It’s been an awful season for the New York Giants. The Giants made the playoffs in 2016 and seemed poised to make an even bigger move this year after some nice additions in the offseason. Rather than make it back to the Super Bowl or even win the division, the Giants took a hard left turn and are sitting at 2-13. They fired former head coach Ben McAdoo a month ago and are now looking to just put an end to their dismal campaign. Don’t expect a big crowd when they welcome the Washington Redskins to town for their season finale.
Kickoff for this regular season Week 17 game is set for Sunday, December 31, 2017, at 1 p.m. ET at MetLife Stadium.
NFL Opening Odds at BookMaker.eu
Washington Redskins -3
New York Giants +3
Over/Under 38.5
Odds Analysis
The spread in this game has remained steady at three since it opened. However, the total has dropped from 40 due to injuries and doubts that either team is going to try too hard since neither side has anything to play for.
For as poorly as Big Blue’s season has gone, this team has not been a total disaster against the spread. The Giants are 6-9 ATS and nearly knocked off NFC leader Philadelphia two weeks ago.
Washington continues to hover around .500 under Jay Gruden. For the fourth straight season, the Redskins will finish within a game of 8-8 no matter what happens in this one. They have had to win their last two in order to get to that point, but they had a very tough slate early on.
Key Injuries
It feels like this has been one of the most injury-filled seasons in the NFL, and these two teams were ravaged by injuries throughout the year.
Washington was hit hard in the backfield and in the linebacking corps. Rob Kelley and Chris Thompson were the team’s top two running backs heading into the season, but both went on IR in November. Now, it’s pretty much just Samaje Perine’s show as no other ball carrier is in the double digits in carries this season. Perine is averaging just 3.5 yards per carry and lacks explosiveness.
The linebacking corps was hit just as hard. Mason Foster and Will Compton both went on IR midway through the season. Losing those starters, along with hybrid Su’a Cravens, really hurt this defense. To make matters worse, leading tackler Zach Brown is questionable for this game, making this unit perilously thin.
New York is going to want to wrap its entire receiving corps in bubble wrap this offseason. This unit was hailed as one of the best in the NFL coming into the league with the addition of Brandon Marshall and tight end Evan Engram, but everyone is now injured.
Odell Beckham Jr. and Marshall both went on IR in early October and that killed this team’s passing game. Losing your top two receivers is brutal, and Eli Manning will have more missing in this one. Sterling Shepard, Tavarres King, and Engram are all listed as questionable, and it seems likely all three will miss this game.
Matchup to Watch
It seems like this will be the last time we see these two quarterbacks face off as both might be parting ways with their current employers this offseason.
Kirk Cousins has had another solid year in DC, but looks set to leave. Cousins and the Redskins have been unable to work out a long-term deal, and it seems unlikely the team will give him a massive raise by tagging him for the third year in a row. He will have a whole host of suitors ready to give him a long-term deal this offseason, leaving Washington in the lurch.
The parting of Eli Manning and the Giants will be much sadder. Manning just doesn’t look like he has it anymore, and the G Men seem set on using their high draft pick on a potential franchise quarterback. Manning probably won’t want to take a hometown discount at this point of his career and will likely spend 2018 in another city.
Free ATS Pick
Motivation is key in games like this. While Washington seems to have some, winning the last two games even though they didn’t mean much, New York looks dead. Don’t be afraid of laying the points on the road with Washington here. The Giants won’t have any real home field advantage in a stadium that will have thousands of empty seats.
NFL Odds: Redskins 24, Giants 13
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