Saints Can Prolong Giants' Misery

Football Betting Lines

12/22/2006 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - In football terms anyway, the New York Giants can relate.

Not that their five-losses-in-six-weeks is comparable with the off-field issues laid upon the New Orleans Saints last season, but the fallout of what's gone on in games since mid-November has left the former football kings of New Jersey reeling, albeit in a manner that admittedly falls short of that of homeless disaster victims.

Instead of advancing to the joyous swamp-side title-clinching that appeared likely for the holiday time of year as they seized control of the NFC's East Division with a 6-2 start, the Giants have devolved toward an off-season of torrential chaos that could claim coach Tom Coughlin as posthumous statistic No. 1.

The hard-bitten Parcells disciple - who had earned a reputation as a sideline tough guy during success-laden pre-New Jersey stops at Boston College and with the Jacksonville Jaguars - has more recently resembled a flustered rookie store clerk during "affluent housewife shopping day" at the nearby Short Hills Mall.

A 36-22 loss to Philadelphia last week, a game in which the visiting Eagles scored the final 15 points in menacing smash-and-grab style after New York had taken a lead with 6:59 remaining, dropped "Big Blue" to 7-7 overall and in need of myriad help to secure a postseason berth as a shiny trinket for New Year's Day parties.

Still, the company line remains positive - albeit frustrated.

"We're definitely a playoff team," said tight end Jeremy Shockey, who had eight catches for 70 yards against Philadelphia and leads the team with 64 receptions for the season. "We've got talent in this locker room. There's no doubt about it. We've just got to fix what's going wrong and move on from there."

Meanwhile, the Saints march in a might wobbly after their path to the NFC South championship was interrupted by an ugly 16-10 loss to the draft board- bound Washington Redskins last weekend at the Superdome. They won the crown anyway, however, when division foes Atlanta and Carolina lost to Dallas and Pittsburgh, respectively.

"It is not anything we didn't expect," running back Deuce McAllister said, referring to a Redskins' scheme that prompted season-lows in total yards (270) and points. "They put more pressure on (quarterback) Drew (Brees) than most teams. I know we had a couple of penalties early in the game that slowed us down, but we just didn't make enough plays."

New Orleans enters the game with a hold on the No. 2 playoff position in the NFC and the first-round bye that goes with it. They trail clinched No. 1 seed Chicago (12-2) by three games, but would win a flat-footed tie with fellow 9-5 Dallas by virtue of a convincing 42-17 defeat of the Cowboys on Dec. 10.

West leader Seattle, now 8-6, enters Week 16 as the NFC's fourth seed.

SERIES HISTORY

The Giants hold a 14-9 edge in their all-time series against the Saints, including a 11-3 record at games played in its home facility. That total includes last year's 27-10 Giants win in Week 2, which was played in East Rutherford due to the destruction to the Superdome, but was designated as a Saints home game. New Orleans has a four-game losing streak at the Giants, with the franchise's last road win against the G-Men coming in 1996. New Orleans' last win in the series was a 45-7 rout at the Superdome in 2003, and its last road victory in the series took place in 1996.

Coughlin is 2-1 in his career against the Saints, including 1-0 since coming to the Giants. New Orleans' Sean Payton who served as offensive coordinator for the Giants from 1999 to 2002, will be meeting both Coughlin and his former employer for first time.

SAINTS OFFENSE VS. GIANTS DEFENSE

Powered by the re-energized Brees and his NFL-best 4,240 passing yards, the Saints lead the league with an average of 296 yards though the air per game - which results in their total offense number of 400.6 yards per week also leading the NFL.

The former Purdue quarterback has found success with a series of targets, some of which have emerged via injury troubles.

Reggie Bush leads with 84 catches - an all-time NFL best for rookie running backs - for 706 yards and two touchdowns, while fellow first-year man Marques Colston has 66 catches for a team-high 1,001 yards and seven scores.

Colston's ankle problems opened the door for former no-names Devery Henderson and Terrence Copper, who've combined for 51 catches, 1,103 yards and eight touchdowns, while lingering groin problems have troubled veteran Joe Horn, who has nonetheless managed 37 catches and 679 yards with four TDs.

Horn was listed as questionable on Wednesday's injury report, and missed practice.

