By Ian Palmer
This week’s Monday Night Football showdown will see the Indianapolis Colts make a trip to MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey to take on the New York Giants on November 3. The Colts head into the week-nine showdown with a 5-3 record after being mauled 51-34 by the Pittsburgh Steelers last week while the New York Giants are 3-4 following their bye week. However, they lost their previous two games to the Philadelphia Eagles and Dallas Cowboys and are aiming to make sure they don’t drop three in a row when they meet the Colts.
Colts vs Giants – Indianapolis (1st – AFCS) at N.Y. Giants (3rd – NFCE) at MetLife Stadium KICK OFF – 8:30 PM ET
Indianapolis Colts:
- Overall Record: 5-3
- Record Against the Spread (won-lost-push): 6-2-0
- Home Record: 3-1
- Away Record: 2-2
- Over/Under Record: 6-2-0
The Colts’ defense had a brutal game against the Steelers, but had played well earlier during the season in the team’s five-game winning streak. The Steelers racked up a total of 639 yards against them and quarterback Ben Roethlisberger had a field day. Roethlisberger went 40 for 49 in passing and gained 522 while throwing for half a dozen TDs. If the Colts allow Giants’ QB Eli Manning to have the same kind of freedom they’ll be in for a long night.
The Colts possessed the ball for just 20 minutes last week and their offense did well against the Steelers to rack up 34 points. The main reason for this was the play of QB Andrew Luck, as he passed for three TDs and 400 yards. Luck may have the same success against the Giants due to their weak pass defense. New York concedes 262.4 yards against per game, which ranks as 25th in the league. Indianapolis heads into the game with a 5-1 record ATS in their past six encounters.
New York Giants:
- Overall Record: 3-4
- Record Against the Spread (won-lost-push): 3-4-0
- Home Record: 2-1
- Away Record: 1-3
- Over/Under Record: 4-3-0
The Giants’ defense didn’t look too good last time out either as Dallas QB Tony Romo passed for three TDs and 279 yards against them a couple of weeks ago in their 31-21 win. The Giants should have used their bye week to figure out how to control Luck since he’s leading the NFL in TDs and passing yards. The Giants will be relying on Jason Pierre-Paul to take care of Luck as he leads the club with 3.5 sacks. Cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie has hopefully recovered during the team’s two-week break as he’s been suffering from back problems. If he can’t play against the Colts then safety Antrel Rolle and cornerback Prince Amukamara will have to pick up the slack. They’ll need to keep their eye on Colts’ receivers Donte Moncrief and T.Y. Hilton as they combined for two TDS and 268 yards against the Steelers. Rolle and Amukamara each have three interceptions so far this year.
Offensively the Giants certainly miss Victor Cruz and running back Rashad Jennings and there’s a lot of pressure on rookie wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. Beckham’s played three games this campaign and has looked pretty good. He was on the receiving end of two of Manning’s touchdown passes against the Cowboys and has three TDs in his three outings. The Giants go into the game at 3-1 ATS in their last four contests.
