Washington Favored Over Giants: What's The Difference?

More than 3,000 fans will be allowed at FedExField for the first time this year Sunday against the New York Giants, and the WFT are early favorites.

ASHBURN, Va. - In the Jay Gruden era, the Washington Football Team rarely handled prosperity well. But now? A fresh shot at "relative prosperity.''

Washington is 2-5, and trail the Philadelphia Eagles for first place in the NFC Least, after Philly beat the Cowboys on Sunday Night Football to move to 3-4-1. 

READ MORE: Can the WFT be the "Beasts of the Least?"

Off a bye week and a 25-3 thrashing of Dallas (is that prosperity?), Washington returns from the break with a chance to seize momentum, exact some sort of revenge and win a third division game on the year. 

Depending on what book you use, the WFT comes in as 3.5 point favorites, which is only a slight tick up on the hook that a typical home team gets. 

Should they be favored by more? We will argue that they haven't earned any more respect than this ... but we will also argue that maybe this year will be different.

In past years, a win was met with dancing, dee-jays, red-carpet roll-outs and ping-pong parties. It's different this year, or at least it seems so - with the bar having been raised ever so slightly.

We'll find out for sure on Sunday afternoon whether this team is truly any different from recent editions. The advantages await ...

For the third time this season, they face a team at FedExField that has to travel after playing a Monday Night Football game the same week (Baltimore, Dallas) as the Giants host Tom Brady and the Buccaneers on ESPN tonight. 

That should be a huge edge for Washington. They are fresh and rested and the Giants - already without Saquon Barkley - will have played five-and-a-half days before. All of this adds up to help for coach Ron Rivera's guys ... everything lining up in the favor of the WFT. 

If this Washington team is truly any different that previous editions, they will take advantage.