Giants Ravens Betting – Ravens Secondary A Recurring Issue
It was opposite results for the New York Giants and the Baltimore Ravens in the second week of the preseason. The Giants fell to the Steelers by a touchdown, but were without both starter Eli Manning and backup Jim Sorgi for the entire game. The Ravens dominated the Donovan McNabb led Washington Redskins, en route to a 23-3 victory. The Giants expect Eli back, so this game will see a different looking Giants team on the field.
NFL Betting: New York Giants @ Baltimore Ravens
Why To Bet On The Giants
First and foremost, Eli is back. Manning is a gamer and with this being the third preseason game, I do not expect Tom Coughlin to hold him back and he will play as much as the rest of the starters do. While they did lose Jim Sorgi, who would play the second half, Rhett Bomar did not look bad against the Steelers even against their starters. An encouraging sign for the Giants is the fact that Pittsburgh did not jump out on them until their reserves were in on defense. Dennis Dixon tore up the second unit, but the Giants starters did a good job against Big Ben and Byron Leftwich. The Giants defense needs to make strides to getting back to their 2007 and 2008 form, in order to return to the playoffs.
Why To Bet on the Ravens
While normally this third game is about the starters, the reason to bet on the Ravens may be on the backups. As mentioned in the Giants part of the write up, they were destroyed by Dixon last week. Ravens quarterback Troy Smith is much in the same mold as Dixon, able to make plays with his arm and legs. The Ravens defense, with a banged up secondary, did a great job of holding McNabb in check. The Giants have more weapons than Washington, so it will be more of a test as to where the Ravens are at this point. The game should be a close one, but Baltimore does have the home field edge and the advantage in the reserves.
How the Game Will Play Out
This is another close call, as usual for the third preseason week. If the Giants take an early halftime lead and Manning is able to make mince meat of the Ravens secondary, they can handily win. If the Ravens can keep them in check, the reserves should be able to pull it out in the second half. I am going to go with the former, as Manning is going to look to make a good impression in the only preseason game where he will see extended action. I’m taking the Giants here, but it will surely be a close one.
