The NFL Preseason is into its final week, meaning it’s time for one last tune-up before the real action kicks off in September. The schedule got started on Thursday, but football fans are in for a treat with a whopping nine games on deck for Friday night. There’s a battle for New York on the schedule this evening, pitting the Giants against the Jets as these two teams look to tune up one more time before trying to turn their franchises around when the regular season gets going.
Here’s a prediction and pick for Giants vs. Jets in the NFL Preseason on Friday, courtesy of odds and lines on DraftKings Sportsbook.
Giants vs. Jets preview
The preseason really doesn’t mean all that much in the grand scheme of things, so it shouldn’t be used as a measuring stick for a team’s future performance. However, for the clubs themselves, there are reasons that these games do matter – especially with the final week of games serving as a final opportunity to evaluate talent, potentially deciding position battles and depth moves.
The Giants are 1-1 after two preseason matchups to begin the John Harbaugh era. The first played out in extremely unassuming fashion, a 13-10 loss to the Minnesota Vikings in which neither team actually looked very good as offenses sputtered. That was followed by a much better outing against the Miami Dolphins, a 26-3 thrashing that saw the G-Men rack up 390 total yards of offense and go 11-for-18 on third down.
Whether starters see action tonight seems rather up in the air. Harbaugh said earlier this week his mind hadn’t been fully made up, so it seems like the workload could go either way. Jaxson Dart showed what he could do last season, and Jameis Winston seems secure as the backup behind him. That leaves Brandon Allen and Jake Haener competing for the third-string job, though Allen tossed a pair of picks in the first preseason game. It’ll be interesting to see whether Najee Harris takes his first carries as a Giant after signing with the team recently, but there’s plenty of room for Devin Singletary, Eric Gray and Tyrone Tracy Jr. to get work. The receiving corps is deep by preseason standards, with Isaiah Hodgins and Braxton Berrios backing up Darius Slayton, Malachi Fields, and more.
The Jets are an identical 1-1 through two preseason contests. They dropped their opener 24-16 to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, hardly a bad loss since they outgained their opponent on the day, even without the starters active. In the second game, they took down the Pittsburgh Steelers 17-0 and once again won the yardage battle, also keeping clean from turnovers, too.
Reporting indicates that most of the Jets’ starters, including quarterback Geno Smith, won’t suit up on Friday night. That leaves rookie Cade Klubnik as the likely starter after going 15-for-21 with 131 yards through the air without a touchdown or interception in two games. Bailey Zappe and Brady Cook may also take snaps under center. Kene Nwangwu should operate as the primary halfback, but it’s the pass-catching corps that carries intrigue. Garrett Wilson is, of course, WR1. He’s followed by Adonai Mitchell on the depth chart, so could first-round pick Omar Cooper Jr. see more action tonight? The latter’s role has been minimal in the preseason thus far, so a flash of life with a couple of catches would be nice to see.
Giants vs. Jets prediction, pick
DraftKings Sportsbook lists the Giants as a -3.5-point favorite in this matchup with -170 odds to win on the Moneyline. The Jets are a +141 underdog with the game total set at 36.5 combined points.
To be clear, betting on NFL Preseason can prove very tricky. Established names don’t see much action, especially in the earlier weeks, and there’s much more variance in these games due to the roster shuffling and how deep of a player pool coaches draw from. Especially in the context of final roster cuts approaching in the coming days, that may ring even more true.
To a point, this really isn’t a home/road game for either side since both teams play here in East Rutherford, New Jersey at the Meadowlands. It’s understandable to see the Giants enter as a favorite given their dominance in their most recent outing, but this does feel like a true toss-up of a matchup if the starters don’t play at all. If the Giants do get Dart and Co. on the field for at least a series or two, they’ll definitely have the upper hand, though.
Still, these are two teams that aren’t going to win a ton of games this year. Expectations are fairly low for both, and at this stage of the preseason, coaching staffs are just testing the bottom of the depth chart before final roster cuts. Given that stipulation, I expect this to be a low-scoring affair that stays under the line of 36.5 points.
