These are two teams falling on hard times as the Falcons have lost 3 of their last 4 games while the Giants have lost four in a row.  The problem for both teams have been defense recently as the Falcons have allowed 117 points in the last 4 weeks while the Giants have allowed 133 points the last four games.  So this should be a high scoring game in which the team with the ball last could be the winner.  The Falcons will likely come out throwing the ball due to the injury to Michael Turner which will likely cause him to miss this game.  That means that Matt Ryan will have to pick up his play against a Giants’ D that is only allowing 168.0 yards passing per game.  Look for Ryan to challenge the Giants short with Tony Gonzalez and deep often with Roddy White.  The Falcons will also run the ball some with Jason Snelling and Jerious Norwood (if he’s healthy enough to play) against a Giants’ D that is allowing 104.3 yards rushing and 4.5 yards per carry so far this year.

The Giants will likely come out running the ball with Brandon Jacobs and Ahmad Bradshaw against a Falcons’ D that is allowing 130.3 yards rushing per game and 4.6 yards per carry.  That should set up Eli Manning with play action passing to his talented trio of WRs in Steve Smith, Mario Manningham and Hakeem Nicks.  The Falcons are allowing 240.7 yards passing per game this season so don’t look for much of a fight out of them when Eli Manning drops back to pass.

PREDICTION:  GIANTS 38, FALCONS 28

The New York Giants (5-3) have now lost three straight games after opening the season 5-0.  They don’t have an easy opponent in the San Diego Chargers (4-3) so they are in danger of losing four in a row.  Eli Manning really needs to step his game up, as he is one of the main reason the Giants have been playing so bad lately.  Eli has thrown six interceptions in his last three games, and if the Giants want to win this game Eli has to stop turning the ball over.  Brandon Jacobs has yet to have a 100 yard game this season, but he may have his chance in this one as the Chargers give up 132 rushing yards per game.

The Giants defense will have a big challenge in this one.  The Chargers have a very talented offense and their quarterback Drew Brees has the confidence and ability to put up some huge numbers.  He is prone to forcing the ball at times though, so if the Giants can get a lot of pressure on him he may throw a pick or two.  They also have to worry about the two-headed running attack of LaDainian Tomlinson and Darren Sproles, who are averaging 3.4 yards per carry and have combined for four rushing touchdowns.  If the Giants continue like they have played lately, they wont have a chance.  I expect them to come out ready to play though and Eli should be able to bounce back.  I still see them falling just short to the Chargers and their offense.

FINAL SCORE PREDICTION:  San Diego Chargers 31, New York Giants 30

Just like the Yankees, the New York Giants (5-2) are on the road against a Philadelphia team, as they take on the Philadelphia Eagles (4-2) Sunday.  This should be a good match-up, as it is two good teams with two good quarterbacks facing off.  Eli Manning needs to play much better than he did last week, as he threw three interceptions in their loss to Arizona.  Philly has a strong defense, but they have been inconsistent at times so Eli could make some big plays down the field, he just needs to make sure he takes care of the ball.  Brandon Jacobs and Ahmad Bradshaw should be effective against the Eagles’ run-defense that gives up 97 rushing yards per game.

The Giants defense needs to try and stop the Donovan McNabb-DeSean Jackson combo.  Johnson is battling a foot injury, but it doesn’t look like it will slow him down too much as he has practiced fully the last two days.  He has 21 catches for 423 yards this season, which is a 20 yard average, so he is a big play receiver.  If they can limit the big plays, then they should be able to win the game, especially since the Eagles running game has been struggling lately.  This will be a close game, but I think the Giants will pull out a late win.

FINAL SCORE PREDICTION:  New York Giants 30, Philadelphia Eagles 28

The New York Giants (5-1) are coming off their worst game of the year and are trying to bounce back this week against the Arizona Cardinals (3-2) at home Sunday.  The Giants, who have one of the best defenses in the league, gave up 368 passing yards and four touchdowns to Drew Brees last week.  The are facing another talented quarterback with Kurt Warner and he has one of the best targets to throw to in Larry Fitzgerald.  The Giants need a much better effort from their pass-defense in this game and they say they are going to blitz a lot more than they did last week.  If their blitz is not effective, Warner will eat up the secondary.

The Cardinals don’t have much of a running game, so the Giants can key in on stopping Warner and the passing game.  I’m expecting Eli Manning to have a much better game this week.  He has been hurting from plantar fasciitis, but another week has passed for it to heal so I think he will have a much better game than the previous two.  The Cardinals give up 265 passing yards per game too, so Eli should not have a problem with their secondary.  These are two very good offenses going in this matchup, but with the Giants having the better defense I think they will win a close, hard fought game.

FINAL SCORE PREDICTION:  Arizona Cardinals 30, New York Giants 35

Both of these teams are undefeated coming into this game as the Giants are 5-0 while the Saints are 4-0.  These teams are very similar in style so this should be a great game to watch on Sunday.  Eli Manning didn’t finish what he started against the Raiders last Sunday as he sat out the 2nd half to rest his injured foot.  They will likely need him to play the whole game on Sunday if the Giants are to win this game.  The Saints are only allowing 83.3 yards rushing per game and 3.7 yards per carry but they have not played a team with near the caliber of running game that will face them on Sunday.  Brandon Jacobs (355 yards rushing) and Ahmad Bradshaw (375 yards rushing) will be banging away against the Saints’ D who better bring their A-game.  The Saints will be blitzing a lot in this game as they have 10 sacks this season but Giants’ QBs have only been sacked 4 times this season.  If the Saints can’t get to Manning they will be in some trouble as he has three quality WRs in Steve Smith, Mario Manningham and Hakeem Nicks.  The Saints’ D has 10 interceptions already this season and opposing QBs have a 51.3 Rating!

The Saints have moved away from just letting Drew Brees throw all of the time.  They actually look a lot like the Giants on offense.  The Giants are allowing 105.8 yards rushing per game and 4.8 yards per carry so look for the Saints to attack them on the ground with Pierre Thomas, Mike Bell and Reggie Bush.  If the Saints can get a running game going that will slow the Giants’ pass rush a bit as they have 14 sacks already this year.  The Saints’ O-Line has been fantastic this season as they only have given up 4 sacks so it will be interesting to see if the Giants will get near Drew Brees.  If he has time to throw the ball WRs Devery Henderson and Marques Colston could get deep.  But the matchup to really watch is TE Jeremy Shockey against his old team.

PREDICTION:  SAINTS 24, GIANTS 20