NFL Football Betting: New York Giants Set to Make Pointspread History

On Thursday night, the New York Giants will travel to Foxboro to take on the New England Patriots. The Giants are currently a 16.5-point underdog according to the NFL betting odds, and if they closed at this price, this would be the biggest spread they have faced in at least 40 years.

That might not be a bad thing for bettors though. Five teams have been favored by 15 points or more against the Giants since 1980, and the Giants have covered the spread three times. The two most recent occurrences came in 1995 when Dave Brown was the Giants’ starting quarterback. The G-Men went 5-11 that year, and they were 15.5-point underdogs against San Francisco and 15-point underdogs against Dallas. New York covered by only losing by 14 to the 49ers, and the Giants nearly knocked off the Cowboys before falling 21-20.

The Giants have fared well against the Patriots in their recent history too. Everyone knows about the Giants’ two Super Bowl victories over the Pats, but they have covered five straight times against New England coming into Thursday’s game.

Big Blue hosted the Patriots in 2015, and New England barely escaped with a victory. The Patriots were favored by seven points on the NFL betting line, but they needed a last-second 54-yard field goal from Stephen Gostkowski to remain undefeated and run their record to 9-0.

The meeting prior to that was in Super Bowl XLVI. The Giants took a 9-0 lead in the first quarter before New England stormed back to grab a 17-9 lead early in the third quarter. The G-Men rallied from there to win 21-17 with Eli Manning outgunning Tom Brady. Those teams had met in Foxboro earlier in the season too, and the Giants won by a similar margin, besting the Patriots 24-20 after Manning hit Jake Ballard for a touchdown with 15 seconds remaining.

Super Bowl XLII is the first game that comes to mind when you mention Giants-Patriots though. The Patriots had finished the regular season 16-0, and they outlasted Jacksonville and San Diego to make it to the Super Bowl that season. They were favored by 12.5 points over the Giants, but David Tyree made one of the greatest plays in Super Bowl history to help the Giants stun the Patriots. His Helmet Catch set up the game-winning touchdown, leading to a 17-14 win for New England.

The Giants will be incredibly short-handed for Thursday night’s game. Rookie Daniel Jones will be making his fourth start, and he won’t have his four best skill position players available. Saquon Barkley, Wayne Gallman, Sterling Shepard, and Evan Engram will all miss the game due to injuries. A ragtag group of journeymen will replace them, making this a tough situation for the Giants.

New England has won four of its five games by 16 points or more, and the general consensus is that the Pats will rout the Giants on Thursday night. However, recent history is on the side of the Giants, so tread carefully when betting this game.

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