The Recent York Football Giants travel west to San Francisco in quest of gold and a win on “Thursday Night Football” against the 49ers.
But oddsmakers don’t have any faith within the short-handed Giants — who might be missing starting left tackle Andrew Thomas and All-Pro running back Saquon Barkley — because the 49ers are 10.5-point favorites on Caesars Sportsbook.
While Daniel Jones likely might be running for his life from Nick Bosa and Co., what does history say when the Giants are placed within the role of massive underdogs?
After years of playing competitive football throughout the 2000s and 2010s, the Giants have spent far an excessive amount of time as double-digit underdogs lately.
From 2000-17, the Giants were no less than 10-point underdogs just six times. They covered against the spread (ATS) in five of those games and won three straight-up (SU).
Upon Dave Gettleman’s hiring as GM in 2017, the Giants inexplicably were double-digit underdogs 11 times in his 4 years, which may be described as unmitigated disaster.
In total, the Giants have spent 13 games as double-digit underdogs since Oct. 2017, going 8-5 ATS and 2-11 SU.
They’ve covered each times as double-digit underdogs with their recent power regime under general manager Joe Schoen and coach Brian Daboll, although they lost each games.
That 8-5 ATS record could possibly be a bit higher, too, as the top of the 2021 season marked the top for Gettleman, who was on his way out while the Giants tanked.
Game | Result | Cover? | Win? |
---|---|---|---|
Oct. 15, 2017: Giants vs. Broncos (-17.5) | 23-10 | Yes | Yes |
Dec. 3, 2017: Giants vs. Raiders (-10) | 17-24 | Yes | No |
Oct. 10, 2019: Giants vs. Patriots (-17.5) | 14-35 | No | No |
Oct. 4, 2020: Giants vs. Rams (-13.5) | 9-17 | Yes | No |
Nov. 2, 2020: Buccaneers vs. Giants (-13) | 25-23 | Yes | No |
Dec. 6, 2020: Giants vs. Seahawks (-11) | 17-12 | Yes | Yes |
Dec. 27, 2020: Giants vs. Ravens (-10) | 13-27 | No | No |
Nov. 1, 2021: Giants vs. Chiefs (-10.5) | 17-20 | Yes | No |
Nov. 22, 2021: Giants vs. Buccaneers (-10.5) | 10-30 | No | No |
Dec. 19, 2021: Cowboys (-11) vs. Giants | 21-6 | No | No |
Dec. 26, 2021: Giants vs. Eagles (-11) | 10-34 | No | No |
Nov. 24, 2022: Giants vs. Cowboys (-10) | 20-28 | Yes | No |
Jan. 8, 2022: Giants vs. Eagles (-17) | 16-22 | Yes | No |
That point was a disaster for Giants fans, as they were non-competitive and double-digit dogs to the Buccaneers, Cowboys and Eagles, covering none of those games.
The thing in regards to the 2023 Giants is that they are supposed to be competitive now, even without Barkley.
And everybody says running backs don’t impact a game as much as you think that.
Betting on the NFL?
So, let’s put that theory to the test.
Can the Giants cover 10.5 points on Thursday night without their running back?
For those who eliminate the embarrassing Gettleman tank job debacle at the top of 2021, Big Blue could be 8-2 ATS as big underdogs.
Do with that what you’ll.
BetMGM reported to The Post that 78 percent of the bets (variety of bets) are on the favored 49ers -10.5, but just 62 percent of the handle (total money) is on San Francisco.
This could theoretically point to larger bettors in smaller numbers (sharp players) on Big Blue on Thursday night.