New York remained winless after a 27-24 loss to Philadelphia last week. Tampa Bay was crushed 34-17 by Minnesota last Sunday.
The Giants offense has 2 problems; one, they can’t run the ball (143 yards in 3 games) and two; their o-line is very bad. This has put all of the pressure on QB Eli Manning to try and win games by himself and that hasn’t worked in the past. The Buccaneers gave up 20 rushing yards 2 weeks ago and 125 (on 37 carries) against the Vikings. Their run defense is good and they should have little trouble containing the ground game. They do have to be concerned about NY’s trio of wideouts (Odell Beckham, Sterling Sheppard and Brandon Marshall) who combined for 24 catches, 278 yards and 3 scores against the Eagles. Philly has had one of the worst pass defenses in the league for several years but this is still a talented group. Manning wasn’t sacked last week but was dropped 8 times in the first 2 games of the season.
Tampa Bay ran the ball only 9 times against the Vikings and you aren’t going to win many games playing that way. They are limited without RB Doug Martin (suspended 1 more game) but they can’t abandon the run so quickly. QB Jameis Winston threw 3 interceptions last week and like Manning, isn’t the type of QB you want slinging it around 40-50 times a game. The Giants defense played very well in 2016 but they haven’t played to that level in 2017. If the Bucs can keep the defense honest with the run, Winston should have time to find WRs Mike Evans and DeSean Jackson. Winston has been sacked 4 times this season and has gotten pretty decent protection. He must avoid forcing the ball or locking on to Evans to be successful.
Public Money Consensus
In this Week 4 of the NFL matchup between New York Giants and Tampa Bay have the public leaning slightly to the Giants getting the 3 points with 56%. The over/under bettors believe this game will go over the posted total line of 43.5 with over 70% on board.
