A matchup of future, first-ballot Hall of Fame quarterbacks highlights the Week 3 slate as Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers travel to face Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday.
This old-school NFC East rivalry has seen better days, but the New York Giants head into Monday night’s game against the Dallas Cowboys with more confidence than they’ve had in years.
The Cowboys, for their part, aren’t finished yet after Dak Prescott’s Week 1 injury -- even if Jerry Jones continues to play the role of doctor and issue outlandish opinions.
Backup quarterback Cooper Rush will shoot for a second straight victory when the Cowboys (1-1) visit the 2-0 Giants (-1) on Monday Night Football.
FrontPageBets is here to break down three picks for this game.
(Odds courtesy of DraftKings and subject to change)
Giants (money line, -115)
The Giants have lost nine of their last 10 games against the Cowboys, a span that dates back to 2017.
For New York, that was three head coaches ago -- four if you count interim coach Steve Spagnuolo in December 2017.
Brian Daboll has already begun to prove he brings something different than Ben McAdoo, Spagnuolo, Pat Shurmur and Joe Judge did. New York is one of six NFL teams to start 2-0, thanks to Daboll’s decision for a go-ahead two-point conversion in Week 1 against the Tennessee Titans, followed by a three-point win over the Carolina Panthers last week.
The Giants’ offense isn’t dropping touchdown after touchdown on opponents, but it doesn’t have to in order to beat a Cowboys team that ranks 31st in scoring thus far.
While Rush led Dallas to a late victory over the struggling Cincinnati Bengals last week -- and while Jones says he’d be glad to have a Rush-Prescott quarterback controversy, because it would imply Rush is winning games -- it’s another thing to ask the veteran backup to guide the Cowboys to a divisional win on the road, in prime time.
Saquon Barkley over 74.5 rushing yards (-105)
Raise your hand if you had Barkley leading the NFL in rushing over the first two weeks of the season.
No one’s hand should be up. With all due respect to Barkley and his talent, there was too much unknown -- he played only 15 games the last two seasons due to injuries and entered the year with yet another new coaching staff.
But Barkley barreled ahead for 164 yards against the Titans and 72 more against the Panthers. The Cleveland Browns' Nick Chubb passed him in total yards earlier last week on Thursday night, but Vegas should be treating Barkley like the league’s top rusher.
The Giants ruled out wide receiver Wan’Dale Robinson (knee) and listed Kadarius Toney (hamstring) as doubtful. Given how former Pro Bowl wideout Kenny Golladay has fallen out of favor with this new staff, that leaves QB Daniel Jones with limited options and the game plan figures to be run-oriented.
The Cowboys are allowing 120.5 rushing yards per game after playing the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Bengals -- two teams that are usually pass-first. Barkley could be looking at 100 or more this Monday.
Under 39 points (-110)
Nearly 47% of the Cowboys’ plays against Cincinnati were rushing attempts, indicating that even if Jerry Jones wants to hype up Rush’s abilities at quarterback, the team won’t try to air it out as if he were Prescott.
More to the point, the Cowboys have more juice at running back -- where Ezekiel Elliott and Tony Pollard form one of the best one-two punches in the league -- than in their group of pass catchers.
A run-heavy game tends to lead to lower scores, especially when guys aren’t able to break off long runs. Case in point: In the Cowboys’ and Giants’ first two games of the year, the under is 4-for-4.
Both teams rank top-10 in scoring defense at 18 points allowed per game, while Dallas has scored a measly 11.5 ppg and New York has averaged a pedestrian 20.
This game’s 39 ties the Houston Texans-Chicago Bears for the lowest O/U of the week in the NFL. We can see why. The under is the right play nonetheless.
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