New York Giants Bettors Hammering At Draft Kings For Clincher vs. Indianapolis Colts

Posted on: December 27, 2022, 01:39h. 

Last updated on: December 27, 2022, 01:41h.

Chris Sheridan Read More
Expertise: Commercial Gaming, Live Casinos, Sports Betting.

After watching head coach Jeff Saturday’s cast of Colts characters implode on Monday Night Football, bettors don’t just like the New York Giants this coming Sunday. They love them.

DraftKings Sportsbook was seeing an astounding 96% of spread bets come in on Giants -5 1/2 after their next opponent, the Indianapolis Colts, looked absolutely dreadful in a 20-3 loss to the Chargers last night that put Los Angeles into the AFC playoffs.

The Giants can get in with a win, and they will be playing their final home game of the regular season this Sunday at MetLife Stadium, where they are 4-3-1. Beat the Colts, and they qualify for the postseason and get to play a meaningless game to close the season when they travel to Philadelphia to play the Eagles.

“I think we just try to control our own destiny each week by trying to win a game,” Giants coach Brian Daboll said. “The goal is always to try to go 1-0, and that’ll be no different this week.”

He says the same thing every week. But this week, Daboll gets excused for being dull. His task is simple: Win, by any means necessary, and a postseason berth awaits. And the win needs to come against a train wreck of a football team — an Indianapolis Colts team being run by an interim coach that lost its fifth straight — as Nick Foles, making his first Colts start, squandered two first-quarter scoring chances. He did so by throwing picks, wound up getting sacked seven times, and went 0 for 10 on third downs. If you watched the whole thing, we recommend getting a life, which could include rewatching Avatar, and then going out to see the sequel, which millions are currently doing if they are not snowed in.

Foles, the Super Bowl MVP after the 2017 season with Philadelphia, was sacked seven times in his first NFL start since Dec. 26, 2021, with Chicago. The Colts have already fired offensive coordinator Marcus Brady and coach Frank Reich, and have benched quarterback Matt Ryan twice. Ryan was inactive behind Foles and backup Sam Ehlinger on Monday night, as the Colts managed just one field goal and 69 rushing yards.

Jim Irsay’s franchise is a mess, and everyone knows it. And so the Giants laying 5 1/2 represents the largest number they have been favored by all season. The over/under is just 39 1/2, the third-lowest total of the week. DraftKings is seeing 95% of handle come in on the under.

So This Is a Guaranteed Victory and Cover?

Not so fact, hombres.

The Colts are the same outfit that took a 33-0 halftime lead on the Minnesota Vikings a week earlier, only to lose 39-36 in the biggest comeback in NFL history. Still, 33 unanswered points means something was working, and overconfidence may be the Giants’ biggest obstacle come Sunday. They have not exactly been world-beaters themselves, having lost 27-24 to Minnesota last Saturday to make them 2-4-1 in their last seven games.

What’s more, the number of teams that the Giants have defeated by at least six points is four, those wins coming against the Bears, Jaguars, Texans, and Commanders. The victory over Washington two weeks ago is the one that Big Blue will want to duplicate in the Sunday 1 p.m. start, and the forecast for that day is calling for rain in East Rutherford, N.J.

If the betting trend continues, the 5 1/2-point line is going to look more like 7 1/2 points by the time the game kicks off. At New York’s eight other licenses sportsbooks, the Giants were -4 1/2 at FanDuel, -5 at BetMGM, BallyBet, BetRivers and Caesars, -5 1/2 at WynnBet, Resorts World, and PointsBet. And that sound you just heard was fingers hitting keyboards as Giants fans who have not yet signed up at FanDuel rushed to open accounts. This one seems like a gimme. But any Giants fan who has endured the current six-year playoff drought will tell you, the Giants never make things easy.

Winning is one thing. Covering is another. And when it comes to moneyline wagers, DraftKings is seeing 93% of handle come in on New York. Only the Kansas City Chiefs (playing a Denver team that just fired its coach) and 49ers (playing the down-and-out Las Vegas Raiders) are seeing similar moneyline split percentages.

The Giants have a 91% chance to make the playoffs and actually could clinch Sunday even with a loss to the Colts if one of these three scenarios happens: The Commanders and Seahawks lose, the Commanders, Lions, and Packers lose, or the Lions, Seahawks and Packers lose. If the Giants lose and none of those three happen, then it’s do-or-die in Week 18 at the Eagles.

Indianapolis is 2-5-1 on the road, the victories coming in Denver and Las Vegas. The Giants last played a win-and-in game at home in the finale of the 2011 season, clinching the NFC East on the way to a Super Bowl XLVI title.

https://twitter.com/saquon/status/1607227567421128704

If the Giants Win, Can They Advance in the Playoffs?

The oddsmakers say “No,” which is why the Giants are on the board at +9000 to emerge as Super Bowl champions, the same odds as the Jacksonville Jaguars, who are tied for first place in the AFC South with the Tennessee Titans, who are +20000.

But there were very long odds at this time a year ago on the Cincinnati Bengals, who finished the regular season 10-7 and made it to the Super Bowl, only to lose to the Los Angeles Rams 23-20 on Matthew Stafford’s 1-yard TD pass to Cooper Kupp with 1:25 remaining. If there are any Big Blue true believers who want to use that as their guide, New York is +3500 to emerge as the last team standing from the NFC.

Step One is a victory Sunday, which would make the regular season finale against Philadelphia meaningless and allow Daboll to rest every single one of his starters. Then it just becomes a matter of waiting to see who the first postseason opponent is, game-planning for it, and rolling the dice.

A year ago, the 49ers finished third in the NFL West and played the Dallas Cowboys, who had won the NFC East. And the Niners not only defeated the Cowboys 23-16, they went on to defeat Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers the following week to make it to the NFC Championship game, where they lost by 3 to the Rams when they blew a 10-point fourth quarter lead.

So coach Daboll is right about one thing: Just try to win the day, every day. But that being said, it would make life a heck of a lot easier for the Giants and their long-suffering fans to put something in the bank on the first day of 2023.

It might even make this guy lose his stone face.