NFL Week 5 Betting – 49ers Look for Answers vs. NYG

San Francisco 49ers at NY Giants (-6.5, 43 o/u)

Despite holding fourth-quarter leads in both games, the NY Giants (2-2, 1-1 Home) started the season 0-2. The team has rebounded with back-to-back wins, though, and thanks to a struggling and injury-filled NFC East, are now tied for the division lead. The Giants will have a great chance to climb above .500 for the first time this year when they host the anemic San Francisco 49ers (1-3, 0-2 Away) at Metlife Stadium on Sunday Night Football (8:30 PM Eastern).

Even when his team was winless through two weeks, Giants head coach Tom Coughlin remained confident in his squad. “I didn’t think we were an 0-2 team,” the aging coach told the Associated Press. “We needed to do something about it. So we tried to inspire our guys to believe in themselves and come together as a team, to play the four quarters.”

Since their 0-2 start, the Giants have downed the Redskins (32-21) and Bills (24-10). Quarterback Eli Manning, who really struggled with turnovers last year, has been much better protecting the ball this year. He tossed his first pick of the season last week, but it was dwarfed by his three touchdown passes. The two-time Super Bowl champ has completed 62.9-percent of his passes on the year, posting a solid 96.4 passer rating.

This weekend, Eli will face a San Francisco defense allowing 45 points and 340 passing yards per game on the road. Shockingly, though, the Niners will likely be more concerned about their offense come Sunday. Quarterback Colin Kaepernick has been dreadful for most of this season, throwing for just 727 yards, two touchdowns and five interceptions. Kaep’s struggles have the team sitting dead-last in the league in passing yards (158.8 YPG) and points (12.0 PPG).

“We have to find our rhythm,” Kaepernick told the Associated Press. “We have to get back on track and string plays together. When we do that, we have produced successful drives. It’s getting those plays to string together where we’ve struggled thus far.”

Predicted to struggle out of the gate thanks to numerous personnel losses in the offseason, the Niners got off to a surprising 1-0 start, dominating the Vikings 20-3 in their opener. But it’s been all downhill since then as the team has dropped lopsided games to the Steelers (43-18), Cardinals (47-7), and Packers (17-3).

The Giants are 3-1 ATS this season and 5-2 SU in their last seven games against San Francisco. The Niners covered in their anomalous Week 1 win over the Vikings, but have been crushed both SU and ATS in all three of their games since then.

Pick: Giants -6.5.

(Photo credit: Keith Allison (flickr) [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/legalcode]. Photo has been cropped.)