{"id":376087,"date":"2026-10-18T04:55:03","date_gmt":"2026-10-18T04:55:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/376087\/"},"modified":"2026-10-18T04:55:03","modified_gmt":"2026-10-18T04:55:03","slug":"giants-happy-to-play-the-underdog-role-sportsbooks-keep-putting-them-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/376087\/","title":{"rendered":"Giants happy to play the underdog role sportsbooks keep putting them in"},"content":{"rendered":"

Even though the Giants hired John Harbaugh<\/a>, there were not many great expectations for how they would fare this season from outside the building.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Indeed, the Giants thus far have been favored in only one game \u2014 Week 3 vs. the Titans \u2014 even though they defy the odds on a near-weekly basis and at 3-1-1 are alone in first place in the NFC East heading into Sunday\u2019s home game with the Saints.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Saints are 1-4, with three consecutive losses in New Orleans, and yet the Giants are a 1.5-point underdog<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have a very good offensive team and we\u2019ll be challenged by this offense, but our guys are up to the task and we love playing at MetLife Stadium and being underdogs,\u2019\u2019 defensive coordinator Dennard Wilson said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Why is that?\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody counts us out,\u2019\u2019 Wilson said. \u201cWe like playing with a chip on our shoulder. That\u2019s what it is.\u2019\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Giants were also underdogs at home to the bottom-dwelling Cardinals. They are 4-1 against the point spread this season.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"NewNew York Giants wide receiver Malik Nabers (1) celebrates a touchdown with quarterback Jameis Winston (19) during the fourth quarter against the Washington Commanders at Northwest Stadium in Landover, Maryland, Sunday, Oct. 11, 2026. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect<\/p>\n

If Malik Nabers gets<\/a> at least four receptions, he will surpass Puka Nacua for the second-most receptions in his first 25 games in NFL history. Nacua had 159 catches in his first 25 games. Nabers has 156 in his first 24 games. Only Odell Beckham Jr. (176) had more receptions in his first 25 games.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jermaine Eluemunor (calf) is listed as questionable<\/a>. He has not missed a game this season at right tackle but he was forced out last week after 44 snaps, giving way to Marcus Mbow to play the last 45 snaps on offense in the 27-27 tie with the Commanders.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mbow, a 2025 fifth-round pick out of Purdue, started three games as a rookie (one at left tackle, two at right tackle) and worked with the starters this past week, which will be beneficial if he has to again sub in for Eluemunor.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"NewNew York Giants offensive tackle Marcus Mbow (71) participates in practice at the Quest Diagnostics Training Center in East Rutherford, N.J., Friday, Dec. 26, 2025. Robert Sabo for NY Post<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a lot more helpful because you\u2019re getting those reps during the week,\u2019\u2019 Mbow told The Post. \u201cYou\u2019re seeing the plays we\u2019re going to be running and getting to go through them and having less hesitation. There\u2019s definitely a lot more beneficial in situations like that, but I understand how it goes.\u2019\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n

J.J. McCarthy\u2019s arrival onto the field<\/a> last week was much ado about very little. He got in for five snaps as what offensive coordinator Matt Nagy called \u201ca change of pace\u2019\u2019 look for the opposing defense. McCarthy ran the ball twice for negligible returns [2 yards] and threw two passes that were wiped out by penalties. It sounds as if this specialized package is here to stay.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can\u2019t be predictable with it when we use him and when we\u2019re going to do it, but he needs to stay with it,\u2019\u2019 Nagy said. \u201cThat can be an advantage for us.\u2019\u2019 \u2026 The Giants usually activate three tight ends. With Theo Johnson (neck) out for this game, second-year Thomas Fidone is next on the depth chart. Fidone played 16 special teams snaps last week vs. the Commanders.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Even though the Giants hired John Harbaugh, there were not many great expectations for how they would fare…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":376088,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[9,2683,11,10,22,319],"class_list":["post-376087","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-giants","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-nfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376087","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=376087"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376087\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/376088"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=376087"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=376087"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=376087"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}