Raiders (+7) at Giants O/U 43.5
The Raiders are 0-3 on the road this season and are coming off a huge home loss in which Eagles' QB Nick Foles tossed for over 400 yards and tied an NFL record with seven TD passes. They face a Giants team that is on a two game winning streak and is getting healthier by the day.Oakland is 25th in the NFL against the pass and must try to stop an attack that is beginning to normalize. Eli Manning, along with WRs Victor Cruz, Hakeem Nicks and Rueben Randle, will look to expose the weak pass defense of the Raiders. Cruz has been nursing a sore neck, but is expected to play. To add to Oakland's problems, rookie DB DJ Hayden sustained a groin injury in practice, clouding his status for this week.
The Giants will be getting RB Andre Brown back, but had to place RB David Wilson (neck) on IR. Brandon Jacobs (hamstring) has not practiced all week and it appears he'll miss this week's game. Peyton Hillis will share the workload with Brown on Sunday. Oakland has been stout at the line of scrimmage averaging 94.6 yards per game on the ground for 6th best in the league, so the Giants will have a challenge there.
The Raiders' offense is 30th in the NFL in passing, but are 5th in rushing. QB Terrelle Pryor leads all NFL QBs in rushing with 485 yards, but has only thrown five TD passes. Pryor left last Sunday's loss to Philadelphia with sore knee but has practiced in full all week. Â Oakland's top RB, Darren McFadden, strained a hamstring last week and has not practiced this week. Â He is unlikely to play. His backup, Rashad Jennings, rushed for 102 yards and caught for 74 more vs the Eagles.
None of that may matter. The Giants have not surrendered a TD on defense in ten quarters and have held four of the top ten RBs in the league in check the past five weeks: Adrian Peterson (28 yards), LeSean McCoy (46 and 48 yards), Matt Forte (67 yards) and Jamaal Charles (65 yards).
Oakland K Sebastian Janikowski, one of the league's best, missed practice this week but is expected to be fine for the game.
Prediction: The pass defense for Oakland is no match for the Giants' passing attack, even though it hasn't been as good this season as it has been in the past. This game could change all of that. The Giants' defense has been playing as well as any in the league as of late and Oakland does not have the balance to sustain multiple drives. If the Giants play a clean game (no turnovers, limited penalties) they win this one easily. If not, your guess is as good as mine.
The Giants have been waiting all season to really take it to an opponent, and all signs point to this being that week. Coming off a two-game winning streak and a bye, Big Blue is hungry to get the second half started with a bang. No team in the NFL can be taken lightly, but the Raiders right now are a mess. Terrelle Pryor and Darren McFadden were banged up in last week's loss, and in that same game, the defense gave up an NFL-record-tying seven touchdown passes to Nick Foles. Sure the Giants won their last two games, but they didn't exactly play great in those games. Defeating the Raiders handily could really give this team the confidence boost it needs as the schedule begins to heat up. Giants 34, Raiders 14