The NFL is back for week 3 of the 2023 season as the San Francisco 49ers play host to the New York Giants, looking to make it three consecutive wins to open the campaign.
The 49ers have opened the season in perfect fashion after a great season last year that saw them pipped by the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC Championship game, while the Giants have had a mixed start this year after being eliminated at the divisional round to the same opposition last year.
Both teams will be pushing for a win in week 3, and we'll break down the match up between the two sides while trying to earn you some extra cash with our best free NFL betting picks.
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New York Giants vs San Francisco 49ers information
- Thursday, September 21st 2023
- Levis Stadium, Santa Clara, California
- 20:15 ET kick-off
Season so far
The 49ers have been a relentless offensive force so far in the 2023 season and they'll want to continue that as heavy favorites to win this game in week 3.
They opened the season with a romping 30-7 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers in week 1, only conceding points in the second quarter and managing to hold their opponents to nothing throughout the rest of the game.
Week 2 wasn't quite as solid but they showed their offensive quality by hitting 30 points again, defeating the Los Angeles Rams 30-23 to remain undefeated. After going in tied 17-17 at the half, San Francisco tightened up defensively in the second half and held the Rams to a shutout in the third-quarter as they pulled away in the fourth for a big win.
New York's start to the campaign has been much more varied and explains why they're such big underdogs heading to the Levis Stadium.
The opening game of the season saw them travel to Texas to take on the Dallas Cowboys were they were flattened 40-0, being shut out and showing very little positives in a game they will quickly want to forget ever happened.
They helped themselves in week 2 though with a much improved performance, beating the Arizona Cardinals 31-28 thanks to a stunning second-half comeback as they recovered from being 20-0 down at half-time to win the third quarter 14-8 before scoring 17 unanswered points in the fourth quarter to claim the win.
NFL Picks: 49ers -10.5 @ -110
If the Giants want to stay in this game and keep the score within touching distance, they will need to find a way to limit the explosiveness of the 49ers offense.
But considering what we saw the Cowboys do to the defense in week 1, it's no surprise that the pick believes they won't be able to do that. Saquon Barkley will have a tough time finding running lanes, and it might be difficult to take advantage of an area where the 49ers struggled to defend for the Giants since they really don’t have any other move-the-chains type of WRs that can assist Waller.
I’m just not sure that the Giants can keep up with the 49ers and I could see this getting ugly quickly. This is a big spread, but with the data we have on hand from Week 1, it’s hard to see the Giants staying competitive in this game.
It's also worth nothing that the Cardinals were en route to a massive win in week 2 also before a stunning comeback, but the 49ers are too good and if they get into that position they certainly won't let it slip in the same way.
Check out our review for BetUS sports betting here.
NFL Picks: Under 45 total points @ -110
The 1-1 Giants take on the 2-0 49ers in this matchup which features top quarterbacks Daniel Jones and Brock Purdy head-to-head for the first time in their careers.
The Giants were a playoff team last season and even took down the Minnesota Vikings in the first round before they got pummelled by the Philadelphia Eagles in the Divisional round and went into the 2023 season needing to add pieces on offense.
They added Darren Waller in a trade with the Las Vegas Raiders, but never added much else at the wide receiver position outside of drafting former Biletnikoff Award winner Jalin Hyatt in the third round.
The 49ers made it to the NFC Conference Championship game against the Eagles, but a first-half torn UCL injury for Purdy spelled doom for their chances. They signed Sam Darnold as the backup this offseason and dropped former expected franchise savior Trey Lance.
This feels like a game the Giants simply can't win without some sort of divine intervention, and they may have used up most of that with last week's comeback win. The 49ers are better in pretty much every facet of the players on the field, except maybe the coach, where Brian Daboll feels like he has a slight advantage on Kyle Shanahan.
With this points total both teams are currently 1-1 for the season, but the likelihood is a one-sided game on Thursday so backing the under makes more sense when the vast majority of points will come from the home team.
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