Tonight we have two Monday night games in honor of NFL Kickoff weekend. Moshe Football will preview both.
New York Giants at Detroit Lions
Tom Coughlin and the Giants visit brand new Detroit coach Jim Caldwell. After Jim Schwartz was fired last year for another dismissal season with a very talented team. Detroit has offensive passing and rushing on their side. Reggie Bush re-surged his career last year rushing for over 1,000 yards. Calvin Johnson Jr. and Matthew Stafford had a great connection. Johnson had almost 1,500 yards. However, that seemed too one dimensional last year at times. Schwartz was a a defensive minded coach but Jim Caldwell has a back round in offense. It'll be interesting to see the Stafford/Johnson dynamic with a true offensive minded head coach behind them.
On the Giants side of things, Eli Manning led the team to a 7-9 season, but they first went 0-6 at the beginning. Maybe that strong finish can carry over to the start of the season. But probably not as recent trends for the Giants has been to start of the season poorly to mediocre and end the season strong.
Prediction: Lions 31, Giants 24
San Diego Chargers at Arizona Cardinals
San Diego went 9-7 last year and took the 6th seed in the AFC playoffs, becoming the third team out of the AFC West to enter the playoffs. The Arizona Cardinals from the NFC West were not as lucky. At 10-6 they were probably the best team in the league to not make the playoffs. Many people have questioned Palmer as a starting QB but with 4,274 yards receiving he was pretty decent. It was Michael Floyd, and not Larry Fitzgerald who got the chunk of those receiving yards with 1,041 yards. Bruce Arians has done a great job with this team and they can realistically win the NFC West.
The Chargers strong finish last season included a a playoff win over the Bengals but ended in a loss to division rivals Broncos. The Chargers unfortunately are not good enough to dethrone the Broncos from the AFC West Division rival. These are the games they will need to win for a good enough wildcard record.
Prediction: Cardinals 21-14
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