Aside from winning at Carolina in the divisional round of last season’s NFL playoffs, Arizona (3-2, SU&ATS) doesn’t have too many recent positive experiences with traveling to the East Coast. Even in making a Super Bowl run last season, the Cardinals had their wings clipped in visits to New England, Philadelphia, the New York Jets, Carolina and Washington, losing all five games by an average of 19.9 points. A trip east to Jacksonville earlier this year went well, winning 31-17 as a three point underdog.

The defending NFC champs have won back-to-back games for the first time in 2009 after submerging Seattle 27-3 and are riding a three-game ATS road winning streak. Last week’s slaughter of the Seahawks did nothing to prepare Arizona for what awaits at the Meadowlands this Sunday. The Giants, one of Kurt Warner’s former teams, have never been kind as an opponent. In six games they’ve sacked him 18 times, and even after last week’s 48-27 thumping in New Orleans their defense still ranks among the NFL’s best.

Despite a season-ending knee injury to safety Kenny Phillips, and the absence of cornerback Aaron Ross for the first six games due to a hamstring injury, teams were averaging an unbelievable 104.8 yards per game passing before New Orleans. Drew Brees threw for 369 yards and four scores, so Warner represents a critical test for Big Blue. The saving grace is the fact that the Cardinals are a one-dimensional offense

The Giants are 2-0 at home this year, outscoring opponents 33.5-12.0, and are on a 13-4 ATS run as chalk. The Giants bring one of the most balanced offensive attacks to the table, and that could be a problem for an Arizona defense currently ranked No. 1 stopping the run (59.6 yards per game), but dead last against the pass (273.2). Eli Manning’s receivers have proven to be quick studies and actually have more big plays than Arizona’s much-discussed duo of Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin. The offense has completed 24 passes of more than 20 yards, and Manning has thrown just three interceptions in 166 attempts.

Quarterback protection has been a major issue in the Cardinals two losses, as they’ve allowed seven sacks. In three wins, Warner has been dropped just four times. Since the start of this century, the Giants have dominated the series, posting a 6-2 mark in eight meetings (4-4 ATS), and own a lopsided 79-41-2 all-time edge. The road team is on a 6-3 ATS run in the last nine games and Under the total has converted in six of the last eight.

Line – New York -7 (Courtesy of Sportsbook.com)
Total – 46.5

Team Trends
The Cardinals are 11-1 ATS vs. good passing teams averaging seven or more yards per attempt.
The Cardinals are 21-7 ATS when playing against team with .750 or higher win percentage.
The Giants are 14-5 ATS when playing against a team with a winning record over the last three years.
The Giants are 15-2 ATS vs. good passing teams with a completion percent of 61 percent or better.
 
Team Totals
The Cardinals are 17-4 OVER after scoring 25 points or more in two straight games.
The Giants are 14-4 OVER in home games off a road blowout loss by 14 points or more.

Sunday Night Trends
The Cardinals are 4-14 ATS and 1-8 ATS as road underdogs.
The Giants are 18-15 ATS and 5-4 ATS as home favorites.
Home teams are 4-12 ATS after losing by 14 or more points.

StatFox Guest Expert  – Rocky Atkinson of Rocketman Sports

The New York Giants are coming off their first loss of the season at New Orleans last week in a game where their defense was torched for 48 points and nearly 500 yards of total offense. It doesn’t get any easier this week going up against Kurt Warner and the Arizona Cardinals’ potent passing attack. After starting the season 1-2, Arizona has won back to back games against Houston and Seattle to put them at 3-2 SU and 3-2 ATS. The Giants meanwhile had been a covering machine before last weekend’s beat down and they are now 4-1-1 ATS and 5-1 SU. New York is also 17-5 ATS versus a team with a winning record in their last 22 and 6-2-1 ATS in their last nine home games.

