Game Day Preview: New York Giants vs Dallas Cowboys

The last time the New York Giants took on the Dallas Cowboys back in Week Seven of this season, the Giants had a completely different outlook on their season. The Giants felt that a win over Dallas that week would help jump start their season and allow them to possibly climb back into the race for the NFC East and prove that they can still be a playoff contender. The Giants fell to the Cowboys 31-21 a week after suffering a crushing 27-0 loss to fellow division rival Philadelphia Eagles which sent the Giants into such a downward spiral that they haven’t won a single game since.

This time the Giants look to simply play for pride and maybe become a trap game for a Cowboys team that has far exceeded most people’s expectations. They have poised themselves to make a strong run for the playoffs with a huge game versus the Eagles next week on Thanksgiving that could possibly have huge playoff implications. Considering it’s a big game for two strong teams battling to win a division in an extremely tough division, the Giants can actually spoil their postseason hopes.

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How did the roof come crashing down on Big Blue so quickly and confirm every Giants fan’s worst nightmare to see two hated rivals surge towards the playoffs? The reasons are far too many to list but the season isn’t technically over yet and there are still games to play.

They may not be playing for much, but we can expect a full effort from Big Blue that looks more like Big Black and Blue at home against the Cowboys in a rivalry that goes back way before most of our existences.

Last time these two teams did battle it was DeMarco Murray who wore down the Giants defense totaling 128 yards and one touchdown on 28 carries. This made life easier for Tony Romo who went 17-23 for 279 yards passing with three touchdowns. Dez Bryant also torched the G-Men for 151 receiving yards on 9 receptions as well as second year tight end Gavin Escobar who caught three passes for 65 yards and two touchdowns.

Eli Manning was also solid for the Giants despite the loss, going 21-31 with 248 yards and three touchdowns. The game also saw the emergence of rookie receiver Odell Beckham Jr who became a bright spot in what turned out to be another tough loss in what has shaped up to be an even tougher season yet again for the Giants. This time around it would be reasonable to expect a similar outcome when the game is all said and done because Dallas is coming off a bye week while the Giants have seemingly regressed after losing 16-10 to the San Francisco 49ers in a game the Giants had a chance to win despite five interceptions thrown by Manning.

Let’s face it, there isn’t much good to talk about when it comes to the Giants this season but Big Blue will make this game competitive because they would love nothing more than to stick it to their arch rivals at home in prime time. Beckham will do well for the Giants and Manning should rebound after a bad performance last week in what has been a good season for Manning despite the team’s struggles. Having Rashad Jennings back at running back should help the Giants get some momentum on the ground, but it will be limited due to the Giants poor offensive line that has struggled all year in pass and run blocking.

The Giants defense has been banged up and it’s showed on the field. Their defensive line gets pushed around constantly and they have tackled poorly as a team which has allowed opposing teams to dominate them on the ground which has worn them out by the third quarter of games. Murray, like last time, should once again have no trouble finding running room behind the Cowboys tremendous offensive line. This should open up the passing game for Romo and his talented receiving corps. The Giants must find a way to get pressure on Romo and try to limit Murray if they wish to win this game.

For the Cowboys, this is a game that they should win. They are clearly the more talented team and are playing at a high level on both sides of the ball. If they can be careful and not look past this game with the huge Eagles game around the corner, they will have a great chance of winning this game. One concern for the Cowboys is whether or not Romo can avoid a major shot to his back that already has two fractures. Losing Romo would cripple not only their chances this week, but for the rest of the season as well. They must be careful and try to lean on Murray who is having a career year but is also injury prone himself.

The overall defense of the Cowboys was supposed to be awful according to almost everyone, yet they have been just the opposite. One reason for this is that Romo and the offense controls time of possession in games so much that it limits the time that their defense is exposed on the field. They have also gotten healthier and have done a good job of pressuring quarterbacks as well as stuffing the run. Unless the Giants’ offensive line steps up in a major way on Sunday, it shouldn’t be hard to put pressure on Manning and limit the Giants offense.

Like I said, the Giants will come out ready to play at home and should keep this game from becoming a blowout, but the Cowboys are simply just a better team this year (as painful it is for me to admit) and as long as they keep their focus on the task at hand, should win this game with a similar final score as the Week 7 game between these two bitter rivals.

On the bright side, each Giants loss gets them a better draft pick so at least we have that. Brace yourselves Giants fans, this could be a tough one to watch on Sunday. Hopefully I am proven wrong, but this Giants team has given me no reason to feel otherwise about this game.