Left in London: Giants Punter Remains Overseas and What a 4.5 Overlay May Mean in the Cowboys-Eagles Game
The surprise New York Giants will come into Week 6 facing off against Baltimore as a +5 home dog. That line hasn't moved much outside of the 5 and 5.5. But there is now concern over the status of New York's punter.
Jamie Gillan, nicknamed "the Scottish Hammer" did not travel back with the team from London, sources tell ESPN.
The good news is Gillan is not injured. The bad news, he's been dealing with passport issues.
Gillan is a native of Inverness, Scotland who came to the United States as a teenager. He arrived on a NATO visa with this father, and that was never changed to a work visa when he entered the NFL. The Giants were aware of the issue prior to his traveling to the UK and fully anticipate having him back. He remained in London as of Wednesday morning.
Gillan is averaging 51.0 yards per punt in his first year with the Giants. He had two punts for a total of 50 yards in Sunday's shock victory against Green Bay.
ESPN reports that New York did not work out any punters on Tuesday as a contingency.
The New York Giants are still coming in at No. 23 on the all-important Sagarin power ratings with a number of 16.99. They continue to outperform, going 4-1 Straight Up and Against The Spread.
Baltimore, despite a shaky start to the season, sits at No. 4 on Sagarin.
The line on this game cannot get more accurate. We get a number of Ravens 6.07, so it will be interesting to see if this one hits the 6. As of Wednesday morning, that hadn't happened. Ahead of Week 5, five of six dogs had covered in games where the line stayed at 6 or lower. The trending has actually been moving towards 4.5.
A shift in the line is anticipated if the punter situation does not resolve itself.
More Games at 5 to 6
Three other games have hovered within the neighborhood of 5 to 6 points.
The line on the San Francisco vs. Atlanta game has moved from above 6 (49ers -6.5) to below it (-5.5). That 6.5 was very early. Overall, this one has trended 6 to 5.5.
Atlanta, like the Giants, are being shown very little love by the folks responsible for these numbers.
A review of the power ratings gives us a number of 8.54. That translates into a 2.5 to 3.5 underlay.
Dallas vs. Philadelphia sees the Eagles move from -5.5 to -4.5.
We get a number of 0.74 in favor of Philadelphia. This is around a 4 to 4.5 overlay with the line around 5.
Dallas is now 4-1 Straight Up and will face an undefeated Eagles team that is 3-2 Against The Spread.
The Cowboys are 7-3 in the last ten games of this series and have won the last three outright.
Ahead of last week, overlays of 3 or greater have seen the dog go 6-1 in key games that we have analyzed.
Broncos vs. Chargers has seen the line move from -6 to -4.5.
We get a number of 3.63 Chargers. The line is drifting down to where it should be but there was still a 1-point overlay (starting out at 2.5).
- Don Shapiro, Gambling911.com
