NFL Gridiron Guide: Giants will earn respect by beating Cowboys

COWBOYS at GIANTS

8:30 p.m.

LINE Giants by 3 1/2

OVER/UNDER 45

TV Ch. 4 RADIO WFAN (660)

The Giants are the Rodney Dangerfield of the NFL, or at the very least, New York.

Win Super Bowl XLII and knock off undefeated New England?

Yawn.

Win Super Bowl XLVI -- again beating the favored Patriots -- with another late comeback?

It was all luck, everyone says.

No respect!

This summer, every media outlet was obsessed with Cortland, training camp home of the Jets, instead of the state capital, Albany, where the Giants were prepping for their drive for five Super Bowl titles.

Poor Eli Manning. The guy just won his second title and even hosted "Saturday Night Live," yet he's the third-most talked about quarterback in New York after Tim Tebow and Mark Sanchez.

Even Cowboys owner Jerry Jones took a swipe at the defending champs in July when he exhorted fans to come to Cowboys Stadium and "watch us beat the New York Giants' [butts]."

No respect!

The Giants are 7-2 straight up and against the spread (ATS) in the two teams' last nine meetings, including a 31-14 win on Jan. 1 that vaulted the Giants to the NFC East title and their magical playoff run. Dallas had the third-worst ATS record (5-10-1) last year.

This is the ninth season that the defending champ has opened the regular season. The previous eight Super Bowl winners are 8-0 in those games. Make it 9-0. THE PICK Giants