardinals, but it is all just speculation until a deal is done. And quite frankly, the Giants have bigger things to worry about at the moment, with a new defence in place and a running game that needs to make some serious strides over last season. That means the starters for the Giants are going to have themselves a much longer night of action that the Patriots starters for the most part.

The Patriots will likely only keep Tom Brady in for a short period of time as he has proved he is ready to go this year. The big question still unanswered is what is happening at the running back position. Laurence Maroney hasn’t been getting many touches at all this preseason, and with Sammy Morris, Kevin Faulk, Fred Taylor and BenJarvus Green-Ellis all in the mix of a very cloudy depth chart, it is anyone’s guess who is going to be the guy come Week 1.

In terms of laying an NFL Spread pick on this game, it comes down to a few factors. With the Patriots on the road and the Giants in desperate need of some momentum, I think that New York has the edge. If this was a regular season game, I would have my money on the Pats, but since Brady is only going to get limited action, I have to lay my NFL Spread Prediction on the New York Giants.

NFL Spread Pick – New York Giants -170