Alone on a Giant Island

I respect my colleagues' opinions. Picking all of the home teams is the safe and possibly smart way to pick, but I like being the devil's advocate. Sure, I could see all of the Higher Seeds winning comfortably, but I sense that the two NFC games could be close, if not upsets. I'm going to focus on the Giants/Cowboys game since that's the underdog that I picked. I know what you're saying, the Cowboys won both matchups this year, but let's take a closer look at both meetings. In Week 1, in Dallas, it was a shootout the entire game, and the 'Boys didn't pull away until Eli Manning got hurt in the 4th quarter. In the second game, Eli played like absolute garbage and the G-Men still only trailed by four midway through the 4th quarter. Well Eli has been playing lights out (as lights out as he's capable of) over the past month and he will be play much better in this contest. If he can limit his mistakes like he did last week against a better Tampa Bay Defense (No Interceptions) the Giants will be in great shape. In both games, Dallas was fully healthy at all the main skill positions. While T.O. tells us to get our popcorn ready because it's going to be a show for this game and insists that he will play, he's not going to be 100 percent. Without their main receiving threat, Dallas still has a lot of options, but it's tough to replace one of the most physical receivers in NFL history. Another X factor for New York is Brandon Jacobs. He wasn't fully healthy in either game. Week 1, he was out early on because of a knee injury and it caused him to miss 4 weeks of action. When he returned against the Cowboys in the second meeting, he wasn't at full strength. I see him being very effective on the ground as he has been when healthy this year. I don't think 110 yards and 2 Touchdowns is out of the question. Don't get me wrong, the Cowboys are the better team on paper, but the better team doesn't always win. I think the hotter team is going to pull this one out. I predict New York edges out Dallas this week 35-31.