NFL: NY GIANTS at WASHINGTON (8:35 PM ET, ESPN)

With their season on the line, the Giants came up short at home again vs. Philadelphia. Although not mathematically dead in the playoff race, their hopes are on life support, with two of their final three games on the road. The first one comes Monday nigh

2009-12-21

With their season on the line, the Giants came up short at home again vs. Philadelphia. Although not mathematically dead in the playoff race, their hopes are on life support, with two of their final three games on the road. The first one comes Monday night vs. division rival Washington. Interestingly, New York opened as a 3-point favorite, and that line has held firm at Sportsbook.com despite nearly nine of every 10 bets coming in on that side of the pointspread. Are oddsmakers begging you to flood your money in on the Giants, or is it simply too tough to move off the field goal number? We’ll see…

Unlike recent season’s, New York has floundered of late away from home, losing its L3 both SU & ATS by at least 20 points each time. They’ll look to break that skid with a fourth straight win in Washington against a Redskins team set on spoiling any remaining hopes for its division rival. HC Jim Zorn’s team is looking to snap a skid of its own, four straight losses to NFC East foes. They have improved over the last month however, winning their L5 games against the spread, including their first road win of the season last week in Oakland.
The Giants are not only looking to sweep the Redskins for the third time in four years but also keep their playoff hopes alive after slipping two games behind Philadelphia in the NFC East after losing last Sunday night, 45-38.

A week after beating the Cowboys, New York lost a fourth straight game to the Eagles at the Meadowlands and fell to third place in the division with a record of 7-6. Philadelphia sits at 9-4 and Dallas is 8-5. Washington brings up the rear at 4-9 and comes into this Monday night game off a victory at Oakland.
These teams renewed their rivalry in Week 1 and the Giants held on for a 23-17 victory at home after building a 17-point lead late in the first half. Mario Manningham caught a 30-yard touchdown pass from Eli Manning, Osi Umenyiora returned a Jason Campbell fumble 37 yards for a touchdown and kicker Lawrence Tynes booted three field goals to account for New York’s scoring.

Most Redskins fans feared Campbell would pick up where he left off last season when he slumped in the second half after a promising start, but he’s been a little more consistent and has 2,946 yards, 19 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. He’ll set career highs in all three categories, but it’s up for debate whether or not he’s still the quarterback of the future. The first half of 2008 saw Campbell throw eight touchdowns without an interception and twice top 300 yards, but over the last eight games he threw for five scores and six interceptions and had just one performance of 220 yards or better.

The Redskins have passed for 409 more yards than their defense has allowed through the air, but the numbers on the ground aren’t positive. Second-year pro Quinton Ganther became their fourth starting running back of the season last week and he scored twice against the Raiders.

Run defense was Washington’s focus during the offseason—it signed Pro Bowl tackle Albert Haynesworth to a $100 million contract—yet still allows 117.4 yards per game.

After rushing for nearly 2,500 yards in 2008, the Giants are on pace to finish with fewer than 2,000. They’ve got 11 rushing scores—also behind pace of last year’s 18—while Manning has 23 touchdowns.

PREDICTION: The Redskins have scored just 31 points in the last three meetings and aren’t really built to come from behind. But on the flip side the Giants have given up 23 passing touchdowns. It’ll come down to which quarterback can make the most plays. N.Y. GIANTS 21, WASHINGTON 16

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