2014 NFL Week 2 Cardinals vs. Giants Picks & Predictions
By Anthony Rome
NEW YORK, NY (The Spread) – The Giants will look to avoid falling to 0-2 on the season when they host the Cardinals today at 1:00PM ET.
According to oddsmakers from online sports book Bovada.lv, the Giants are 1-point home favorites over the Cardinals for today’s game, while the total is currently sitting at 42.5 points. New York opened as 2.5-point favorites but the number has been bet all the way down to 1 (or even a pick’em at some sports books), while the total opened at 44.5 and has been bet down as well.
Carson Palmer engineered two fourth-quarter touchdown drives to help the Cardinals beat the Chargers 18-17 in the second game of a “Monday Night Football” double-header. Arizona failed to cover as 2.5-point favorites but Palmer completed 24-of-37 passes for 304 yards and two touchdowns. Michael Floyd also hauled in five passes for 119 yards in the victory.
As for the Giants, they were routed 35-14 by the Lions in Detroit during the opening game of that “Monday Night Football” double-header. Eli Manning struggled mightily in the loss, throwing for just 163 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions. Tight end Larry Donnell was the Giants’ leading receiver with five catches for 56 yards and one touchdown, although that’s not a good thing when you have Victor Cruz and Rueben Randle on your team.
NFL FREE PICK: Take New York. According to latest NFL trends, the Giants are 4-0 against the spread in their last four games coming off a Monday night appearance. They’re also 4-1 against the number in their last five games following a straight up loss and an ATS loss, and are 7-3 ATS in their last 10 games versus NFC opponents. It was a short week for both of these teams but only one will have to travel cross-country for an early matchup on Sunday and that’s Arizona. Plus, the Cardinals suffered another huge blow to their defense when John Abraham left the team following another concussion suffered in Monday night’s win. The Giants have been a mess since the first week of the preseason, but they pick up a win here at home.
2014 NFL WEEK 2 FREE PICK: NEW YORK GIANTS -1