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**InsiderEdge** · 10-24-2004, 05:49 PM

Early card goes 3-0 as promised:

Detroit Lions at New York Giants 1:00 PM ET

Detroit Lions +7 –105 (2 Units)

The Giants return home off a bye week against a Lions team that was destroyed at home last week. The offense is struggling but injuries have played a huge part in that and they wil lbe much healthier this weekend when they take the field. Every team prefers playing at home but, under the circumstances, the Lions might be better off playing this week on the road, where they are 2-0. The Giants have not been a very good team coming off the bye - Bill Parcells won in 1990, the first season of byes. Then Ray Handley, Dan Reeves and Jim Fassel went 2-12. Coughlin was 5-3 after byes with the Jaguars.

All of a sudden, the critics of Lions quarterback Joey Harrington have resurfaced. He had a horrible game against the Packers last week. He had only 92 net passing yards and completed only 12 passes. What people failed to recognize is that Roy Williams, Charles Rogers and Kevin Jones weren't factors in this game. Williams and Rogers weren't healthy enough to play, so Harrington was basically going with an inferior group of receivers that failed him last season. Detroit's passing game gets a boost from Williams, who missed the past two weeks. He dressed for the Packers game but did not play and should be fit for this week. The Giants cornerbacks can't cover Williams man-to-man, and Williams and Harrington have developed chemistry that make one-on-one matchups appealing. Jones was not fully recovered last week from the high ankle sprain he suffered Sept. 26 against Philadelphia, but he's healthy enough to get more than the two carries he had against the Packers and he's eager to give the Lions the ground game they have been lacking. The Giants offense is not a big play offense like the Lions have seen recently. The Giants have 13 completions for 20 yards or more this season, with three of them going to Tiki Barber on screens. Two of the passes were thrown on the final drive of the regular-season opener by backup quarterback Eli Manning. For all their success, the Giants are having problems on third down because of their miscues. The Giants have converted only 5 of 16 on third down inside the opponents’ redzone, resulting in field goal attempts. They have been successful on only 19 of 64 third-down attempts, placing the Giants 12th in the NFC, 26th in the NFL. Of their 64 third-down attempts, only 14 have been from 3 yards or closer. Just four of those downs have been converted, mostly because of the team's short-yardage running struggles. The adjustments will continue for New York on offense, as Tim Carter will be replaced this week by rookie wide receiver Jamaar Taylor, who was inactive for the first five games. "It's pretty interesting because nobody knows what it's going to be like (with Taylor in the lineup)," receiver Amani Toomer said. "We've got a lot of questions like it's been for us every week." Look for defensive coordinator Dick Jauron to get his guys refocused. The Lions have been solid against the run and must force turnovers to be effective. Detroit has yet to allow a 100-yard rusher. The front is solid, with DT Shaun Rogers playing especially well. The defense has helped Detroit compile a plus-8 turnover differential. Last week, the Lions simply didn’t finish. They only trailed by seven at halftime, but had fewer yards (18) in the second half than the Packers had points (21). "That hasn't been us," head coach Steve Mariucci said. "This is the first time all year that, when things started to go wrong, we didn't come back. Things just kept going downhill. That's like last year's team, not this year's." New York has a four-game winning streak and should be well-rested after a week off but the bye might have come at a bad time, just when there were heading into full throttle. "You come off a bye and guys are off," defensive end Michael Strahan said. "They're missing the rhythm, the whole feel of it, the physicality of it." The special teams are very strong for the Lions, notably returner Eddie Drummond and K Jason Hanson.

Philadelphia Eagles at Cleveland Browns 1:00 PM ET

Cleveland Browns +7.5 –115 (2 Units)

The big talk about this game is the reunion of Terrell Owens and Jeff Garcia. Who really cares since it won’t play any part in the outcome of this game. Talk about a perfect setup for a Philadelphia bounce. The Eagles are just the seventh team in the last 70 years to win their first five games by double digits. They have won by an average of 14.8 points in their first 5-0 start since winning their first six contests in 1981. It’s a nice spot for the Browns catching the Eagles off the one they wanted most as the Eagles avenged last year’s NFC championship game loss by routing Carolina 30-8 last week. The Browns are 3-0 at home and 0-3 on the road.

