Patriots vs. Giants: NFL preseason betting odds, preview, and pick

A final tune-up for the 2021 NFL season will take place at MetLife Stadium on Sunday night (6:00 p.m. ET, NFLN) as the New England Patriots visit the New York Giants for their respective preseason finales.

The Pats won each of their first two preseason contests, soundly beating the Washington Football Team and the Philadelphia Eagles. The Giants dropped each of their first two preseason clashes, losing ugly games to the New York Jets and Cleveland Browns, respectively.

We’ll take a look at what bettors can expect in this tilt, and make our prediction below.

New England Patriots (2-0) at New York Giants (0-2)

Keeping up with the Joneses

Mac Jones is expected to see significant playing time under center for New England in this one. He dominated the New York defense in Wednesday’s joint practice, at one point completing 18 straight passes. He wasn’t as sharp the following joint practice, when incumbent starting quarterback Cam Newton came back after a five-day absence due to a “COVID misunderstanding.”

Meanwhile, Giants signal caller Daniel Jones described his joint practice sessions with the Patriots as “up and down,” telling the New York Post, “ [We] made some plays, didn’t do some things great. We got to look at a few things and clean it up. That’s the way practice is sometimes, you got to be able to push through.”

He’ll be seeing his first preseason action in this one, though it remains to be seen how functional the “Big Blue” offense will be with Saquon Barkley, Kenny Golladay, Kadarius Toney, and Kyle Rudolph all still missing due to various injuries. 

Stage set for Stevenson after Michel trade

Fourth-round running back Rhamondre Stevenson has played so well in New England’s first two preseason games that he made Sony Michel expendable in the eyes of Bill Belichick.

He’ll take on a Giants rush defense that was 11th in stopping the run in 2020 (111.4 yards allowed per game) but didn’t do much to improve in the offseason. It will be interesting to see how much playing time the new assumed starter at tailback receives here.

Patriots vs. Giants injury report

Patriots and Giants betting trends

• The Patriots are 6-1 ATS in their last seven games played in August
• The total has gone Under in eight of the Patriots’ last 10 games
• The Giants are 8-4 SU in their last 12 games played in August
• The Under is 9-0 in the last nine games involving the Giants

The verdict

The Giants’ offense has looked listless for much of the preseason without Jones. While he will play in this one, he’ll likely struggle to score with his main weapons still sidelined. Expect Mac Jones, Newton, and Stevenson to pad their preseason stats against the lackluster “Big Blue” stoppers.

Score prediction: Patriots 20, Giants 13

NFL pick: Patriots -3.5