Thursday Night Football Prediction: What Can We Expect From Daniel Jones, Giants Tonight?
The New York Giants have been very unimpressive so far, as they lost 40-0 in Week 1 and were down 20-0 before completing an improbable comeback in Week 2. Can they carry the momentum over from that second half into tonight? Let's break it down.
Joey Ruiz - September 21, 2023, 2:16 PM EDT
7 minThursday Night Football Prediction: What Can We Expect From Daniel Jones, Giants Tonight?
There have not been a lot of positives for Daniel Jones and the New York Giants so far in this young season. Still, as bad as they were for the first six quarters, they rallied in the second half against the Arizona Cardinals to get the win and now sit at 1-1 and may have saved their playoff chances with that comeback.
Giants vs. 49ers Start Time, Where to Watch, and Odds
- Date: September 21, 2023
- Game Time: 8:15 pm ET
- Where to Watch: Prime Video
New York Giants vs. San Francisco 49ers Prediction
They face a completely different animal tonight, though, in the San Fransisco 49ers, who look like a well-oiled machine so far as they are 2-0 and have scored 30+ points in both games so far and would be 2-0 ATS if not for a questionable decision by the Los Angeles Rams to kick a meaningless field goal on the last play of the game.
Brock Purdy, Christian McCaffrey, Deebo Samuel, Brandon Aiyuk, and Kyle Shanahan have this 49ers offense COOKING, and George Kittle has yet to even get going, as he has had two lackluster games to this point. Christian McCaffrey has been the focal point of this offense, though, as he has logged 48 total touches and 304 total yards through two games and has looked as explosive as ever.
He has dealt with a lot of injuries in the past, and Head Coach Shanahan has mentioned getting Elijah Mitchell a bit more involved going forward to avoid burning CMC out too early and making sure he is fresh towards the end of the season and for the playoffs so that is also something to look out for in this game.
This is a tough game to handicap because the Giants have looked like one of the worst teams in the NFL, and the 49ers have looked like one of the best teams in the league, but San Francisco has not played the toughest schedule to this point as they beat the Steelers and the Rams and neither are really expected to make much noise this year.
Then, on the flip side, the Giants had to face one of the best defenses in the league in the Cowboys but were noncompetitive as they lost 40-0. Then they followed that up by being down three touchdowns to the presumed worst team in the league, the Cardinals, but looked like a Super Bowl-type team in the second half as they scored 31 points in a miraculous comeback win.
I am going to be the one to go against the grain here and say we finally get a good effort for 60 minutes from the Giants this week. I know it's a short week, and they are on the road, but they are professionals and were expected to be a solid football team this year, which they showed in the second half of Week 2 against Arizona.
I think the Giants should be able to parlay some of that second-half momentum into a strong first-half performance tonight against San Fransisco, who has actually struggled a bit in the opening half of these types of games in the past. Last week against the Rams is a good example, as the Niners were down 17-10 late in the second quarter before they scored a touchdown on the last play of the half to go into the break tied at 17.
The Giants also have a history of playing up in games like this, as they went into Dallas last year as 10-point underdogs and actually led at halftime 13-7 before losing 28-20. In the week prior to that game, they had lost by double digits to the Lions as 3-point favorites and followed that up with an impressive performance on the road as 10-point dogs in Dallas. The circumstances surrounding tonight's game are eerily similar to that two-week stretch, as the Giants are coming off an uninspiring performance against a bottom-feeding Cardinals group and now have to go on the road as double-digit favorites.
I think we see a great effort from the Giants tonight in at least the first half, so with that being said, I am rolling with Giants 1H +7 at -105 for 1u as my most confident NFL Play of the Day for tonight's action.
New York Giants vs. San Francisco 49ers Pick
1u Giants 1H +7 -105 is currently the best odds. Click here to see which sportsbook has the best odds for this pick
NFL Odds