The Eagles' run defense hasn't been seriously tested yet. The run defense was one of the team's worries during the season, but the potency of their offense has helped them a great deal. Because the offense has been scoring so many points, the opposing teams can't run the ball because they are coming from behind. The Browns have a good rushing attack with Lee Suggs and William Green and they should be able to make a dent in this defense. Suggs is an elusive back, while Green likes to pound the ball. Garcia had his best game of the season in last week's 34-17 victory over Cincinnati. Garcia shines when he can spread the ball around and also put pressure on a defense with his scrambling ability. Against Cincinnati, he spread the ball as well as possible with four TD passes to as many unique receivers. Dennis Northcutt will have another chance to start and it will be a role he is looking to keep so expect a big day from him. He leads the Browns with 21 receptions and perhaps the quarterback and receiver have turned the corner together. Last week against the Bengals, Northcutt made a sensational 49-yard, one-handed grab while he was falling on his back. Garcia said the key to getting new receiver Antonio Bryant on the field will be to limit his situations so that he won't be confused by fancy formations or pre-snap motion. He will help out the depth at wideout. "I'm very confident in Dennis Northcutt and Andre King, but we are a little short-handed," Garcia said. "Obviously, having two starters now potentially not involved in the game changes things a little bit. But we can't let a change in personnel change our attitude offensively." Andre Davis is listed as questionable with a turf toe injury. Yet he insisted, “It's not as bad as it looks. I still plan on playing this weekend.” Garcia faced the Eagles in each of the last three seasons while with San Francisco. He completed 58 of 104 passes for 645 yards with five touchdowns and no interceptions. Defensively, the Browns must find a way to put pressure on Donavan McNabb. After a sizzling start, McNabb has completed 47.6% of his passes and has no touchdowns in the last six quarters. Anthony Henry has played well this year for the most part. Henry had primary responsibility on Owens last year when the Browns played San Francisco. Though Owens had eight catches for 90 yards, Henry kept him from taking over the game. Henry has the size and strength to match up with Owens and has a knack for making plays on the ball. Cleveland has allowed just 11 ppg at home and they are 10-3 ATS after scoring more than 22 pts. Road favorites of 3 or more off a 10 or more point ATS win at home as a touchdown or more favorite are 2-15 ATS the last 17 games. Cleveland is looking to go 4-0 at home for the first time since 1963.

St. Louis Rams at Miami Dolphins 1:00 PM ET

Miami Dolphins +6.5 –105 (2 Units)

Sure the Dolphins are winless on the season but they have not been blown out of the water by any team thus far. Their biggest loss is a 14-point setback to the Patriots and that was a game they were much alive late. The defense has kept them in every game, allowing more than 20 points only once. The Rams are in a short week off a Monday night win and are ripe for the upset. The St. Louis Rams had to rely on Tampa Bay fumbles to win a 28-21 decision Monday night from a 1-5 team. Home dogs of 7 or less off an ATS loss of 3 or less are 16-9 ATS the next one out. The total gives it a 9-2 ATS run.

Miami’s best hope should lie with its newfound running game against the Rams' run defense, which is ranked 26th in the league after six games. If the Dolphins can establish a running game, Jay Fiedler will have an easier time finding receivers in the play-action pass. Sammy Morris had a big first half and totaled a solid 91 yards on 18 carries last week at Buffalo. A credible 111-yard team total showed progress from their past games. The Rams have a 3-game winning streak and in those 3 games they scored 85 points but note only one of their games has been on grass this season. It was their lowest point output over their last 4 games. So far the Dolphins have been very good at preventing the deep ball. The Dolphins have the NFL's top-ranked passing defense. They are yielding a league-low 5.61 yards per passing attempt, and have one of the league's better cornerback tandems in Sam Madison and Patrick Surtain. The Dolphins haven't allowed a 100-yard receiver since Patriots receiver Troy Brown had 131 yards on Oct. 19, 2003, an NFL-long string of 16 games. Madison and Surtain have put in overtime in the film room this week. "We have to be disciplined in our technique because this team has a very quick-strike tempo," Madison said. "They keep pressing the gas. They don't push on the brake. It's going to be fun." Known as a passing team, often derided in fact for throwing too many passes, the Rams struggled again because they didn't throw often enough and because head coach Mike Martz kept trying to make them run the ball on running downs against run defenses stacked with closely-bunched tacklers. Compounding the problem is a lack of turnovers being generated by the defense. While limiting their turnovers on offense, the Dolphins need to force several on defense. Despite being third in the NFL in total defense, the Dolphins are tied for No. 28 in takeaways with five, none leading to scores. "That is unusual for our defense," said head coach Dave Wannstedt, whose unit averaged two forced turnovers a game from 2000 to 2003. Fiedler has made his share of mistakes but the Rams have just two INT’s on defense thus far. Dolphins tight end Randy McMichael agreed that his team is doing more to hurt itself than anything the opposition is doing. Asked how many contests he feels the Dolphins should have won after watching game film the following day, McMichael said, "All of them." Defensive end David Bowens still feels confident enough in his team that he essentially guaranteed a victory Sunday. The kicking game is a big question mark for St. Louis. The Rams will include two kickers, incumbent Jeff Wilkins and newcomer Jeff Chandler, on their 45-man active roster Sunday. Wilkins sprained his left ankle Monday. "We'll wait right down to the wire on Sunday to see how (Wilkins) is," Martz said.

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