Week 2 of the 2021 NFL season begins at the FedEx Field where the Washington Football Team hosts the New York Giants in a game between teams that lost their respective season openers.
Washington was competitive and battled until the end but still lost 20-16 to the Los Angeles Chargers last Sunday afternoon. The Washington Football Team lost starting QB Ryan Fitzpatrick to injury in their opener so Taylor Heinicke will start this game, becoming the 10th different quarterback to start a regular season game for Washington in the last five years.
Meanwhile, New York was dropped their home opener by two scores, losing 27-13 to the Denver Broncos. This is the fifth consecutive season where they opened the season at 0-1 and the 10th time in the last 11 years that this has happened. The Giants opened as 4-point underdogs but the line was dropped to 3.5 after early betting action went in N.Y.’s favor.
Although they lost by two scores to the Broncos, the Giants started the game pretty well, given the circumstances. After a scoreless first period, they took a 7-3 lead before allowing the Broncos to take a 10-7 lead at the half, New York had no answers in the second half as they could not slow down Denver nor move the ball on their side of the field.
New York was outgained 420-314 and lost the battle of first downs 24-19. Denver also won the possession time 35:08 to 24.52. Daniel Jones completed 22 of 37 passes for 267 yards with one touchdown. He also rushed for 27 yards with a rushing score. Saquon Barkley was limited to 26 yards on ten carries as the Giants rushed for only a total of 60 yards against the Denver defense.
Washington trailed most of the way in their opening game against the Chargers. The first quarter ended with L.A. having a 7-3 lead. The Chargers took a 13-9 halftime advantage before Washington briefly took the lead at 16-13 with 11 minutes left in the third period. A giveaway led to the winning score as the Chargers wasted time away to come out with the victory.
The Washington Football team amassed only 259 total yards while giving up 424. They also lost the battle of first downs 27-15 and the Chargers also controlled the clock 36:03 to 23:57. Ryan Fitzpatrick threw just 13 yards on 3-6 passing before leaving the game with a hip injury. Taylor Heinicke finished the game and he completed 11 of 15 passes for 122 yards with one touchdown while also rushing for 17 yards. Antonio Gibson rushed for 90 yards on two carries but it was his fumble that led to the Chargers’ winning score.
New York is 1-4 SU in their last five games played. The Giants are 3-13 SU in their last 16 September games. However, New York has won its last five head-to-head meetings against Washington.
Washington is 1-4 SU in their last five games. The Washington Football Team is also just 1-5 SU in their last six home games, and are 4-12 SU in their last 16 games played against the NFC East.
New York could not get going on the ground in their opening game and ended up with only 60 rushing yards for the whole game. Washington meanwhile, did a good job against the Los Angeles run in their own season opener and they should be able to limit the Giants’ productivity on the ground again.
With their running game grounded, the Giants will look to Daniel Jones to deliver the score. Washington defended the pass poorly against Herbert by giving up over 300 passing yards so there’s a good chance that they will test the Washington air defense.
However, Jones has been a turnover machine and with guys like Chase Young on the opposite side of the field, I expect turnovers from New York.
Washington will be without starter Ryan Fitzpatrick but Taylor Heinicke did a good job in the opener and with the Giants defending the run poorly in their last game, Washington won’t need Heinicke to be Tom Brady or Dak Prescott.
The Giants are still working on getting everybody up to the speed of the offense and I need to see them put up a good showing on the road before I even think about betting on them. Washington will move the ball on the ground with their running game and get enough scores to win.
Prediction: Washington Football Team
The Giants are 1-4 ATS in their last five games played. New York is 5-12 ATS in their last 17 September games, 2-5 ATS in their last seven games after a double-digit home loss, 1-4 in their last five games as betting underdogs, 1-4 ATS in their last five Thursday games, and 1-8 ATS in their last nine Week 2 games.
Washington is 6-3 ATS in their last nine games played. The Washington Football Team is 5-1 ATS in their last six games after throwing for less than 150 passing yards in their previous game, 5-2 ATS in their last seven games after giving up 350 or more total yards in their previous game, but are 1-6 ATS in their last six games as betting favorites.
As I said earlier, the New York offense looks far from its best form in their last outing and a short turnaround won’t be enough to make adjustments. Facing a solid Washington defense, they are going to bleed for points and yards in this game.
Washington’s offense will be without Fitzpatrick but remember that defense has always been the key to this team. Heinicke is a solid backup and he should be able to move the ball fairly well against a questionable Giants defense.
Points will come at a premium in this game. But given Heinicke’s performance on opening night, he’s going to give them scoring opportunities in this game. Any spread within field goal range is okay more than four points would be too much. At the current spread, I’ll take the home team to cover.
Prediction: Washington -3.5
The total has gone under in 8 out of the last nine games played by the Giants. The under is 9-0 in New York’s last nine games after an ATS loss, 6-0 after a double-digit home loss, 8-0 in their last eight games as betting underdogs, 7-0 in their last seven-week 2 games, 5-0 in their last five games against the NFC, and 5-0 in their last five road games.
The total has gone under in six out of the last seven games played by Washington. The Washington Football team has seen the total go under in 10 out of their last 11 games played on grass. The under is 4-1 in their last five games versus the NFC, 4-1 in their last five games against the NFC East, and 7-1 in their last eight home games.
Head to head, the total has gone under in 20 out of the last 28 meetings between these two teams.
Again, these are not explosive offensive teams. The Giants scored only 13 points against the Broncos on opening night. I’m not sure how they can be better against the Washington defense. Unless they can be effective running the football, Jones is going to be feast or famine with his passing.
On the other side, Washington scored only 16 points in their opening game. Heinicke is a solid backup but he’s not the kind of passer that is going to produce big scoring numbers. With New York’s shaky run defense, they will be content with taking as much time off the clock as possible. Hence, this should be a low-scoring game.
Prediction: Under 40.5
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