MINNESOTA VIKINGS (1-4) at NEW YORK GIANTS (0-6) Betting Odds
The Josh Freeman era begins on Monday night when his Vikings visit struggling Eli Manning and the Giants.
Sportsbook.ag Line & Total: Giants -3.5 (-115) & 48
Opening Line & Total: Giants -3.5 & 47
New York has yet to win a game this season, but finally covered a spread in a 27-21 Thursday night road loss to the Bears. The Vikings started Matt Cassel at quarterback versus the Panthers last week and were blown out 35-10, prompting the move for Buccaneers cast-off Josh Freeman to take the reigns of the Vikings offense. In the past five meetings between the Vikings and Giants, Minnesota is 3-2 ATS and 4-1 SU with the most recent game being a 21-3 Giants victory in Minnesota in 2010. To start the season, Minnesota is 2-3 ATS while New York is just 1-5 ATS. Since becoming the coach of New York, Tom Coughlin is 25-11 ATS (69%) in October games. Over the last three seasons, however, Minnesota is 5-1 ATS (83%) coming off an upset loss as a favorite. The Giants will again be without top RB David Wilson (neck) in this game and starting CB Corey Webster (groin) is listed as questionable as well. CB Xavier Rhodes (ankle) is listed as questionable for the Vikings, while S Harrison Smith (toe) is out and LB Desmond Bishop (knee) is on IR.
The Vikings appear to be moving on from Christian Ponder as they are starting Josh Freeman, fresh after signing him two weeks ago. Before being released by Tampa Bay, Freeman threw for 571 yards, two touchdowns and three interceptions. His completion percentage was a miserable 45.7%. After playing through the tragedy of his 2-year-old son being killed, RB Adrian Peterson rushed for 62 yards on 10 carries against the Panthers while also catching three passes for 21 yards. With 483 yards (4.7 YPC) and 6 TD this season, Peterson will be relied on heavily, but more so this week, as the team tries to ease Freeman into their offensive system. TE Kyle Rudolph led the way for the Vikings in receptions with nine catches for 97 yards and a touchdown. Rudolph should benefit from Freeman in the lineup as he is capable of making plays and Freeman has a big arm, something both Christian Ponder and Matt Cassel do not have. When Freeman faced the Giants on the road in Week 2 of last year, he completed 15-of-28 passes for 243 yards, 2 TD and 2 INT, but his Bucs team lost 41-34. The Vikings passing defense has been atrocious this season as they’ve allowed 308.0 passing YPG (29th in NFL), but they will be going against Eli Manning who has made quite a few mistakes this season, to say the least. The Vikings have already forced 12 turnovers this year, with four games of 2+ takeaways. Minnesota's rushing defense should fare well as it allows just 110.0 rushing YPG (T-17th in NFL) and will be going against mostly past-his-prime plodder Brandon Jacobs, as New York's top two backs, David Wilson and Andre Brown, deal with injuries.
The 0-6 Giants have gotten off to a terrible start this season and would really need a miraculous turnaround to put themselves into playoff contention. In last week's loss in Chicago, QB Eli Manning threw for 239 yards, one touchdown and three interceptions. Manning now has 15 interceptions on the year, which leads the league by a wide margin. To say he needs to take better care of the ball would be an understatement. With RB David Wilson out (neck), Brandon Jacobs handled the workload at running back and actually played a great game. Jacobs rushed 22 times for 106 yards (4.8 YPC) and two touchdowns. He will now be joined in the backfield by RB Peyton Hillis, who was signed after a tryout this week. Hillis' last NFL action came last December with the Chiefs when he rank for 101 yards on 15 carries versus the Colts. WR Reuben Randle led the Giants last week in receiving with three catches for 75 yards and a touchdown. He will continue to benefit from the extra attention that WRs Victor Cruz (35 rec, 541 yards, 4 TD) and Hakeem Nicks (25 rec, 442 yards) draw on a nightly basis. The Giants defense is going to have to improve greatly in this game, as they have allowed 268 YPG through the air (20th in NFL) and 123.3 YPG on the ground (26th in NFL). If their run defense doesn’t show up to play, it is going to be a long night for Giants fans as Adrian Peterson is ready to explode after his limited carries in Week 6.
