Green Bay Packers versus New York Giants Preview

No one could have predicted that both the Green Bay Packers and the Chicago Bears would be struggling to catch up to the Detroit Lions in the NFC North Division.  Likewise, no one could have predicted that the New York Giants would be third place in their division, but here we are.

However, both the Green Bay Packers and, surprisingly, the New York Giants could still very well win their respective divisions. The Packers are right on the heels of the Lions, while the leaders of the NFC East, the Dallas Cowboys and Philadelphia Eagles, both sit at 5-5, so it is not out of the question for the Giants to make one of the big comebacks and win the division. In other words, this is a very important game for these two teams, neither of which can afford anymore losses.

The Giants are hoping that an injured Aaron Rodgers will work in their favor. However, Scott Tolzien was very impressive on his first start in Green Bay, even garnering a heap of praise from head coach Mike McCarthy.  Tolzien completed 24 of 39 pass attempts, one of which was a touchdown pass, for 280 yards and threw a pair of interceptions. Those are not terrible stats for a quarterback coming off the practice squad.

Tolzien has likely improved since last week, and he will need that improvement.  The Giants do not put a lot of pressure on quarterbacks, with only 14 sacks this season, but they are the 11th best pass defense in the NFL.  Tolzien will need to show up and play like a pro against the Giants defense.

The Packers defense needs to find a way to slow Eli Manning. We have seen that Manning has been letting mistakes stay with him for the entire duration of games so the Packers will need to throw him off by forcing some turnovers.  They will also need to force Manning into those passing situations by stopping the Giants 29th ranked rushing attack.

The Giants will need Manning to simply show up today and play some mistake free football.  The Packers rank dead last in turnover, so ideally the mistakes that Manning is prone to making will not become a factor in this game.

The Giants defense has picked up eight turnovers in the last three weeks. They will need to carry that momentum and play into this game and force Green Bay’s inexperienced quarter back to make some big mistakes.

The Giants are favored to win this game with a -4 point spread. Their moneyline is set at -190 compared to the Packers set at +165. The over/under is set at 41.5 points. The game starts at 4:25 p.m. ET.

All odds courtesy of Bovada.