Week 4 of the NFL 2024 season opens up as always in the Thursday Night Football which this week takes us to the MetLife Stadium for the NFC East clash between the New York Giants and the Dallas Cowboys as this historic rivalry continues.
This is a big match for both teams too with them both 1-2 for the season and already letting the other two teams in the division get away from them. The loser here will be under plenty of pressure while the winner gets to 2-2 and can spend the long week assessing with something to build on.
New York Giants
There wasn’t a whole lot of expectation around the New York Giants heading into the season. A lot of that was down to the fact that Saquon Barkley had left and there was a bit of a skeleton feel to the offense. I don’t think anyone going into the season thought that Daniel Jones was the answer at quarterback and the opening week blowout against the Minnesota Vikings would have done nothing to change the mind of those who thought that to be the case.
To be fair, although they have only gone 1-1 since then, they could easily have won both matches as an unfortunate injury to their kicker probably denied them the win over Washington in week two before they went to Cleveland and came away with the victory last week. That will offer up some encouragement as they return home on a short week and if the Giants continue their improvement offensively they will fancy their chances as their defence has looked very good in the last couple of weeks.
Special Offer
Sign up for a Boylesports account and bet £10 to get up to £20 in free bets! Perfect offer for the NFL! Click the image below for this great offer! New accounts only. 18+ T&Cs apply. Gamble Aware.
Dallas Cowboys
There is always a lot of talk and scrutiny around the Dallas Cowboys heading into any season and this term was no different. Dak Prescott and the late resolving of his contract dispute was always going to be an issue but to be fair to the Cowboys they put that behind them with what looked like a statement win over the Cleveland Browns in their opening game of the campaign. It turns out that wasn’t quite the win people thought with the Browns looking ordinary since then.
The Cowboys have been no better since then as they have been shredded by the New Orleans Saints and the Baltimore Ravens, although the scoreline would suggest the match against Baltimore was much closer than it actually was. The inability to stop any sort of offense is a massive concern for the Cowboys but their run defence has looked pathetic and on a short week having had to tackle Derrick Henry for four quarters last week you wonder how much juice will be left in the tank of the defence. If Dallas are going to win this match it might need to be their offense which does it.
Betting
As ever in a Thursday night I’m not massively keen on getting involved in the match betting here. I guess the value lies with the New York Giants not just because they are at home but their defence is functioning much the better of the two but this is a team who find weird ways to lose. I was going to look at the over given that the Dallas defence doesn’t look like it has shown up this season but there is rain in the forecast so that leaves me siding with a player bet.
That comes in the rushing yards of Devin Singletary. The running back has a line of 59.5 yards which feels a little on the low side when you consider that the Dallas defence has been gashed by the run in the last couple of weeks. You then have to put into the equation that on a short week that defence is likely to gas at some point so I fully expect the main Giants back to clear this line. The only way it doesn’t is if Dallas fly into a big lead but the New York defence is playing well enough to keep them close for the length of time needed for Singletary to get to 60 yards.
Tips
Back D.Singletary – Over 59.5 rushing yards for a 3/10 stake at 1.80 with Unibet
