Giants-Rams prediction: Giants head into bye week on a winning streak

“You don’t want to sit on a loss for two hours, let alone two weeks.”

That was New York Giants coach Ben McAdoo speaking to Michael Eisen in his weekly exclusive interview on Giants.com.

The Giants have their bye week following Sunday’s game in London against the Los Angeles Rams. A win and the Giants can enter the bye week on a two-game winning and with a 4-3 record that would put them within striking distance in the NFC East and in the chase for potential wild-card playoff berths. A loss and they limp into their bye week with a 3-4 record and having lost four of their last five games.

So, what is it going to be?

The Giants and Rams are both 3-3 entering Sunday’s game. The Giants are 3-point favorites.

The Giants have some advantages heading into Sunday’s game.

• They are quarterbacked by two-time Super Bowl MVP Eli Manning. The Rams are quarterbacked by journeyman Case Keenum.
• The Rams have been one of the league’s poorest offenses so far this season.
• The Rams will be without their best cornerback, Trumaine Johnson, who is out with an ankle injury. That will help Odell Beckham Jr. and Co.

The Giants also have some disadvantages.

• They did not arrive in London, where there is a five-hour time difference from New York/New Jersey, until Friday morning. The Rams, on the other hand, arrived Monday. That, obviously, gave them more time to adjust.
• Beckham might not be 100 percent after suffering a hip pointer last week against the Baltimore Ravens.
• The Giants have had to deal in the past few days with the distraction of the Josh Brown domestic violence story, which has led to him being removed from the active roster by the NFL. Brown will be replaced by veteran kicker Robbie Gould, who joined the team in London.

I believe this is a game the Giants should win, provided they can accomplish two things: Offensively, they cannot allow Donald and pass-rushing defensive end Robert Quinn to destroy their rhythm. Defensively, they cannot allow Rams’ running back Todd Gurley to have a breakout game that would take pressure off Keenum.

Prediction: Giants 24, Rams 17