Saquon Barkley wants to be the NFL’s highest-paid running back, and he is coming off his heaviest workload of the season, 35 carries, last week in a win over the Houston Texans. When he plays Sunday against the Detroit Lions, he can expect a similar amount of rushes, since most of New York’s receiving 메이저사이트 corps is injured.

Barkley rushed for 152 yards last week, easily surpassing his over/under for rushing yards, which has never been set above 100 yards in nine games this season. Those 152 yards came against Houston’s NFL- worst rushing defense, and this week he goes against a Detroit Lions team that has the second-worst rushing defense.

The Giants are again a low point-spread favorite against a far weaker opponent. Three quarters of the wagers and 76% of the handle at DraftKings Sportsbook are coming in on New York to cover the 3-point spread against Detroit. The Lions enter this game with a 3-6 record, but have won two in a row against NFC North Division opponents Green Bay and Chicago.

The Lions allowed 258 rushing yards against Chicago, yet still rallied with three fourth-quarter touchdowns in a 31-30 victory. That win snapped a 13-game road losing streak and gave them their first back-to-back wins since October, 2020. So while the Lions are far from .500, the Giants would be ill-advised to take lightly the weakest opponent on their remaining schedule.

Props to the Lions’ social media staff for coming up with those clips, which date back to 2017, when Eli Manning was quarterbacking the Giants and Barkley was a senior at Penn State.

Now in his fifth season, Barkley is second in the NFL in rushing yardage with 931, trailing Tennessee’s Derrick Henry by 79 yards. Henry had just 87 against the Packers on Thursday night, so Barkley can take over the league lead if he reaches his average of 103.4 yards per game. With his over/under set at 98 1/2, that is probably a good place for Giants bettors to start with their player props when making their wagers on this Sunday’s 1 p.m. start.

Will Anyone Be Watching?

This could be one of the least-viewed Giants games of the season. That’s since it is going up against the Jets-Patriots game that we previewed yesterday with an anecdote about your garden variety Jets fan.  Both the Giants and Jets have plenty at stake. But Gang Green’s road game to try to end a 13-game losing streak against Bill Belichick is far more tantalizing.

But because the Giants cannot help themselves from playing close games, this one is probably worth keeping on a split screen at home. Or better yet, being watched at a pubic watering hole with multiple televisions and multiple spectators, many of whom will be in-game gambling now that the nine sportsbooks licensed in New York are pushing that option harder than they ever have … although one of those books is taking a curious approach to courting Giants fans by posting this to their Twitter account Saturday