Big Blue View
Do the Giants have any hope this weekend?
The New York Giants will host the Baltimore Ravens in Week 15.
This is a game the Giants have been expected to lose since the schedule came out. The Giants came up with an upset win over the Ravens in 2022, but they can’t count on the Ravens committing costly penalties and game-changing turnovers again.
Now, the Giants will be without a laundry list of starters and will be relying on Tommy DeVito against the Baltimore defense.
The Giants come into the game as overwhelming 16.5-point underdogs per FanDuel Sportsbook. Do they even have a chance of making the game competitive?
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Giants fans may be hoping for the team to run the table (in a negative sense) in its final four games, but there are still 1-2 more chances for victories. This week is not one of them. The Ravens have arguably the NFL’s best and most versatile offense: first in yards, third in points, fifth in passing yards, second in passing TDs, second in rushing yards, and fifth in rushing TDs. The Giants will combat that with...whom on defense? It’s one thing for the Giants seventh round + UDFA defensive line to hold up against the middling Saints’ offensive line, it’s another for them to do so against one of the best offensive lines in the NFL. Oh, and with Derrick Henry running behind it and sometimes the NFL’s best running quarterback, Lamar Jackson. When he throws, Jackson has two excellent tight ends in Mark Andrews and Isaiah Likely plus a very good wide receiver, Zay Flowers. He’ll face a depleted Giants secondary whose only interception came from a player who got hurt shortly after he made it.
The Ravens’ defense is less impressive if you attack through the air, although their pass rush is effective with Kyle Van Noy and Odafe Oweh off the edge and Nnamdi Madubuike up the middle. They also have two premier defensive backs in Kyle Hamilton and Marlon Humphrey. None of that matters, though, because the Giants do not have a quarterback, and this is not the team to try to beat by running the ball - the Ravens have given up the fewest rushing yards of any NFL team. This game could be over by halftime unless Lamar tries to play too much hero ball - the Giants’ formula for success when they beat him in 2022. He won’t need to this time.
Pick: Ravens
I’ve probably spent more time thinking about this pick than any other. Not whether or not the Giants are going to win — that ain’t happening, barring divine intervention.
No, I was wondering just how I wanted to respond. I thought about dropping a simple “LOL” and being done with it, or possibly the Simpsons “Stop, stop! He’s already dead!” gif. Instead I settled on this:
Once upon a Thursday, kinda chilly, while...
