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The New York Jets will face off against the New York Giants in a preseason game on Saturday afternoon. It's time to continue our NFL odds series and make a Jets-Giants prediction and pick.
The Jets are the definition of a rebuilding team. New head coach Robert Saleh is taking over a team that won two games last season. The roster has undecided starters all over the place, so this preseason is a hugely important one for the Jets. The Giants are in a somewhat similar boat as their crosstown rival. There are plenty of positions across the roster that need to be figured out, so expect some real internal competition throughout this preseason for both teams.
Here's how the bookmakers have set the odds for Saturday's game.
NFL Odds: Jets-Giants Odds
New York Jets -1 (-123)
New York Giants +1 (+103)
Over 34 1/2 points (-115)
Under 34 1/2 points (-105)
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Why The Jets Could Win
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It's nearly impossible to know who will take the field in the first week of the preseason, but that doesn't apply to the Jets in this one. Robert Saleh announced that the entire Jets starting lineup will play a quarter of the game. It may not seem like much, but the Giants have announced that they won't play starting quarterback Daniel Jones at all. It wouldn't be a surprise to see the entirety of the Giants' starting lineup sit this one out. If that's the case, the Jets should dominate the first quarter and hop out to an early lead. It's impossible to predict what the Giants will do, but the fact that the Jets have one quarter of play with their starters is a huge advantage.
When the Jets do pull their starters off the field, they may not notice much of a difference between their first-team receivers and their second-team receivers. That's not a knock on the Jets' starting wideouts, but more of a commendation of the depth they have at the position. Denzel Mims, Braxton Berrios, and Vyncint Smith are all solid receivers who shouldn't have any trouble getting open against the Giants' backup cornerbacks.
Why The Giants Could Win
With Daniel Jones watching this game in street clothes, the brunt of the quarterback work will fall on backup signal-caller Mike Glennon. Glennon is one of those guys who seems to have been in the NFL for decades, and there's a reason for that. He's a solid, if unspectacular, second-string quarterback. He takes care of the ball and allows his teammates to make plays. Glennon has plenty of regular-season experience, so dealing with a Jets defense that has extremely poor depth across the board shouldn't be too much of an issue for him.
The Giants' starting defense is one of the most underrated units in the NFL, and their backups aren't far behind them. General manager Dave Gettleman has done a fantastic job stockpiling the defense with talent, making sure that an injury to one player won't cripple this unit. The Giants have 10 reserves on their roster who have a great combination of experience and youth, with many of them playing lots of snaps for the Giants throughout the 2020 season. These backups are good enough to contend with the Jets' first-team offense, so the Giants shouldn't suffer too badly from not playing their starters.
Final Jets-Giants Prediction & Pick
The Jets have a clear advantage because of how much they plan to play their starters, but they aren't the best pick on the board. The under should cash in comfortably, as neither team is particularly strong offensively. It would be a surprise to see the Jets put up more than 14 points in this one, and the Giants don't have the offensive firepower to break the over on their own.
FINAL PICK: Under 34 1/2 points (-105)
