Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Vegas Play of the Day: Houston Texans at New York Giants

Bengals Texans

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Houston Texans defensive end J.J. Watt takes the field before an NFL wild card playoff football game against the Cincinnati Bengals Saturday, Jan. 5, 2013, in Houston.

Happy NFL Sunday.

Let’s celebrate, as usual, with a Play of the Day, which uses odds from the South Point and starting $10,000 bankrolls.

New York Giants plus-1 vs. Houston Texans: $880 to win $800

When I filed all of my NFL picks against the spread earlier this week, I listed the Giants as my third-favorite bet. I’ve regretted it ever since.

New York is the best bet on the board, which is why I’m breaking the disciplined bankroll management I’ve displayed to this point in the contest to make an abnormally large wager. This is a terrific spot for the Giants.

They were quietly effective last week, outgaining the Cardinals by 75 yards in a 25-14 loss. Turnovers were the problem, as New York lost four while getting no takeaways of its own.

The team’s one strength so far is stopping the run, which is all the Texans are capable of doing. They’ve been extremely hesitant to air it out during their 2-0 start, which makes sense considering Ryan Fitzpatrick is at quarterback.

Houston had two extremely favorable matchups, at home against Washington and at Oakland, in its first two weeks but didn’t look like juggernauts. It was actually outgained in both contests.

Don’t forget, this is still the core of a team that went 2-14 a year ago. Houston is vastly improved — I picked them to win the AFC South — but not enough to give points on the road against anyone other than the true bottom-feeders of the NFL.

The Giants have looked awful, but I’m not ready to group them among that category yet.

Standings: Bern (46-37-1, $12,731), Keefer (42-44, $10,261), Brewer (37-45-3, $4,625)

Case Keefer can be reached at 948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.

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