TNF: Hot Garbage Coming Through!
Thursday Night Football is back with another standalone game that promises to under deliver on quality. The New York Football Giants (side note: I really hate that people add the Football to their name) and the San Francisco 49ers matchup in what many should expect to be an absolute ass kicking of a game.
The Niners, led by underpaid and overachieving Brock Purdy get to hang out at home and play host to the same team that let themselves get shut out in the first half against the tanking Arizona Cardinals. Yes, the Giants ultimately came back from being down 20-0 to win the game, but don’t mistake that for momentum. Saquon Barkley, aka New York’s whole offense, won’t be playing and the rest of Big Blue’s players are horrid without him to carry the load. Meanwhile, the 9ers manhandled Pittsburgh and took a hard fought victory against a team that actually knows what they’re doing in the Los Angeles Rams.
I expect Christian McCaffrey and Deebo Samuel both to run all over New York as if they’re playing against a Pop Warner team. After letting up 40 to Dallas and 28 to Arizona, there’s nothing to suggest that San Fran will struggle on their home turf. The spread sits at San Fran -10.5 at the time of my writing this and it is (responsibly) HAMMER TIME! Give the the 9ers on the spread and over 43.5… most of which will be taken care of by Purdy and co.
As rough as this game will be, there are some fun prop bets out there if you, the reader, is interested in finding something to invest your energy into. Brandon Aiyuk tends to catch a stray touchdown in games like this, much to the chagrin of Kittle, Samuel and McCaffrey fantasy owners everywhere; that prop sits at +110 right now and is definitely worth a sprinkle. Daniel Jones to throw an INT is at -114, so not the most value in the world, but a strong candidate as a fun prop. Finally, Jake Moody over 7.5 points is sitting at -102 if you want to play with fire and hope the Giants defense can show any signs of resistance.
Though I expect this game to be rough, we can at least be thankful the teams are playing out west and avoiding the player graveyard that is MetLife stadium. Injuries are fluky things, but at least this feels like there’s a better chance to avoid anything major to either squad.