NFL Pick: New York Giants vs New York Jets 8/14/21 NFL Picks, Odds, Predictions

The New York Giants and the New York Jets meet in week 1 NFL preseason action from MetLife Stadium in the Meadowlands on Saturday.

The New York Jets will look to bounce back in 2021 after a frustrating 2020 season that saw the Jets finish 2-14, their worst mark since 1996, which led to New York getting the #2 overall pick and drafting QB Zach Wilson as the new face of the franchise and the first quarterback in the Robert Saleh era as head coach of the Jets. The key to any sort of forward progress this season will be centered around making Wilson more comfortable and putting him in a position to succeed. The Jets brought in Mike LaFleur as offensive coordinator, bringing in the same sort of style that Wilson played under at BYU but the line has to be better outside of Mekhi Becton who had a great rookie season. The Jets brought in Corey Davis via free agency to bolster the receiving corps that has a potential stud in Denzel Mims while Elijah Moore and tight end Chris Herndon could end up being factors as well. Jamison Crowder is also in the mix as well at wideout. Tevin Coleman also comes in via free agency and has a history with LaFleur from his time in San Francisco and can anchor La’Mical Perine as a solid 1-2 punch or can take over if Perine doesn’t cut the mustard early on. Defensively, Saleh’s first defensive unit shows some promise over last year’s bunch, with the Jets signing Carl Lawson to put him alongside Quinnen Williams up front. C.J. Mosley is back after opting out of the 2020 season and his return will be massive for the Jets at linebacker, which is key considering that the Jets didn’t find a solution for their issues in the secondary this past offseason. It will be a young secondary with the likes of Bryce Hall, Bless Austin and Michael Carter II but there’s no sure thing in the secondary which could become an issue down the road. The only sure thing in the secondary though was Marcus Maye and is one of the league’s top safeties entering a contract year which could be big for the Jets who will need Maye to be strong alongside Ashtyn Davis at the other safety spot. As a team, New York averaged 15.2 PPG while allowing 28.6 PPG last season.

The New York Giants will try to turn things around in 2021 as well, after finishing the 2020 campaign with a record of 6-10 under first year head coach Joe Judge, making it six double-digit loss totals in the last seven seasons. The Giants are looking primed and ready to make some noise in the NFC East this year though after doing some spending in free agency. Daniel Jones had it rough last year, losing Saquon Barkley from the backfield due to a torn ACL in week 2, but Barkley’s back and now it’s just about staying healthy. The options are there for Jones to put up or shut up, the signing of Kenny Golladay gives the Giants a legitimate #1 receiver while Sterling Shepard will continue to get his share of looks and Darius Slayton will continue to be the deep home run threat. If that wasn’t enough for you, the Giants also drafted Florida WR Kadarius Toney who is a big play threat every snap he’s on the field. The Giants also got John Ross III, another speedster to add to the chaos and the Giants still have their pro bowl tight end Evan Engram but now also have another option at tight end in Kyle Rudolph. Defensively, Leonard Williams started to shine under Patrick Graham, and re-signing Williams was big for the Giants as a team, not only in the pass rush department. The Jets got a steal in the draft when Georgia edge rusher AzeezOjulari fell to them in the second round and could fit in well alongside Williams and the yet to be mentioned Dexter Lawrence II who has yet to really break out for the Giants. The only continuity the Giants have in the secondary is the return of James Blackberry, but the G-Men mitigated that by signing Adoree’ Jackson to be a key cog in that Jets secondary and it could end up being one of the biggest deals of the offseason if the Giants take that big step forward. As a team, New York averaged 17.5 PPG while allowing 22.3 PPG last season.

The Jets are 2-6 ATS in their last 8 road games and 0-3-2 ATS in their last 5 Saturday games while the under is 9-4 in their last 13 games as an underdog. The Giants are 4-0 ATS in their last 4 Saturday games and 6-17-1 ATS in their last 24 home games while the under is 13-3 in their last 16 games overall.

These New York inter-conference games can be tricky but I don’t think we have to overthink this one. The Jets are going to be bad again this season and I don’t think we have to wait until the regular season to see that. The Giants at least have some depth and are getting some guys back and simply have the better backups in my opinion. I’ll lay the points with the Giants in this one.