New York Giants at Indianapolis Colts Preview, Prediction

The second ever Manning Bowl is the NFL Week 2 Sunday Night Football contest, when the New York Giants travel to Indianapolis to take on the Colts. Kickoff is scheduled for 8:20 pm and the game can be seen nationally on NBC.

Injuries: The big news is that the Giants will be without tight end Kevin Boss. The Colts have (once again) lost safety Bob Sanders for the foreseeable future.

The Giants will win...

if New York's pass rush plays like it did in the final 30 minutes of last Sunday's Panthers-Giants game. In the first half of that contest, Carolina QB Matt Moore had all the time in the world while in the pocket, and the Panthers went into halftime with the lead. I'm sure that Matt Moore is a really nice guy, but he's certainly no Peyton Manning. Peyton Manning will throw for 450 yards easily on Sunday night if he has that kind of time. The good news for Giants fans is that the Indy o-line hardly looked impressive against Houston last Sunday, as Peyton Manning was knocked on his backside throughout the game.

The Giants rushing attack was fair, not great, against Carolina, while Houston ran up and down the field against the Colts. Obviously, Indianapolis is going to work on the defending the run leading into Sunday night's game. How can the Giants deal with this? By utilizing the play action pass. With The Boss on the sidelines, look for New York QB to find a different target in these occasions. Wide receiver Mario Manningham is a great option here, as Steve Smith and Hakeem Nicks will keep the Indy secondary busy.

The Giants will lose...

Because Peyton Manning and Indianapolis Colts don't start the season 0-2. No quarterback in the league is better at reading the blitz than Peyton Manning, and he will adjust his offensive line/blocking assignments as needed. Even if New York CB Aaron Ross is 100 percent, the Giants don't have the horses in the secondary to run with the Indy WRs for 60 minutes without their being constant pressure in Peyton Manning's face.

Giants wide receivers dropped approximately 59 (give or take 52) Eli Manning passes against Carolina in week 1. Lucas Oil Stadium is notoriously one of the loudest venues in the NFL. There's no reason to believe New York wide outs won't be rattled this Sunday night.

Prediction: The big difference in Sunday's Manning Bowl will be the ability to get into the end zone. The Colts will, and the Giants won't. Peyton Manning goes to 2-0 against younger brother Eli Manning in a much more entertaining football game than that awful Cowboys-Redskins snoozefest.

Colts 31

Giants 23

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