Giants a road cover machine
THE STORY
The Giants take a short flight of less than two hours to Cincinnati to meet the Bengals at Paul Brown Field on Sunday.
The Giants (3-7) have been one of the NFL’s most profitable wagers in recent weeks. They’ve gone 6-1 against the spread since the start of October, with the lone blemish in that span a 20-19 victory over Washington as a 1.5-point home favorite. The Giants won back-to-back divisional games prior to the team’s Week 11 bye, with their most recent outing a 27–17 victory over Philadelphia as a 4-point home underdog.
Giants quarterback Daniel Jones is 9-1 against the spread over his first 10 career games away from MetLife Stadium — his only against-the-spread loss in that span was in his second career road start at New England in October 2019, when the Giants’ top two rushers (Saquon Barkley and Wayne Gallman) and top two receivers (Sterling Shepard and Evan Engram) were all sidelined with injuries.
The Bengals (2-7-1) lost more than just a game this past Sunday — they lost rookie quarterback Joe Burrow, the No. 1 overall pick in the April draft, to a season-ending knee injury early in the third quarter of a 20–9 defeat at Washington. Starting against the Giants will be Brandon Allen, who has a 1-2 record over three NFL starts, all of which took place for Denver last November.
The Giants’ odds to beat Cincinnati opened at -275 at FOX Bet Sportsbook, which implies New York has a 73 percent chance of winning.
THE HISTORY
This is the first meeting between these teams since November 2016, when the Giants won 21-20 as a small home underdog. Shepard, then a rookie receiver for the Giants, caught a TD pass on a fourth-down play to tie the score in the fourth quarter, and the ensuing extra point put the Giants ahead for good. Though that game featured a pair of veteran QBs — Eli Manning for the Giants and Andy Dalton for Cincinnati — this time it’s 23-year-old Jones facing 28year-old Allen.
This time around, FOX Bet Sportsbook is offering odds of +300 for Daniel Jones and Brandon Allen each to throw for at least 250 yards.
THE STARS OF THE SHOW
Shepard has been his team’s most productive receiver after missing four games with a toe injury he suffered in Week 2. In four games since returning, Shepard has caught 26 passes for 219 yards.
FOX Bet Sportsbook is offering +300 odds on Sterling Shepard to get 75 or more receiving yards and score a TD against the Bengals on Sunday.
On the other side of the field, Bengals receiver Tyler Boyd is coming off a game in which he led Cincinnati with nine catches and 85 receiving yards in a loss at Washington. Boyd enters Sunday tied for sixth among NFL players with 69 receptions in 2020. FOX Bet Sportsbook is offering +300 odds on Tyler Boyd and Sterling Shepard to each have 75 or more receiving yards on Sunday.