The New York Giants travel to Foxborough, Mass. on Sunday to face the New England Patriots, the first time the teams have met in a game that counts (they have played preseason games) since the Giants defeated the Patriots, 17-14, in Super Bowl XLII in 2008.
The 5-2 Giants enter the game leading the NFC East. The Patriots, also 5-2, are tied with the Buffalo Bills for the top spot in the AFC East. New England is listed as an 8.5-point favorite entering the week. See point spreads on all NFL games at SB Nation's NFL Odds Page powered by Odds Shark.
Much of the media hype this week will be about that Super Bowl upset, and about the comments made earlier this year by Giants' quarterback Eli Manning that he considers himself to be in the league's elite class of quarterbacks along with New England's Tom Brady.
Asked about playing the Patriots, Manning did not want to walk down memory lane. Instead, as one might expect from the unflappable Giants' quarterback, he focused on the task at hand.
"They're a good team. You always have to expect, when you play New England, that they're going to have a great game plan. They're going to be prepared. They've been a top team for as long as I've been in the NFL. They're going to be well coached and we have to make sure we play a flawless game, especially when you play them in New England. They always play tough," Manning said. "I think you just know that their offense is high-powered. They have the ability to score a lot of points. We go into the game thinking we have to be smart, we have to take care of the ball, you can't give [Brady] a short field, give him more opportunities. You have to try to keep the ball in our hands as long as possible. When we get opportunities to score, when we get into the red zone, we have to get touchdowns."