No team in the NFL had a more surprising season than the New York Giants last year. The Giants went from having the No. 5 and No. 7 picks in the 2022 NFL Draft to winning a road playoff game against the Minnesota Vikings, delighting their fans and making money for some in New York sports betting.
In a year in which many expected the Giants to win five or six games, they far exceeded expectations with a playoff appearance and win.
In fact, a little dive into the records books shows that last season’s improvement by the Giants was historic.
EmpireStakes.com – your source for NY sports betting promos – utilized Pro-Football-Reference.com to determine that last season’s year-over-year improvement ties the all-time Giants record, dating back to the modern era starting in 1933.
Only twice before – and not in the past 40 years – have the Giants improved by 5½ games.
Marked Improvements by Season
Here are all the years the New York Giants have improved five games or more – as they did last season – in modern history.
Great Expectations Again: Realisitc?
Heading into Year 2 under coach Brian Daboll, the expectations for the Giants are to go even further in 2023. But can the Giants take the next step and compete for a division title? Or is this the year that they come back down to earth and regress back to six or seven wins?
Let’s see how the odds have changed on New York betting apps.
Across the board, the oddsmakers seem to have the Giants behind the Philadelphia Eagles and Dallas Cowboys in the NFC East.
New York Giants Offseason Odds
Here is how BetMGM New York has placed the Giants during the offseason.
Assessing the 2023 Giants
There hasn’t been a ton of movement for the Giants in the NFC East as the Eagles and the Cowboys are still quite a bit ahead in the division. In fact, the Giants now have even longer odds of winning the division than they did at the start of the offseason.
As of right now, the Giants are significantly behind the Eagles (-105) and the Cowboys (+160) to win the NFC East. The Giants do play a difficult schedule this year, as do the Eagles and Cowboys. However, the Giants just weren’t quite as good as those teams last year.
The Giants had a negative point differential last season (-6) and went just 1-4-1 in the division. One of their divisional losses came against the Cowboys in New York with Cooper Rush under center instead of Dak Prescott. While this is certainly an up-and-coming team, they just don’t have a comparable roster to the Eagles or the Cowboys.
Could that change in 2023 with the Giants bringing back QB Daniel Jones and running back Saquon Barkley? Maybe, but they still need to add more talent on the offensive line and on defense before they can get to that level. It’s possible that the Giants could surprise us all again, but expecting them to win more than nine games in 2023 with a much more difficult schedule seems like a bit of a reach.
Even with the odds decrease to +600, we can’t recommend betting on the Giants to win the NFC East. The two teams ahead of them are just so much better and have more established quarterbacks. But if you are a believer in the Giants, consider betting on their win total or for them to make the playoffs instead of their NFC East odds.
