The New York Giants will play host to the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday, sitting at 2-1 despite losing franchise quarterback Jaxson Dart for the season. The Cardinals, meanwhile, have lost back-to-back following their surprising Week 1 victory, but their comeback effort against the 49ers was a valiant one.
Arizona is a 2.5-point road favorite on Sunday at -135 Moneyline odds, while New York has +114 Moneyline odds. The game total is set at 44.5 points. Here is a preview of the Week 4 showdown featuring odds and lines from DraftKings Sportsbook.
Giants vs. Cardinals prediction, preview
New York’s offense has cratered since Jameis Winston stepped in for the injured Jaxson Dart, who hung an efficient 28 points on the Dallas Cowboys in Week 1. Winston, on the other hand, has led the Giants to just 6 and 12 points in his two appearances, all of which have come off of field goals. The 32-year-old former No. 1 overall pick is completing just 51.0% of his passes for a 55.6 passer rating and 22.9 QBR. Star wideout Malik Nabers hasn’t even been New York’s top pass-catcher, either, with his 96 yards on 12 receptions and 19 targets. Tight end Isaiah Likely has reeled in 15 of his 23 targets for 124 yards and two touchdowns, making good on the contract he signed in free agency this past offseason. On the ground, Cam Skattebo has been the workhorse with 177 yards and a touchdown. Even he is only averaging 3.5 yards per carry and a 44.0% success rate, though.
The Giants rank No. 31 in the NFL with 4.5 yards per play on offense. On defense, their 5.8 yards allowed per play is good for No. 26 in the league. Holding Tennessee to seven points in Week 3 was enough to get New York into the win column, but shutting down Cam Ward in stormy weather may not be too replicable.
Arizona opened its season with a 26-14 win over the Los Angeles Chargers, only to fall flat the following week and lose 31-7 to the defending champion Seattle Seahawks. They followed that up with another divisional loss in Week 3, although they covered an 8.5-point spread in the 36-30 defeat. Veteran Jacoby Brissett has been his typical, efficient self through three weeks, even if he isn’t exactly a game-wrecker. He is completing 70.1% of his passes with four touchdowns and one pick, boasting a 91.5 passer rating and 69.6 QBR. But despite attempting 39 passes per game, Brissett is only averaging 217.3 passing yards per contest.
The Cardinals offense still runs through tight end Trey McBride, who has 211 yards, two touchdowns and 26 catches on 34 targets already. Michael Wilson isn’t far behind with his 18 receptions, 163 yards and a touchdown on 31 looks, but Marvin Harrison Jr. has been virtually a non-factor. Every one of his catches this season has gone for a first down, but the former first-rounder has just four receptions and nine targets. For as eye-popping as Harrison’s 17.87-yard average depth of target looks on paper, his 44.4% catch percentage, 0.08 targets per route run and 0.6 yards per route run are pretty putrid. Rookie running back Jeremiyah Love has more production as a pass-catcher than Harrison with 10 receptions and a touchdown, to go along with his 160 yards and a touchdown on the ground.
On the other side of the ball, Arizona is allowing 6.5 yards per play, which ranks No. 31 in the NFL. Coupled with their 30th-ranked yards per play on offense, the Cardinals don’t boast the most attractive statistical profile. They do, however, rank top-five in turnover margin, only committing one giveaway while racking up four takeaways.
Giants vs. Cardinals pick, best bet
From an efficiency standpoint, these are two bad offenses going against two bad defenses. Two stoppable forces versus two movable objects, if you will. But while Brissett boasts the lowest career interception rate in NFL history, Winston has the highest interception rate in the league since 2015, minimum 900 attempts. He has thrown at least one pick in eight of his last 10 games attempting at least 20 passes, totaling 15 in that span. And if J.J. McCarthy finds his way onto the field for whatever reason following Monday’s trade from the Vikings – fresh off a rookie season with 11 touchdowns and 12 interceptions – forget about it.
There won’t be a massive Nor’easter hitting the Meadowlands this Sunday, so Brissett should have a much better chance against this Giants defense than Cam Ward and the Titans did a week ago. The Cardinals’ run defense, meanwhile, isn’t going against Christian McCaffrey and Kyle Shanahan, so they could return to the 3.9 and 4.1 yards per carry they allowed in the first two weeks versus the Chargers and Seahawks.
I like Arizona to win the turnover battle, play it safe with Brissett and the ground game, chew plenty of clock and continue to limit Skattebo’s efficiency. If all of those go the Cardinals’ way against a floundering Giants squad, it should lead to a comfortable enough win. It’s just tough to see New York’s offense replicating what it did Week 1 against Dallas now that Dart isn’t in the picture and Nabers has faded away, or their defense successfully rattling a dependable vet without the weather on their side.
Predicted Score: Cardinals 20, Giants 13
