Giants vs Bengals: Odds, expert picks, analysis, predictions for Monday Night Football in Week 10

Coming into the 2016 season, the Bengals vs Giants game was viewed as one of the best game’s on Cincinnati's schedule this year, which made it no surprise the game was picked for Monday Night Football in Week 10.

However, the Bengals have struggled to live up to their lofty preseason expectations. They enter this game at 3-4-1 and already far behind in the Wild Card race in the AFC.

Thankfully, the AFC North as a whole has struggled this season, leaving Cincinnati just 1.5 games back behind Baltimore, who the Bengals face twice over the final six weeks. And, Baltimore already played this week, giving them another win over the rest of the division. As long as Cincinnati takes care of a business, a sixth-straight playoff trip is within reach.

The Giants are hoping to get back to the postseason after a drought since winning the Super Bowl in 2012. That was followed up by four-straight non-playoff seasons, including three losing years.

They enter this week at 5-3 and in danger of falling too far behind the 7-1 Cowboys (entering Sunday) for the NFC East lead. New York needs a win here to keep pace and avoid losing their third-straight primetime game. They previously lost at Minnesota on Monday Night Football in Week 4 before falling at Green Bay on Sunday Night Football in Week 5.

Odds

This game has been one of the most interesting ones to monitor in Week 10. The Bengals come into this game as a one-point favorite, according to OddsShark, who actually had Cincinnati pegged as a two-point underdog when the first game line was released.

But that’s changed throughout the week, and it looks like Cincinnati may actually enter this game as the favorite.

Here are some of the recent betting trends for both teams, courtesy of OddsShark:

• Cincinnati is 2-6-2 against the spread in its last 10 games
• Cincinnati is 2-4-1 straight in its last 7 games
• The total has gone over in 4 of Cincinnati's last 6 games
• Cincinnati is 8-3-1 against the spread in its last 12 games on the road
• Cincinnati is 1-3-1 against the spread in its last 5 games on the road
• Cincinnati is 1-4 straight up in its last 5 games on the road
• The total has gone under in 5 of Cincinnati's last 7 games on the road
• New York is 3-5-2 against the spread in its last 10 games
• The total has gone over in 5 of New York’s last 6 games at home
• Cincinnati is 5-2 against the spread in its last 7 games when playing New York
• The total has gone over in 5 of Cincinnati's last 7 games when playing New York

Picks

Even though New York has the better record, most of the experts are split as to whether to pick Cincinnati or the home team.

• Over at CBS Sports, their eight experts have five picking the Giants, leaving three picking the Bengals.
• At ESPN, six of their nine experts think the Giants will win it.
• At SB Nation, it's a very similar spread with nine of 10 picks coming in for the Giants.
• FOX Sports’ six-man crew features a 4-2 edge in favor of New York.
• What If Sports projects a Bengals win.
• NFL Picks Watch, which takes into account all of the expert pickers across the internet, has New York getting 71-percent of the picks at the time this post was published.

It’s safe to say the Bengals are viewed as the underdog in the eyes of most for this matchup. That ultimately means very little, but if you’ve watched both of these teams play, it’s easy to see why Cincinnati is not expected to win in primetime against a playoff-caliber team. Nothing we’ve seen to this point suggests Cincinnati is ready to win this kind of game, so hopefully we see a refocused and re-energized team coming out of the bye week.