New York Giants at Philadelphia Eagles (-2.5)
“They turn the ball over too much.” This go-to phrase was muttered by nearly every analyst when referring to the New York Giants entering 2014. As fate would have it, one of these two teams does, indeed, enter Sunday Night Football leading the league in turnovers.
The Philadelphia Eagles.
With an unprecedented seven fumbles – two more than the next six teams – the Eagles appear to be somewhat of an anomaly to be ranked first in the NFL in both giveaways and wins. Digesting this statistic further, over the past three seasons, the team with the most fumbles lost has had the following win totals: 13, 4, and 8. Simply put, there is little correlation between the two (at least for the top team). More likely, fumbles are a function of luck and, literally, good or bad bounces.
The reality remains that the Giants have looked as good in their last three games as Philadelphia looked in their first three. In fact, the Giants have probably been the more impressive team, as the Eagles trailed by at least ten points in each of their first three wins, whereas the Giants have led through the large majority of each victory.
When the two teams meet on Sunday Night Football, it will serve as a statement game for the rest of the NFC East. A Giants victory would not only bump them to 4-2 on the season, but a more valuable 2-0 in the division. The Eagles face the same reward, except a win would move them even higher, to 5-1 overall.
Ultimately, while they are now weeks removed from the memory of atrocious play, the Giants have shown the bigger propensity to fall apart against good teams, while the Eagles have proven worthy of rising to almost every challenge. Philadelphia’s one loss included four attempts at a game winning touchdown in San Francisco, and came up a single yard short.
The Eagles beat the Giants by four, narrowly covering the spread.
