New York Giants @ Cleveland Browns: Spread
 Premium Pick: New York -9
At this point I am convinced that the Giants are the best team in the league. At 4-0 they did not necessarily play against the toughest opponents but they have won 3 out of 4 games quite convincingly. They have dominated in all aspects of the game. What’s impressive is that they are doing this without Strahan, Umenyiora and Shockey. They are favored by 9 against one of the worst teams in the league so far this season. |
The Giants did not win the Super Bowl because of their offensive performance. However, this season they are dominating the league offensively. They rank first in points scored, total yards and rushing yards. Last week the Giants demolished Seattle 44-6. Tom Coughlin replaced Eli Manning in the fourth quarter because they already won the game. I haven’t seen this happen since Belichik did this with Tom Brady a few times last season. The Browns are doing fairly well defensively as they rank 10th in points allowed and 15th in yards allowed. The Giants will have the advantage of exploiting their weak running defense as they rank 22nd in the league in stopping the run.
The Giants won the Super Bowl last year because of their solid defensive performance. Even without several key members on the defensive line they are still an outstanding defensive team. The Giants rank 2nd in points allowed and 3rd in yards allowed. The Browns are coming off their bye week and devoted a lot of time preparing for this game but will need a humongous boost offensively to put up points against New York. The Browns are averaging only 11.5 points per game and 210.8 yards, ranking 31st and 32nd in the league in those respective categories. Offensively, the Giants have more than double the amount of points and yards than Cleveland.
I like the Giants because the matchup is completely in their favor and because of their success on the road. If you exclude the preseason, the Giants are 10-1 against the spread in their last 11 games on the road. New York is definitely going to win and will cover 9 points.
Prediction:New York 34 Cleveland 16
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