Tonight, the New York Giants who are 2-2 will play host to the San Francisco 49ers who have a surprising 1-3 record. They face off at MetLife Stadium in their third primetime game of the season. Last week after evening their record against the Buffalo Bills, the Giants will try to rack up a winning record for the first time since Week 5 of last season, and only the second time since Week 17 of the 2012 season. It’s been a while and so the Giants are ready to battle it out tonight.
Initially it was a game that originally looked promising on the schedule for entertainment value. But the Giants and the 49ers are trending in opposite directions right now. The Giants managed to pull out a hard fought road win last week and now are finding themselves in a stronger position in the N.F.C. East. San Francisco has looked pretty bad in their recent three consecutive losses. 49ers’ QB, Colin Kaepernick, has been absolutely brutal. Whereas, Giants quarterback Eli Manning has passed well, and threw only one interception in four games/ Kaepernick on the other hand has completed just 22 of 44 passes with no touchdowns and five interceptions, two of which were returned for touchdowns.
The only bright side for the 49ers, is that there Coach Jim Tomsula has not ‘passed wind’ again during a news conference, as many scandalous reports on the Internet have recently accused him of doing, too bad that’s the only passing that’s been causing a stir.
In New York, the Giants’ head coach wasn’t quiet either. Tom Coughlin told local media earlier today, “I don’t believe in buying (what their record says they are)…If you look at the Green Bay tape, they’re there twice. They’re right at the goal line and they misfire and they have a ball that should have been caught in the endzone, they have sacks, and they back out of there. But they’re there, and they do a nice job defending Green Bay and causing some issues with the quarterback and so on and so forth. So they played very well in that game, they didn’t win. A play here or a play there and they are in position at home to win. So you do have to be aware of those things, but I don’t pay any attention to that. They’re 1-3 and they’re desperate to win. And we’re desperate to win.”
That desperataion should make for an exciting match up. Just as New York was pegged to lose going into their Week 4 game against the Bills, the 49ers are now considered a lock to lose tonight by most experts. For both teams, they will have to think that anything can happen on “any given Sunday” because a lot will still have to go right for either of them to come out victorious.
For the 49ERS: No one is under more pressure and scrutiny than quarterback Colin Kaepernick. He’s played pretty well in night games during his short career. That has included two major Sunday night wins in the past at New England and against Houston. Can he repeat that? The 49ers will probably be without their best offensive lineman, left tackle Joe Staley, so many will keep an eye on his potential replacement or on how he copes with a knee injury. Cornerbacks Tramaine Brock and Kenneth Acker will likely matchup against Giants star receiver Odell Beckham Jr. Aaron Lynch and Eli Harold will try their best to put pressure on Eli Manning. And if they are lucky, linebacker NaVorro Bowman could make his break out performance in an inspiring comeback.
The Giants that can make a difference: Odell Beckham Jr. who currently adorns the Madden NFL video-game cover because due to his acrobatic catches. If he can make more clean catches from even cleaner passes thrown by Eli Manning that don’t get intercepted by the 49ers (who managed to nab five off him last year), then thy have a good chance to win. Cornerback Prince Amukamara is coming on strong and will try to contain the 49ers’ Anquan Boldin and Torrey Smith the best he can. Giants punter Brad Wing right ranks 11th in the NFL with a 41.6-yard net average, so a field goal can be the difference.
Our Prediction:
The Giants by moat experts are being favoured by seven points. The 49ers lost three in a row by a combined score of 108-28 which shows just how bad their offense has been. It’s probably not going to be a blowout game many might expect and could be decided by a field goal if either team cannot get their offense going come later tonight. But the Giants are the younger team who are seriously hungry to experience some winning football, so that might just give them the edge.
Giants win, 17–14