McAllister remains the workhorse ball-carrying threat, and could reach 1,000 yards for the season if he can add 51 to his 14-game total of 949 yards on 217 attempts. McAllister has nine touchdowns on the ground, while Bush has also carried 132 times for 419 yards and four scores.

Defensively, the Giants will surely be augmented by the return of pass-rushing end Michael Strahan, who'd missed six straight games since spraining his right foot against the Houston Texans on Nov. 5.

Strahan practiced Wednesday for the first time since the injury, and was listed as questionable on the team's injury report. The Giants are 52-32-1 in games in which Strahan has at least one sack.

Without Strahan, the once-fearsome pass rush had stumbled, leaving the team just 28th in the league with an average of 232.9 air yards surrendered per game. New York is 11th in the league against the run (104.7 yards) and 20th overall in total yards, at 337.7 per game.

Mammoth Wake Forest product Fred Robbins leads the team with 5.5 sacks, while seven players are even with two interceptions apiece.

Fellow linemen Osi Umenyiora and rookie Mathias Kiwanuka have contributed as well, with the former picking up two sacks in the last game with the Saints and the latter racking up four sacks, two interceptions and two forced fumbles in eight career starts.

Linebacker Carlos Emmons had an interception in his last game against the Saints, and his teams are 4-1 in games where he's had at least one.

GIANTS OFFENSE VS. SAINTS DEFENSE

The Tiki Barber retirement watch enters its second-to-last regular-season week as the Giants prepare for eventual life without the dynamic running back who has run for 1,357 yards (second in the NFC) and caught 52 passes for 429 yards.

Powerful Brandon Jacobs, who will likely pick up the slack next season, has complemented his teammate with 398 yards on 90 carries and nine rushing touchdowns. He had a crucial fumble in the loss to the Eagles, however.

Meanwhile, quarterback Eli Manning has too often lapsed into deer-in-the- headlights mode as of late, throwing a pair of interceptions in the Philadelphia loss to raise his season total to 17, against 22 touchdowns.

The 22 TD passes, to be fair, are second in the NFC.

Target-wise, Plaxico Burress had nine touchdowns in 13 games played this season, and has racked up 907 receiving yards with 60 catches overall. He had six catches for 120 yards against the Eagles.

And since entering the NFL in 2002, the always-vocal Shockey is second among all tight ends with 312 catches for 3,612 yards.

Amani Toomer and Tim Carter make up the second tier after the Big 3 threats, combining for 51 catches, 590 yards and four touchdowns.

The Giants are ninth in the league in rushing yardage (129.4), 15th in passing (207.5) and 11th in total yardage (336.9).

The New Orleans defense, meanwhile, has been overshadowed by the prodigious offense.

The Saints are a solid fifth in the league defending the pass, allowing just 184.9 yards per game that, coupled with 133.5 per game on the ground (25th in the league), places the unit a respectable 12th overall at 318.7 yards surrendered par game.

Former Ohio State defensive end Will Smith has a team-high 10.5 sacks, while four players are tied for the team's high honors with two interceptions.

Defensive end Charles Grant has recorded a sack in six games this year, contests in which the Saints are 6-0.

One area in which the team has struggled is forcing turnovers, leading to a ratio of minus-5 for the season. And injury-wise, safety Omar Stoutmire, a former Giant, is listed as questionable with an ailing knee.

OVERALL ANALYSIS

The teams were regarded at opposite ends of the spectrum when the season began.

New Orleans was seen as a mid-level squad at best, with Brees coming off a shoulder problem that had greased the skids for his departure from San Diego and McAllister recovering from a knee injury that shelved him for the back half of 2005.

Meanwhile, the Giants were coming off a playoff berth in 2005 and figured to feast on a weaker East division with the star power of Barber and the emergence of Manning carrying the load.

Obviously, the reverse has happened thus far, or at least since the New York free fall began after Week 8. That said, the talent still remains on the Giants' side of the Meadowlands this week and, with Strahan returning, this one has all the making of a circle-the-wagons type effort for a pride-laden team.

As much as anything, make it a referendum on Coughlin's future.

Sportsbook Betting Lines Predicted Outcome: Giants 27, Saints 24