NFL Week 5 Betting: Giants vs. Panthers Odds & Picks

The New York Giants will travel to take on the Carolina Panthers in a Sunday afternoon matchup. The Giants have been struggling this year thus far en route to a 1-3 record. The Panthers, on the other hand, have been getting the job done with a record of 2-1.

The Panthers look to be fresh coming off a bye and the Giants have not had their bye week yet. This is setting up to be a very hotly contested game between two teams that are looking to make the playoffs. To open the betting, the Panthers are projected to win by seven points.

WHO WILL WIN THE GAME?	SPREAD	MONEYLINE
New York Giants	+7 (-115)	+250
Carolina Panthers	-7 (-105)	-300

Giants Starving for Win

The Giants have struggled to open the 2018 season. They have gone 1-3 and after having workhorse Saquon Barkley come in as the number two pick in the draft, expectations were high. Barkley has performed like the Giants wanted him to but the rest of the team has vastly underperformed to expectations. The Giants have scored 18.3 points a game this year, but they allow 23.8 points a game.

Their defense hasn’t been awful this year but it has struggled at key moments in games. They allow 363 yards a game while gaining 346 offensive yards. Evan with Barkley, the Giants run for just 82 yards a game. Barkley has run for 260 yards on 56 carries which is good for a 4.6 yards per carry average. He has scored three times and also has 27 receptions through four games.

Barkley set the running back record with 14 catches in a loss against the Dallas Cowboys. Eli Manning hasn’t had a great year this year because of all the pressure that he has faced but he has still thrown for 1,055 yards and four touchdowns against just one interception. Odell Beckham leads the team in catches with 31 receptions but he has not found the end zone yet this year. This could all change in this game as he is looking to get going.

Panthers Seeking Third Win

The Panthers have been a very solid team this year as their only loss came to the Falcons in a 31-24 game. They have been the same on both sides of the ball. They have scored an average of 23.7 points a game while giving up 20 points a game.

On defense, the Panthers have allowed 375 yards a game while the offense gains 381 yards a game. Cam Newton is the trigger man for the offense. He can make plays with his arm and his legs and does that very well. Newton has thrown for 646 yards this year on 64-of-95 passing and five of those completions have been for touchdowns. Newton has run the ball for 136 yards this year along with three touchdowns.

Carolina doesn’t have to throw the ball that much because they run it so effectively. Lead running back Christian McCaffrey has run the ball for 271 yards on 46 carries. No receiver on the team has over 185 receiving through the first three games.

Carolina Tops the Giants

The Panthers have the upper hand in this one. They are coming off of a bye week and they have been performing well. They can mix it up enough to keep the Giants defense off balance. The question for this game is whether or not Saquon Barkley is finally going to have his breakout game.

If he does, the Giants could have a chance to win the game. But if he doesn’t, the Giants are going to struggle to get anything going against this Panthers defense. Newton is a great commodity to have and he is going to end up leading the Panthers to a win. Take the Panthers -7.