Arizona struggled in their first three games but put up 27 and 28 points in their last two games. They haven’t been as explosive as they were a year ago, averaging just 22.4 points a game. The passing attack with Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin has still been solid but the Cardinals despite drafting Chris “Beanie” Wells in the first round has had virtually no run game whatsoever as they are averaging just 57.6 yards per game on the ground. The duo of Wells and Tim Hightower will have to establish the run in order to keep the Giants’ attacking defense from teeing off on Warner. Another concern is the health of Anquan Boldin as he listed as questionable for Sunday’s game. New York’s defense has been spectacular against opposing teams’ passing games and if Boldin can’t go, there will be one less weapon for the defense to worry about.

Defensively, the Cardinals have been poor against the pass which may give Eli Manning an ample opportunity to find Steve Smith and Mario Manningham deep down the field.  Manning has done an extremely good job leading this offense thus far this season. He has thrown for nearly 1,400 yards and 11 touchdowns against just three interceptions. The Giants can also pound the rock with Brandon Jacobs and Ahmad Bradshaw. Rushing might be difficult against an Arizona run defense that is allowing just 59.6 yards rushing per game. This game may be put in the hands of the quarterbacks and it should be exciting to see Kurt Warner and Eli Manning go head-to-head.

In order to win this game, the Arizona secondary has got to play better than they have in the first five games of the season. They are giving up 265.2 yards passing per game and if they can’t find a way to stop the Giants wide receivers from finding holes in the defense it could be a long day. The key to this game for Arizona will be to pressure Eli Manning in order to prevent him from going through his progressions to find open receivers. If Manning has time, he is certainly capable of picking apart the back end of this Arizona defense.

NY Giants are 31-12 SU and ATS in all games the past three years. I'm looking for the NY Giants to take it to Arizona here tonight.  I'll recommend a small play on the NY Giants.  Thanks and good luck, Rocky
 
Sports Advisors-

The past two NFC champions collide at the Meadowlands when the Cardinals make the long trip to the East Coast to take on the Giants in a prime-time showdown.

New York was dealt its first loss of the year in blowout fashion last week, falling to New Orleans 48-27 as a 3½-point underdog. Eli Manning had his worst outing of the season (14 of 31, 178 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT, 1 lost fumble), but New York’s defense was the bigger issue, getting pushed around after allowing 17 points or less in four of its first five games. The Giants are averaging 402 ypg (sixth), including 147.7 on the ground (fifth), while scoring 29.7 ppg (third) and allowing 19.8 ppg (17th).

Arizona ripped Seattle 27-3 as a three-point road underdog last week for its second straight win and cover. The Cardinals haven’t run the ball well at all, as they are tied for last in the league with the Chargers at a paltry 57.6 rushing ypg, but Kurt Warner has the passing game clicking off 280.2 ypg, which is No. 1 in the NFC and fifth overall. Arizona’s defense yields 324.8 ypg (17th) but just 18.4 ppg (eighth).

New York has won and covered the last two clashes in this rivalry, including a 37-29 road victory last November as a three-point favorite. Prior to that, Arizona had won and covered three straight meetings.

Despite last week’s meltdown in New Orleans, the Giants are on nothing but positive pointspread runs, including 33-17-1 overall, 6-2-1 at home, 7-1-1 after a non-cover, 7-2-1 after a SU loss, 17-5 against winning teams, 18-7 as a favorite and 7-2 as a non-division home chalk. The Cardinals are also on a bundle of spread-covering streaks, including 8-2 overall, 6-2 on the highway, 6-0 in October, 5-0 as a ‘dog and 5-1 against the NFC. However, Arizona is in a 11-23 ATS freefall as a non-division road pup.

The over for New York is on stretches of 4-1-1 overall and 11-5-1 at the Meadowlands, and the over for Arizona is on surges of 39-17 on the road, 16-5 in October, 40-14 with the Cards as a ‘dog and 20-8 against winning teams. However, the under has hit in four of Arizona’s first five games this year, including the last three in row.

Finally, last year’s meeting between these teams sailed over the posted price of 48, but the total has still stayed low in six of the last eight clashes overall.

ATS ADVANTAGE:  N.Y. GIANTS and OVER

Sports Advisors opinion is from the their website www.sportsadvisors.com 

Game Preview by College and Pro Football Newsweekly and Steve Makinen of StatFox.