Week 8 of the NFL season concludes tonight with the New York Giants traveling west to take on the Kansas City Chiefs. The Giants are a disappointing 2-5 on the season, but they looked great last week in a win over the Carolina Panthers. The Chiefs haven’t looked as dominant this year, as they are 3-4 and were given a royal beatdown by the Tennessee Titans in Week 7.
Kansas City is favored by 9.5 points over New York and the total has been set at 52 points. Can the Giants build on last week’s momentum or will the Chiefs get back on track? Here’s a deeper look at each team and a Best Bet for this game.
Giants Offense vs. Chiefs Defense
QB Daniel Jones has struggled at times this season but his numbers are pretty decent. The former Duke star has thrown for 1,727 yards and 5 TDs but he has thrown 4 picks. Those stats are pretty impressive when you consider the massive amount of injuries this Giants’ offense has suffered.
Unfortunately, most of the Giants’ offensive weapons are listed as questionable for tonight’s game. Wideouts Kadarius Toney, Sterling Shepard, and Kenny Golladay are all nursing injuries. The same is true for RB Saquon Barkley and TE Evan Engram. Can New York overcome all this bad injury luck tonight?
The Chiefs’ defense has been a major disappointment so far this season. They allow 6.6 yards per play, which ranks dead last in the league (teamrankings.com). This unit is also 28th in yards per rush and 30th in yards per pass. One bright spot has been Tyrann Mathieu, who has intercepted two passes and brought one of them back for a TD.
Chiefs Offense vs. Giants Defense
Even though he’s listed as questionable after getting banged up against the Titans last week, QB Patrick Mahomes is expected to play tonight. Mahomes has been uncharacteristically erratic this season, as evidenced by his 9 interceptions. The former Texas Tech star has thrown for 2,093 yards and 18 TDs so far this year.
As bad as Kansas City’s defense has been, their offense is still pretty high-powered. The Chiefs rank 1st in third-down conversions and 5th in yards per play. Wideout Tyreek Hill is still the fastest man in football and he’s caught 5 TDs already this season.
The Giants defense ranks right in the middle of the pack in most statistical categories. However, this unit is excellent at pressuring the QB. Azeez Ojulari has 5.5 sacks while Leonard Williams has 4.5.
Our Pick: OVER 52
We leaned to the Giants since they are getting so many points in this one. However, Kansas City may be supremely motivated after an embarrassing performance against Tennessee last week. There are plenty of reasons to like the Over in this game.
The Chiefs defense has given up a ton of points this season and we don’t see that trend changing in this game. Daniel Jones and the Giants offense got a shot of confidence last week when they blew out Carolina. It’s also highly unlikely that the Chiefs’ offense will play poorly two weeks in a row.
We think both teams could get to 30 points so take the Over! Good luck!