.jpg "Giants-at-Raiders-(FOX)")
The Oakland Raiders have underachieved this season, but in an AFC that has a muddled middle class, they are still very much alive both in the AFC West and in the wild card hunt. Oakland has a golden chance to get back to .500 on the season when they host the New York Giants in Week 13.
New York was supposed to be a postseason contender itself but imploded early on and is now playing out the string. The Giants would have been underdogs in this one no matter what but a quarterback switch will give the Raiders an even better chance at winning this game.
Oakland hasn’t been good this year but is still the easy call as the favorite at home.
Watch this regular season Week 13 matchup live on Sunday, December 3, 2017, at 4:25 p.m. ET at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum.
Opening NFL Odds at BookMaker.eu
New York Giants +9
Oakland Raiders -9
Over/Under 41.5
Odds Analysis
This line has jumped a couple points of late as the Giants have gone from veteran quarterback Eli Manning to the young Geno Smith in this one. New York isn’t going to make the playoffs and wants to evaluate for the long-term, but it will certainly hurt the product short-term.
The Raiders are nearly double-digit favorites and more than 62 percent of the money is on them to cover the spread. The scoring total is pretty low and the “under” is the more popular choice anyway because of New York’s struggling offense’s presence.
Benching Manning
In a move that has been widely questioned and criticized by fans, the Giants have decided to bench two-time Super Bowl winner Manning and announced they will start Smith instead. The move will end Manning’s streak of 210 straight regular-season starts.
Manning was reportedly given the opportunity to start the rest of the season for Giants, with the expectation that either Smith or rookie Davis Webb would finish the games, but declined. Smith has only played in one game for the Giants this year and has appeared in just four games in the last three years so there are a lot of unknowns at this point.
In his only appearance for the Giants this year, during the fourth quarter of the Rams game a few weeks ago, Smith completed zero of his two pass attempts. Smith has had some back luck the last few years, having lost his starting role for the Jets during the 2015 season when a teammate punched him in the face and broke his jaw and then tearing his ACL in 2016.
Injury Report
Michael Crabtree — The Raiders wide receiver will miss Sunday’s game for his part in an altercation last weekend against the Broncos. Crabtree was originally issued a two-game suspension for getting into a fight with Denver cornerback Aqib Talib but the league announced Wednesday the sentence will be reduced to just one game. Crabtree has 502 receiving yards and six touchdowns for the Raiders this season.
Amari Cooper — Another one of Oakland’s top receivers could miss Sunday’s game as well. Cooper is listed as questionable after a hard hit left him with a concussion Sunday in the win over Denver. He is also dealing with an ankle injury that occurred on the same play and it’s unclear if he’ll be healthy enough to play this weekend.
Janoris Jenkins — The Giants cornerback has been placed on injured reserve after he opted for a season-ending surgery to tend to an ankle injury he sustained against the Redskins on Thanksgiving Day. The Pro Bowler is among four other Giants players to be put on injured reserve this week.
Free ATS Pick
The Raiders have the better team, but the absence of Crabtree and possibly Cooper is big news. Oakland’s defense has been poor this season and may allow Smith to have a decent debut. The reaction to Manning’s benching was a bit too much, as the Giants weren’t very good with him anyway.
Take Oakland to win this game but the spread has moved too high. The Giants should cover.
NFL Odds: Raiders 24, Giants 17
BookMaker offers play-by-play betting odds for live sporting events every day! The user-friendly wagering interface on your smartphone provides an easy way to place bets on the go. Mobile betting lines are updated by the minute, so click here to start gambling on thrilling live action at BookMaker Sportsbook!
