The New York Giants Plan To “Rattle” Dallas Cowboys QB Dak Prescott, “Ruin This Kid’s Debut”
The New York Giants plan to confuse and pressure the Dallas Cowboys’ rookie quarterback Dak Prescott. Linebacker Keenan Robinson wants to “ruin this kid’s debut in the NFL.”
The New York Giants will take on a Dallas Cowboys on Sunday to kick off the NFL season. This brings good news and bad news. The bad news is the Giants have opened the season against Dallas eight times before and lost each game. The good news is that the Cowboys will be without quarterback Tony Romo.
Supplanting Romo is rookie Dak Prescott, who had a preseason passer rating better than Carson Wentz, Jared Goff and Christian Hackenberg… combined. Prescott threw for 454 yards and five touchdowns in his three preseason appearances. Only 11 of his passes fell incomplete.
The Giants don’t necessarily buy the hype. Linebacker Keenan Robinson gave some insight as to how the G-Men will handle the former Mississippi State quarterback.
Treating Dak Like A Rookie
“He’s a rookie so we have to treat him as a rookie,” Robinson told NJ.com. “That means that we have to get him rattled. It’s his first big game. He’s played preseason games, but he hasn’t played on Sunday in the NFL yet. So this will be a test for him.”
While Prescott certainly shined in the preseason, at times against second and third-string defenders, the regular season is a different animal. As New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick described it, “in terms of game-planning and strategy, what we see in the regular season compared to what we see the in third preseason game I don’t even think you’re in the same universe.”
Confusion and misdirection will certainly be a part of defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo’s game plan. Robinson knows that, despite help from Tony Romo, on Sunday Prescott will be on his own.
“He’s going to see looks he hasn’t seen before. He might see looks that Romo had told him about, but it might not process in his mind that, ‘OK, this is what he was talking about three days ago in the meeting room.’ We have to make sure from our standpoint that we get him off track.”
Prescott may be the future in Dallas, but the Giants defense will do its best to make sure that future is not right now. Praise has been heaped on Prescott all preseason. Robinson and the Giants will attempt to make all that end, at least for a week, on Sunday.
The Giants’ plan is simple.
“We basically have to ruin this kid’s debut in the NFL.”