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NFL Week 5: Seattle Seahawks vs. New York Giants predictions, latest odds, injury updates, what to watch for | Sporting News
The Seattle Seahawks are getting a visit from the New York Giants later today at Lumen Field. While the all-time series between these teams is close (Seattle is 11-10), in recent years the matchups have been almost completely dominated by the Seahawks. Going back to the early Pete Carroll years (2011) Seattle has won six of the last seven meetings with the G-Men and most of them haven’t been close.
Last year, the Seahawks took the Giants down at MetLife Field by 21 points. In their 2022 meeting it was a 14-point margin of victory. They did lose a 2020 game against the mercifully now-retired infamous Seahawks killer Colt McCoy, but other than that it’s been a series of blowout wins for this team. They won by 17 in the 2017 game, 21 in the 2014 meeting, they shut them out 23-0 in their Super Bowl season and won the 2011 matchup by 11.
It sounds like we’re in for more of the same today. Let’s break down what you need to know, starting with the latest odds.
Seahawks-Giants Week 5 latest odds
According to the latest figures at DraftKings Sportsbook, the Seahawks are favored at home today by seven points over the Giants. That line is probably a little too kind to New York, given the dynamics heading into this matchup. The biggest factor working against the Giants is how Daniel Jones is likely to fare against Mike Macdonald’s defense, which got beat up by the Detroit Lions last week, but this opponent doesn’t deserve to be in the same league as Detroit – especially at the line of scrimmage. The Seahawks are also getting back a couple of key pieces.
Seahawks injury updates
Rookie defensive lineman Byron Murphy II has been ruled out, but pretty much everybody else who missed Monday night’s game up front will be back in the lineup later today. That includes Leonard Williams, who’s among the league leaders in quarterback hits this season. They’re also getting Uchenna Nwosu back in the lineup for the first time this year since his MCL sprain in the preseason finale against the Cleveland Browns. Nwosu is an incredibly underrated and well-rounded defender, he’s just had bad luck with injuries since his arrival. Seattle’s defense was already damn-good without him and they’re about to enter another level – especially against the run. Derrick Hall and Boye Mafe may surpass him some day, but for now Nwosu is still by far the team’s best edge defender.
Giants injury updates
As if Brian Daboll’s offense didn’t have enough problems trying to scheme against the defensive nerd-genius that is Mike Macdonald, they’ll probably be missing a couple of their most-critical offensive skill players, as well. Starting running a back Mike Singletary is listed as doubtful, although he was upgraded to limited on Friday after not practicing the previous two days. Far more importantly, New York’s star rookie wide receiver Malik Nabers has been ruled out due to a concussion. Like Odell Beckham Jr. a decade ago, Nabers has hit the NFL landscape like a comment. He ranked second in the league in receiving yards going into Week 5. Nabers going off for a vintage OBJ type of line was the Giants’ only somewhat-realistic chance to pull off an upset this week.
What to watch for
With his best weapons out and the Giants offensive line being what it usually is, Daniel Jones is pretty much screwed going into this one. We think there’s a decent chance that Daboll will give up on Jones at some point in the second half and see what backup Drew Lock can do against his former team. (Probably not much, but Lock definitely has a higher ceiling than Jones).
As for the Seahawks offense, expect to see offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb run circles around the competition. There were some issues here and there the first couple of weeks this season, but Monday night’s game proved that Grubb is now in rhythm. Get ready for an offensive outburst, especially on the ground from Ken Walker and Zach Charbonnet.
Prediction
It would have been much more fun (and likely more competitive) if the Giants had Nabers in the lineup, but it is what it is and it’s difficult to project anything but yet another lopsided win for the Seahawks over this team. Barring a potential game-ending injury to Geno Smith on account of atrocious pass protection at right tackle, there’s no reason to think Seattle might not pull this one off. Seahawks 28, Giants 13.
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