NFL FOOTBALL BETTING PREDICTION - NEW YORK GIANTS @ TAMPA BAY BUCCS

NFL Football

2008-01-06 - New York Giants at Tampa Bay Buccs

A Sports Betting Pick by FirstDown

NEW YORK GIANTS @ TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS
Sunday, January 6, 1:00 p.m. ET
Raymond James Stadium, Tampa, Florida

TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS

Tampa Bay enter this playoff season as the winners of the NFC South, a division that saw New Orleans fail to live up to expectations, Carolina fall away once Jake Delhomme was injured early in the season and Atlanta never overcome the problems beginning with Michael Vick's arrest. They finished last in the division last season, but this year ended with a 9-7 record and the number 4 seed in the NFC. This is only their 2nd appearance in the playoffs since winning the Super Bowl 5 years ago, and they were beaten at this stage by Washington last time.

The Buccaneers finished 6-2 at home. They have not really played much competitive football over the last few weeks and ended the regular season with 3 losses from their last 4 games. Last week they were beaten at home by Carolina, but Jon Gruden rested the majority of his starters for that game and the previous one as Tampa wrapped up the division 3 weeks ago. Tampa Bay went 5-0 against other teams from the NFC at home before that loss last week.

It seems Cato June will miss this game for Tampa Bay.

NEW YORK GIANTS

New York finished the season with a 10-6 record which left them in 2nd place behind the Cowboys in the NFC East. The record makes sure they reached the number 5 seed and they know if they can win here, they will have a chance for revenge against Dallas next week in the Divisional Championships match. New York have lost 3 straight playoff matches since January 2001 and Eli Manning is 0-2 in playoff matches. They will also be concerned that Jeff Garcia has been the opposition QB in 2 of those 3 losses, with San Francisco and Philadelphia last season.

The Giants were amazingly 7-1 on the road, winning their last 7 after losing in Dallas in Week 1. They may have lost 2 of their last 3 games in the regular season, but their performance against New England last week will give their fans some encouragement for this week. The Giants have put up 38 and 35 points in their last 2 matches after the offense had failed to score more than 21 points in 7 matches before that.

STATISTICS

The narrow defeat to New England came at a cost as Sam Madison and Sean O'Hara are doubts for this game. Kevin Dockery will be a late decision for the Giants.

The Giants did beat Tampa Bay last season 17-3 but the Buccaneers are a different prospect now.

PREDICTION :

This is a close game between 2 solid teams and it might come down to who protects the ball better on the day.

Eli is yet to win a playoff game and it must be noted it took Peyton Manning 4 attempts before he won his first playoff game. Jeff Garcia is a solid QB and the Tampa Bay defense is a very strong unit.

I think the injuries might affect the Giants and I can see Tampa winning a close one at home.

The Pick :