NFL Week 11 Betting: Are Philadelphia Eagles Overvalued vs. New York Giants?

In the wake of the Philadelphia Eagles' 59-28 demolition of the Washington Redskins, Michael Vick and the Eagles are getting a ton of hype. And while both Vick and the Eagles have earned some recognition, they are getting perhaps a little more of it than they have earned. That means oddsmakers will be able to set pretty much any line that they want and expect a good chunk of the public to bet on the Eagles regardless.

First of all, look at who Vick has played so far. He has a win against Washington, started but did not finish in a loss to Washington, a loss to Green Bay, a win against Detroit, a win against Jacksonville and a win against Indianapolis.

That means he has started twice against Washington’s league-worst defense in total yards, had soft starts against Jacksonville (28th) and Detroit (21st) and faced the middling Indianapolis (18th) and Green Bay (12th) defenses.

Vick has had it easy so far, but that will change this weekend when he faces the best defense in yards per game, the New York Giants.

Right now, the NFL betting odds have the Eagles as three-point favorites at home, but paying just -130. They play against a Giants team that should be very focused after falling to the Dallas Cowboys in Week 10.

The Eagles swept the season series last year, but that was with a different quarterback running the offense. Vick is certainly a better quarterback than Donovan McNabb is right now, but McNabb knew how to beat the Giants defense. We don’t know about Vick yet.

Last year's Giants defense wasn't playing nearly as well as this year's Giants defense making any trend from last year pretty much useless.

Philadelphia’s rushing defense is average, giving up 104.0 yards per game. Going against the Giants’ top-ranked running attack average is not going to be good enough. Expect the Giants to have success running the ball and eating up the clock to keep the ball out of Vick’s hands.

Finally, the Eagles are playing on a short week and that is going to work against them. It’s not as bad as playing a Thursday game, but it will still be a factor.

Are the Giants going to beat the Eagles this weekend? I don’t know. But all of the value is on the Giants’ side which is who you should be backing this weekend.