New York Giants QB Eli Manning is the last of his breed to carry on his family name’s legacy in professional football. And while Peyton’s younger brother never won a Manning Bowl, the same cannot be said of his record against the Miami Dolphins. That should certainly give the Giants an NFL betting edge when they face the Dolphins in week 1 on the preseason on August, Friday 12th. The Giants lead the all-time series versus the Dolphins 62-2 (and 3-0 with Manning under center). Their last encounter came in week 14 of last season on December 14th.
On that occasion, Manning completed 27 of 31 passes for 31 for 337 yards and four TDs – two of which were made by Odell Beckham, who had seven receptions for 166 yards. Beckham set a franchise record with his 6th straight 100-yard game. At that point the Giants were still in playoff contention, while the Dolphins were already eliminated, so it’s safe to say that the former were the favorites of fans betting on NFL. However, when it was all said and done both teams missed the postseason – not the first time that happens in the last few years, for both franchises. Coincidentally, both teams finished with 6-10 regular season records.
However, statistically speaking, the Giants were offensively superior during the 2015 season. The NY team had more total yards, passing yards, rush yards, and points per game than the Miami outfit. Conversely, the Giants allowed more total yards, passing yards, and points per game, but fewer rush yards per game. If we compare individual stats, we will see that Giants players also performed slightly better than Dolphins players (whether that improves their NFL betting chances is another matter). For example, Manning completed 387 of 610 attempted passes (62.6%) for 4,436 yards and 35 TDs. Miami QB Ryan Tannehill completed 363 passes out of 586 attempts (61.9%) for 4,208 yards and 24 touchdowns.
Likewise, Beckham had fewer receptions (96) than Jarvis Landry (110), but the Giants wide receiver had more yards (1,450) than his Dolphins counterpart, and scored way more TDs (13 to 4). There is one area, however, in which the two teams enter their preseason game in a level playing field – head coaches. The Adam Gase will be taking over as permanent coach from interim Dan Campbell – who was in turn subbing for the fired Joe Philbin. Gase will be making his debut as a full-fledged head coach following a multitude of NCAA and NFL stints as offensive assistant and coordinator. New York Giants’ head coach Ben McAdoo has a similar story, so at least in aspect it’s a toss-up as to whom has the NFL betting advantage over the other. In an odd twist, Peyton Manning was spotted hanging out at the Dolphins training camp. We know that The Sheriff played under Gase for two seasons with the Denver Broncos, but isn’t that taking sibling rivalry just a little bit too far? To be fair, though, the Giants are one of the six teams that the elder Manning will be rooting for this season, as are the Dolphins. Conflict of interest much?
