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NFL Preseason Pick – Week 3

Game Overview

Chicago welcomed the return of Jay Cutler to the starting lineup in Week 2 after sitting out the first preseason game against Denver. The Bears responded with a 33-31 victory over Washington as one-point home favorites after getting pasted by Denver 31-3 as three-point home favorites in Week 1. Cutler saw limited action but it was long enough to help his team take a 14-0 lead over the Redskins in the first quarter. He completed 7-of-14 attempts for 122 yards.

The Bears have to be a bit more concerned with their defense especially with linebacker Brian Urlacher still dealing with a sore knee that could very well linger into the start of the regular season. Look for them to play their first-team starters through the third quarter to see how they hold-up against a potent New York offensive attack.

New York appears to be in midseason form after rolling over the Jets 26-3 last Saturday night as a one-point road underdog at MetLife Stadium. This followed a 32-31 loss to Jacksonville in Week 1 as a 2.5-point road underdog in a game it led 24-14 at the half. Eli Manning has saw limited action so far, but look for him to play at least the first half on Friday night to help shake off any remaining rust before facing Dallas on opening day.

The bad news for the Giants is that a few players got nicked-up against their city rivals. Rookie cornerback Jayron Hosley injured his foot returning a Mark Sanchez interception for a touchdown and both linebacker Mark Herzlich and defensive end Adrian Tracy left the Jets game with injuries. Fortunately the x-rays were negative on running back Ahmad Bradshaw’s hand after hurting it in this game as well.

Prediction

The Bears have a lot more questions with their team than the Giants do at this point of the preseason and will probably use most of this game to try and work-out the kinks. Health, not a victory will be New York’s head coach Tom Coughlin’s main motivation for this game and it will show up in the final score. Chicago 24 New York 20