Oakland Raiders (1-3) at New York Giants (4-0) :WagerWeb Entertainment

Oakland Raiders (1-3) at New York Giants (4-0)

10 October 2009 121 views No Comment

If there ever was a “trap” game in the NFL, it’s Sunday’s Raiders-Giants matchup.

Oddsmakers don’t think so, as the Giants are 15-point favorites on WagerWeb.com.

But how can the G-men, who look like the best team in the NFL, not overlook a Raider team that has scored nine points total in the past two games, averages the fewest yards of any offense in the NFL and won’t have gamebreaker Darren McFadden this week? Plus New York is back home after a three-game trip, has a huge game at New Orleans next week and QB Eli Manning has been dealing with a heel injury.

It looks like Manning will play Sunday, making his 83rd start in a row. He practiced Friday for the first time all week. He is listed as questionable, but Coach Tom Coughlin said he was “absolutely” encouraged by what he saw from Manning, who injured the plantar fascia during last Sunday’s victory against the Chiefs.

Manning said that doctors had not been able to assure him that playing would not make the injury worse, but he also said that the shoulder injury he played through in 2007 — the season he led the Giants to a Super Bowl title — was much worse than this foot injury.

Steve Smith has become the best Steve Smith in the league all of a sudden as Manning’s favorite target: Smith’s 34 receptions are the most in franchise history through first four games. In past three games, he has 28 catches for 331 yards and four TDs

While Manning has looked like a Pro Bowler so far, Oakland’s JaMarcus Russell might be the worst starting QB in the league. Through four weeks, Russell is the league’s lowest-rated starting quarterback. He has completed less than 40 percent of his passes and has not thrown a touchdown pass since Week 1 – the Raiders’ pass offense is last in the NFL. New York has the league’s No. 1 defense (and No. 1 against the pass), and Giants opponents have averaged only 2.2 and 2.4 yards per pass attempt the past two games.

Oakland is 1-9 in its last 10 games vs. the NFC and has been shut out three times in those 10 contests. New York looks for its first 5-0 start since 1990, when the team won Super Bowl XXV. Since 2006, the Giants are a league-best 38-19-1 ATS.

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