The New York Giants and the Philadelphia Eagles have a ton in common with one another. Both teams are middling clubs who probably only have one chance to get into the playoffs: Win the NFC East. Both teams also have quarterbacks who are highly criticized and could be either really good or really bad. The battle between Sam Bradford and Eli Manning could be interesting for BookMaker's fantasy football bettors.
Manning has had a pretty darn good year thus far in 2015. His quarterback rating is over 100 through a third of the season, and he is completing 66.5 percent of his passes. What's scariest is that he's doing this without a full set of receivers. Victor Cruz hasn't stepped foot on a field this year, while Odell Beckham Jr. has battled some tough moments, including when he had a hamstring problem last week against the 49ers.
Yet when push has come to shove, Manning has been able to get his team touchdowns in crucial spots, the most pivotal of which was last week when he dinked and dunked his way down the field en route to the winning score.
The end result has been 24.2 fantasy points per game this year, a strong number for any quarterback he goes up against in fantasy to try to beat.
Bradford basically did whatever he wanted to do last week against the Saints, and had those two balls which were picked off in the end zone ultimately been caught for touchdowns, we'd be talking about one of the best days a quarterback has had all season long. As it is, Bradford has clearly been a much better quarterback in his last three games than in his first two, but three games out of five with two INTs is fairly awful.
The Oklahoma product has averaged 18.9 fantasy points per game in 2015, a number which has gone up with every game he has played.
However, in the end here, Manning is still the far more consistent quarterback, and with the way the Eagles have been attempting to run the football more often, Bradford could take a bit of a backseat.
MURRAY COULD GET HIS YARDS, WON'T GET HIS TOUCHDOWN
DeMarco Murray is probably still the most overrated play in the league when it comes to scoring a touchdown. Chip Kelly has made it clear that Ryan Mathews is going to end up getting a lot of goal line duty, while Darren Sproles will get his whacks from in close as well. Sure, Murray has three total touchdowns this year, but we couldn't even remotely suggest betting on him to score in this game no matter how porous the Giants are up front.
In terms of rushing yardage though, that's a far different story. Murray had 20 carries last week in the win over the Saints, and after watching the 49ers have so much success in long spurts with the off-tackle running game, we know Kelly will look to exploit that. Murray is best used as a one-cut back, and slamming him off-tackle time and time again could open some huge holes.
This is probably also the last buy-low opportunity you've got on Murray this year. If he is consistently getting the pill 18-20 times, he's going to start turning these 80-yard games into 100+ yard games and 120+ yard games. Knowing that his over/under is probably going to be in the 60s or 70s in rushing yards, we're willing to take a chance on Murray against the G-Men.
BookMaker opened the spread for this Monday soiree at -4.5 in favor of the Philadelphia Eagles. The NFL odds total surfaced at 49. Minute-by-minute spreads, totals and props are available for this game using the live betting platform at BookMaker.
Load your betting bankroll from your smartphone or tablet with BookMaker’s new cashier feature! Depositing and withdrawing funds from your account has never been easier. BookMaker's live betting platform means you always have access to odds and lines to every sporting event. Click here and start wagering today! The game between the Philadelphia Eagles and New York Giants is scheduled for Monday, October 19, 2015, at 1:00 p.m. ET at Lincoln Financial Field. The game will be broadcast regionally on ESPN.
