Giants vs. Buccaneers: Week 11 staff picks and predictions
The New York Giants (3-6) will take on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (6-3) this Monday night at Raymond James Stadium in their 10th regular season game of 2021.
Experts are leaning entirely towards Tampa Bay this week — 10:0 — with most of those expecting a multi-score game.
How does the Giants Wire staff see this Week 11 battle shaking out? Here’s a look at our picks and score predictions:
Dan Benton: Buccaneers 33, Giants 17
Mike DiNovo-USA TODAY Sports
Primetime? Alternate uniforms? Coming off a bye week? Against the desperate and angry Tampa Bay Buccaneers, led by Tom Brady? I don’t really feel like this prediction needs paragraphs worth of analysis. The Giants simply aren’t healthy enough or on the level to compete with the Bucs. Period.
John Fennelly: Buccaneers 23, Giants 20
Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports
Right now, the Giants’ defense will allow them to play with any team in this league, as we’ve seen the last three weeks. In this game, predicting a victory is too much of an ask, but a close game is not. I see the Giants competing well in this game and at times, may even be in the lead, as they were in Kansas City a few weeks ago. They definitely will cover that 11-point spread, that is almost a given. I see Tom Brady nipping them again, though. Another ‘close but no cigar’ effort for Big Blue this week.
Doug Rush: Giants 24, Buccaneers 23
Jeff Gross/Getty Images
Last year, the Giants went 5-3 to end the season and part of that was stunning the Seattle Seahawks on the road.
This is that game for the Giants. They’re getting healthy, refreshed and stunning the defending champions on the road.
The Giants are better than the 3-6 record shows. They should have beaten the Washington Football Team in Week 2. They should have beaten the Atlanta Falcons in Week 3. And they should have beaten the Kansas City Chiefs three weeks ago.
Yes, this Tom Brady-led team is loaded. But they’ve been beaten before — Washington did it a week ago. If the Giants can get Saquon Barkley and Andrew Thomas back, those are huge wins for Daniel Jones, who needs a prime-time win in the worst way.
This is where the Giants start their second half comeback towards the NFC East. They’re going to shock the world in Tampa like they did in Seattle last season.
Tyler Henry: Buccaneers 34, Giants 27
Frederick Breedon/Getty Images
The Buccaneers will come out motivated after two straight losses. The Giants will play tough as they usually do when they play good teams but I think they will fall short in the end. In an injury riddled season for Big Blue, they are just starting to get healthy but I don’t think they have enough to compete with the Bucs.
Kevin Hickey: Buccaneers 27, Giants 20
Rob Carr/Getty Images
It’s going to be a struggle for this offensive line to generate any push for Saquon Barkley in the run game, which means the Giants offense is likely to be one-dimensional through the air. Even with a susceptible secondary, the Bucs pass rush will be far too much for the Giants to handle. Jason Garrett’s offense isn’t innovative enough to stay in this game or handle the pressure coming from a stout front seven.
Mike Moraitis: Buccaneers 30, Giants 27
Jamie Squire/Getty Images
If this was Tom Brady facing the Giants in a Super Bowl setting, I’d pick New York without a second thought. However, that isn’t the case here, and the Giants’ defenses of old that wrecked two Super Bowls for the future Hall of Famer are not coming back to save Big Blue in this one.
The Giants muster up some offense against a shaky Bucs defense and keep this one close but ultimately the ageless wonder that is Brady, along with his talented receivers, are simply too much for the Giants to keep up with.
Jeevan Kirkland: Buccaneers 31, Giants 17
Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
Tampa Bay remains among the league’s best teams and one upset loss to Washington isn’t going to change that. Their offense is too potent to be stopped consistently and their defense is good enough to stop a well below average Giants offense.
1
1
