After a crazy second half in Week 1, the Broncos and Peyton Manning are
being rewarded as 4.5 point favorites in New York.
By: MaChez, TSZ Expert
In what should be the best of today's late games, we've got Peyton
Manning and the Denver Broncos traveling to face his younger brother Eli and
the New York Giants. The Aw Shucks Golly
Bowl, the Football on Your Phone Bowl, the Manning Bowl III. Call it what you’d like - it’s The Spread
Zone Late Game of the Week (TSZLGOTW)!
For the third time in their careers, and likely the last save a possible Super Bowl match-up, Elisha Archibald Manning’s two youngest boys will lead their
respective teams into battle against each other. Eli, with his typical boyish swag described
the game and facing his brother as "neat" but history has proven to
be a little more dirty for him and the Giants.
In the first match-up in 2006, Peyton and the Colts pulled off a 26-21
victory and three years ago the Giants lost 38-14.
To start of the NFL season, Peyton threw seven touchdowns on the way to
a 49-27 whomping of the Superbowl Champion Baltimore Ravens. Eli didn't have a bad week either with 450
yards and four TDs but did have three intereceptions. Those plus three more Giant fumbles led to a
loss against their division rival Cowboys, but it was much closer of a game
than you would expect with six turnovers.
Let's compare pointless stats:
That was useful, right?
Denver Offense vs. New York Defense
After the offensive performance they turned in last Thursday, the
Broncos are 4 point favorites on the road.
It would be crazy to expect another seven touchdown outing from Peyton
and New York's defense won't help.
Despite the six turnovers keeping the Giants D's hands full, they did
keep New York in the game and gave them a chance to win at the
end. Peyton's new targets, Wes Welker
and Julius Thomas, bring racial diversity and more guys named Johnson to the
receiving corps, respectively. Both had
huge two TD games, as did the other Johnson (Demaryius), and Manning should
have no problem finding people to throw to again this week. The Broncos didn't look great rushing (2.8
ypc for 65 total yards) but in case you didn't pick up on it yet, they have
Peyton Manning. This defense should give
him more trouble than Baltimore did, but the elder Manning should still put up
big numbers.
New York Offense vs. Denver Defense
Although they gave the ball to Dallas six times, New York's offense is
actually quite lethal. David Wilson's
two fumbles and 19 yards rushing have received all the attention this week, but
the receivers Victor Cruz, Hakeem Nicks, and Rueben Randle each had 100+ yard
games with Cruz hauling in 3 TDs personally.
The fact that they were playing from behind has to be taken in to
account, obviously.
Wilson's fumble problems likely won't persist but the Giants signed
ex-Giant Brandon Jacobs this week to back him up and catch the ball if it pops
out of his grip. The Broncos defense
didn't have much of a challenge last week against a Ravens offense that lacked
everyone but Torrey Smith and should be tested more this week against the
Giants, especially since Champ Bailey will continue to be sidelined. Look for Eli to put up similar numbers to
last week.
Prediction
This game marks the first time in NFL history that the two quarterbacks
threw for 400+ yards the prior week and should become the ninth game in history
where both quarterbacks hit 400+ yards.
The OVER is set at 55 and these teams should have no problem passing that. This will be a shootout with the Broncos
eventually pulling ahead in the third and Eli trying to pull a comeback. This spread would probably be a bit closer to
-3 if not for Peyton's Week 1, but it's still not that high for such a
high-powered offense. Denver with
Manning is 8-1 ATS as a favorite of 3.5 to 9.5 points and 11-2 as a favorite
and should add another win to both those records this week. Vinny and Marco have made the Giants the
official Spreadzone pick but the rest of the experts agree with me on DEN. 4-2 Denver....seems like an obvious
choice. Denver wins 38-31.
MaChez Says: Denver
Broncos (-4) vs. NEW YORK GIANTS & OVER 55
Expert Team: 4-1 Denver to cover
Official Spreadzone Pick: NEW YORK GIANTS (+4) over Denver Broncos,
OVER
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