The New York Giants will head on the road to play the Atlanta Falcons in Week 16, riding a nine-game losing streak and hoping to get a win against an underachieving Falcons team.
The Giants opened up as double-digit road underdogs in Atlanta early this week and have major injury issues on both sides of the ball.
Meanwhile, the Falcons snapped a four-game losing streak on Monday night against the Las Vegas Raiders.
Here are three reasons for optimism ahead of Sunday’s matchup.
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Falcons’ last five games
Sure, the Falcons snapped a four-game losing streak on Monday night. However, Atlanta nearly choked the game away at the end against a poor Las Vegas Raiders team. A loss would have put them at five straight losses. They didn’t look good on Monday night against a team with talent comparable to the Giants right now.
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Short rest for Atlanta
The Falcons will be on a short rest on Sunday as they played on Monday night. The change at quarterback is interesting given the quick turnaround time for Atlanta between Week 15 and Week 16.
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A rookie quarterback
The Giants will face off against a quarterback they passed on in the 2024 NFL draft when Michael Penix Jr. gets his first start on Sunday. Certainly, the Giants’ defense has not been good this year and has gotten worse with all the injuries. However, given that this is Penix’s first start of his career, the defense should look to force him into some bad decisions Sunday and possibly come up with a few takeaways.
