I believe that this will be a relatively low scoring game with a lot of the action coming from the ground, especially if it rains a lot. Both teams love to run the ball, and Brandon Jacobs will play for Big Blue which will give them a big lift. Clinton Portis always is a thorn in the Giants side, and I expect him to sniff the century mark on the ground. With both running games poised for success it may come down to whether Eli Manning or Jason Campbell makes less mistakes. The Redskins are banged up on defense which should bode well, but again certainly nothing is guaranteed.
When the Giants have the ball:
The Giants will run on Sunday, and they will run a lot. This is going to be very much a ball possession game, where both teams will try to take huge chunks out of the clock en route to a score. The big key here will be keeping the Redskins off balance with the use of the play action pass. The Giants always have good results with the play action passing so it should continue. Without Plaxico Burress, Eli tends to distribute the ball more evenly, which is because without the double teams on Plaxico teams tend to try different coverage schemes which will in turn leave different people more open on different plays. Simply, when Plax isn't there they don't know who to cover, because Eli could go in many different directions. I wouldn't expect Eli to throw for any more than 200 yards at the high end in this one as the Giants are going to try and pound it out on the ground.
When the Giants are on defense:
The biggest thing that Big Blue will need to do on Sunday is stop Clinton Portis, but they must also be vigilant of Santana Moss. The Redskins love to lull a defense to sleep with their running game and then try a shot deep to the speedy Moss. The Skins really don't turn the ball over very much so the Giants will need to limit the big plays and make tackles when they have the chance to do so. Giving the Redskins any extra yardage will be costly because they will be able to find some success both with their running game and with their play action passes to the likes of Chris Cooley. Getting some sort of pressure on Jason Campbell will be imperative because he will hurt you if he is given too much time. The game plan is pretty simple; limit Portis and don't give up any big plays and the Giants should keep the Redskins at bay.
My Prediction:
I really see this as a chess match kind of game where one team gets up early and just tries to play tough defense and try to tack on some more points. Neither team will be explosive enough with their offensive gameplan to run away with it, but the team that has more success on the ground probably will come up on top. The rain could be a factor but really it will mean only more running than was already expected. Believe it or not I am actually going to pick the Giants this week, which of course means they will lose. I believe that the Redskins are a good team but not a great one. They really haven't shown me at any point that they are a legitimate contender although a win here would certainly put them in the equation. The Redskins need this one to have a shot at the division as well as keep pace in the wild card race. The Giants need this one only to inch closer to a divisional title and the first round bye. You would think that the Redskins would want this one much more, but I feel the Giants will be able to do a bit more in the end.
My Pick: Giants 20 Redskins 17
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