NEW YORK — The New York Giants, off to an 0-5 start two years after winning the Super Bowl, have been as hard to figure out for oddsmakers as they have for their frustrated fans.
The Giants have failed to cover the point spread in any of their five games and haven’t been within 13 points of the betting line since a 36-31 season-opening loss to the Dallas Cowboys. New York has lost its past four games by a combined 95 points and has allowed the most points this season of any of the National Football League’s 32 teams.
The Giants are 7 1/2-point underdogs in Thursday night’s road game against the Chicago Bears, the ninth time in the past decade they’ve been more than a touchdown underdog in a regular-season game. Oddsmaker Johnny Avello at the Wynn Las Vegas grew up a Giants’ fan in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., in the 1950s and said he now puts more focus on the team’s perceived effort — or lack thereof — when setting a betting line.
“I get a better take on this team probably than most bookmakers do in this area,” Avello said. “My take is they’ve kind of quit. When they take the field, they’re not putting forward enough effort. That’s unfortunate for guys like me booking games because eventually the bettors will pick up on it and they’re going to be a bet-against every game.”
Avello said the Giants probably would have a 3 1/2-point favorite if tonight’s game were played earlier this season.
“Power ratings are my starting point, but that doesn’t count my intangibles,” Avello said. “One of the intangibles here is non-effort.”
The Giants were booed at home in their Week 5 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles and defensive end Justin Tuck said he doesn’t blame the fans.
“They come here to see a good product, and right now we are not a good product,” Tuck said.
He said it’s not for a lack of effort from players.
“There are only two ways to finish this season,” he told reporters this week. “And that’s figuring out some kind of way to right the ship and getting some positive momentum going here, or you can sulk and feel sorry for yourself and have the worst season ever in Giants’ history.”
In addition to giving up 182 points — an average of 36.4 points a game — the Giants have committed a league-high 20 turnovers, with quarterback Eli Manning throwing 12 interceptions. The New York Jets, with rookie quarterback Geno Smith, have the second-most with 12.
“The hard thing to gauge is the turnovers,” Jay Rood, the sports book director at the MGM Mirage in Las Vegas, said by phone. “You don’t want to take that into account too much, but sometimes that’s the identity a team takes, especially if your quarterback keeps throwing passes to opposing players.”
Since losing to the Cowboys in their season-opener as three-point underdogs, the Giants have twice been favored by oddsmakers and twice been underdogs. They lost to the Denver Broncos 41-23 as 5-point underdogs and then were routed 38-0 at the Carolina Panthers while favored by a point.
New York, at +4 1/2 points in Week 4, lost 31-7 to the Kansas City Chiefs, and last week was beaten by the Eagles 36-21 as a one-point favorite.
“They have offensive line and running back issues, but you have a Manning at quarterback and quality players out there,” Avello said. “They have better quality players than the Jets and look at the Jets. They’re here with three wins.”
The Jacksonville Jaguars (0-5), Houston Texans (2-3) and Pittsburgh Steelers (0-4) are the only other NFL teams winless against the point spread this season.
Las Vegas oddsmakers set betting lines with the goal of getting an even amount of money on both teams. The Giants’ struggles have made that more challenging this season, as more and more bettors have wagered against a team that’s 0-5 for the first time since 1987. The Giants had a 78-77-5 record against the spread over the previous 10 seasons.
“They’ve been a hard team to figure out,” the MGM’s Rood said. “Their power rating was fairly high at the start of the year and has steadily fallen. They have the talent, so it makes it hard to put a finger on what you’ll get week to week.”
