Quick, guess which team has the second-best record in the NFC. If you said the New York Giants you win a gold star. That’s right folks, the G-Men are right behind Dallas in the NFC and New York is the only team to beat the NFL’s best team this season. But that means nothing heading into a Week 13 battle with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Pittsburgh doesn’t own one of the best records in the NFL but they are locked in duel for the top spot in the AFC North with rival Baltimore again.
This matchup in Week 13 of the regular season will take place on Sunday, December 4, 2016, at 4:25 p.m. ET at Heinz Field.
NFL Odds at BookMaker.eu
New York Giants +6
Pittsburgh Steelers -6
Over/Under 49.5
Odds Analysis
The question facing the Giants is: can they play well against stiffer competition? They haven’t faced the toughest opponents during their six-game winning streak but they have gone 5-1 ATS. On the road against the co-leaders in the AFC North, the G-Men opened at +4.5 and quickly saw the wagered to +6.5. The wagering has leveled off so don’t expect much more movement. With the total at 49.5 the over is seeing 59 percent of the early action.
Injury Report
Nat Berhe – He was a starter earlier in the season before being shelved with a concussion. Berhe returned and played an integral role in the Giants dime and nickel packages. Now the defensive back could be lost again after entering the league’s concussion protocol following the win over Cleveland.
Look-ahead Situation
Even though the Giants have the second-best record in the NFC, they haven’t locked anything up and they are still in contention for the East crown, just two games behind the Cowboys entering this week’s games. New York ends the season with four conference games and three of those are against division foes, including a big rematch with Dallas on Sunday Night Football in Week 14. But before that season-ending stretch of games begins and the Giants go jockeying for playoff positioning, they must tangle with the Steelers on Sunday.
To a man the Giants will say they aren’t looking past Pittsburgh, but with what’s at stake in their division and conference, it’s a battle with an AFC opponent that could easily go overlooked. The Giants will enter Sunday’s game knowing how the Cowboys, who play on Thursday, fared and what the situation holds for Week 14. Should the Cowboys lose to Minnesota, the Giants would have a chance to take the division lead with a win next week. A Dallas victory on Thursday means the Giants are faced with a must-win situation. But all that talk is moot if the Giants can’t get past Pittsburgh, and looking ahead to a showdown with the Boys is hard to do.
Free ATS Pick
The Steelers had a few wrinkles thrown in their offensive plans this season, from the season-long suspension of Martavis Bryant, to Le’Veon Bell missing the first three games of the year, to Ben Roethlisberger gimping around on a bum knee and finally succumbing to surgery. The group never seemed to be on the same page with all the commotion going on. But now, with Big Ben tossing lasers to a group of receivers he’s finally feeling comfortable with and the offensive line playing like a Steelers offensive line, Pittsburgh has seemingly hit its stride. It also helps that the defense has chipped in with a couple of stellar efforts the past two weeks.
Credit the Giants for finding ways to win football games. They aren’t the prettiest group on the field and Eli Manning appears to be sleep-walking at times, but all they’ve done is win games. It’s hard to take them seriously, though, after beating the Browns and Bears in consecutive weeks. The G-Men have rattled off six straight wins and victories over the Rams and Bengals were included. Maybe they play down to their competition and will rise to the occasion against the Steelers. I don’t think so.
NFL Odds: Steelers 30, Giants 23
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