Thursday Night Football: Greg Frank picks Giants vs Patriots — will Tom Brady come out fast or slow?
Giants (+17) @ Patriots (41.5)
Pick: Patriots 1st Half -10
Any time I like a big favorite, I’ll always play them with a derivative as opposed to the full game. Remember, when betting a side, you want to avoid your interests drifting too far away from the team’s interests. To cover a big number for the full game, you usually have to dominate the entire game anyway, so I like to play the favorite laying a shorter number in a shorter game period. Bill Belichick and company will most likely look to get in and get out in this one and considering the Patriots offense has not been a well-oiled machine and they’ve been winning by hefty margins thanks to their defense, I believe the backdoor might be open for the Giants on Thursday night. Last week, New England come out slow against Washington at FedEx Field and the Redskins actually held a 7-6 lead after the first quarter. At halftime, Washington was very much in the game trailing just 12-7. While the Patriots ran away with the game in the second half, I think they’ll be looking to get off to a much quicker start offensively on home against big blue. Throw in the Giants are down Saquon Barkley, Evan Engram and Sterling Shephard and I don’t know how they score here against an elite defense. I’d be on the under, but the number has gotten away from me a bit as the total has already been bet down a couple points, which is enough to veer away and take the Patriots to lead by double digits after 30 minutes.
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