The New York Giants take to the road for the first time this season against their hated rivals, the Dallas Cowboys, for what will be an epic Sunday night showdown in Week 2.
Both teams are hoping to avoid going 0-2 to start the 2018 NFL season with the New York Giants coming off a disappointing 20-15 loss at the hands of the Jacksonville Jaguars to open the year.
The Cowboys weren’t much better, as they struggled to get anything going offensively against the Carolina Panthers in a 16-8 loss. Dallas failed in the absence of its four-time Pro Bowl center, Travis Frederick, who is out indefinitely due to an auto-immune disease, and the offensive line looked out of sync allowing Dak Prescott to get sacked six times.
The Giants roster is still gelling, and according to ESPN’s Jordan Raanan, the defense won’t have their stud pass-rusher, Olivier Vernon, back in time. He’ll sit for the second straight week due to a high-ankle sprain suffered during the preseason.
With that said, which team does Madden 19 have surviving for its first win of the 2018 regular season?
We took to the time to simulate a matchup with updated rosters, full 15 minute quarters and game settings true to real-life, letting the computer decide the outcome.
As expected, the contest came down to the wire.
Passing stats
- Eli Manning – 32/48, 347 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT, 94.7 QBR
- Dak Prescott – 18/32, 216 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT, 87.5 QBR
Eli Manning gets his first taste of the end zone after being shut out by the elite Jaguars defense in Week 1. Former Denver Broncos offseason acquisition, Cody Latimer, was able to haul in a six-yard pass for the score on a third-and-2 with 55 seconds left before halftime.
Unfortunately, that was all the fireworks the Giants could generate in the passing game despite 347 yards from the 15-year veteran Manning. Big Blue failed to capitalize on multiple red-zone opportunities, and No. 10 was sacked another two times thanks to the Giants turnstile offensive line on the right side featuring guard Patrick Omameh and tackle Ereck Flowers.
#Giants run blocking grades from week 1 vs. the Jaguars:
— PFF NY Giants (@PFF_Giants) September 11, 2018
LT Solder- 70.7
LG Hernandez- 64.0
C Halapio- 58.3
RG Omameh- 47.8
RT Flowers- 64.5#BigBlue
As for Dak Prescott, he was kept in check completing one-less pass than he did against the Panthers last week on the road. Perhaps his reported ankle injury was worse than he let on. Or, maybe running back Ezekiel Elliott’s ability to take the game into his own hands was all that was needed as we’ll see in the next section.
Rushing stats
- Saquon Barkley – 18 carries, 66 yards, 1 TD
- Ezekiel Elliott – 18 carries, 158 yards, 2 TD
New York Giants safety and captain Landon Collins put the gauntlet on Prescott this week stating that the defensive plan was to stop Zeke and force Dak to win the game instead. “If we do that, put the ball in Dak’s hands, I think we’ll have a better shot at winning,” Collins said, per ESPN’s Todd Archer.
So much for that scheme.
Madden has the All-Pro rusher bouncing back nicely from his quiet afternoon last weekend where he mustered only 15 totes for 69 yards and an all-for-naught score. This week’s simulation has Zeke averaging a whopping 8.7 yards per carry highlighted by an 82-yard breakaway touchdown late in the fourth quarter to put the dagger in the G-Men’s heart.
As for Giants rookie rusher, Saquon Barkley, he’s still finding his footing in the NFL behind a halfway built Giants O-line. He was able to score late in the game to give New York a chance for the fourth-quarter comeback, though.
Receiving stats
New York Giants:
- Odell Beckham Jr. – 10 receptions, 109 yards
- Evan Engram – 7 receptions, 62 yards
- Cody Latimer – 7 receptions, 62 yards, 1 TD
- Sterling Shepard – 4 receptions, 69 yards
Odell Beckham Jr. is expected to do Odell Beckham Jr. things.
Fitting, because his real-life skill set matches that of a video game character. Madden ’19 has OBJ recording his second consecutive 100-yard performance of the season. The most electric player saw a team-high 13 targets, routinely torching corners Chidobe Awuzie and Byron Jones.
Having said that, Beckham was unable to find pay dirt thanks to a couple of miss-throws from Manning.
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As for tight end Evan Engram, he was much more efficient in Week 2, but Sterling Shepard struggled to make a significant impact. We’re still waiting for the 2017 Adam Thielen-like breakout that head coach Pat Shurmur helped orchestrate when he was calling plays over in Minnesota.
Dallas Cowboys:
- Cole Beasley – 8 receptions, 100 yards
- Terrance Williams – 4 receptions, 65 yards, 1 TD
- Geoff Swaim – 3 receptions, 27 yards
- Allen Hurns – 2 receptions, 16 yards
Madden ’19 realizes that Cole Beasley is a pesky thorn in the Giants side. He’s projected to take over retired tight end Jason Witten’s former role as a G-Men-killer with a solid 100-yard performance.
In two games last season against Big Blue, Beasley was able to haul in six receptions for 91 yards including that ridiculous behind-the-body circus catch in Week 1. The shifty receiver may have gotten the yardage, but Terrance Williams was the wideout who found the end-zone for the Cowboys’ only passing score of the game.
This time, he made the right move by staying in bounds for an impressive toe-tap TD.
Total team stats
New York Giants:
- Total offense: 422 yards
- Total team: 441 yards
- Rushing: 75 yards
- Passing: 347 yards
- Turnovers: 0
- Penalties: 2-6
- Time of Possession: 12:39
Dallas Cowboys:
- Total offense: 407 yards
- Total team: 417 yards
- Rushing:191 yards
- Passing: 216 yards
- Turnovers: 0
- Penalties: 3-25
- Time of Possession: 11:21
The team stat lines are pretty even across the board with the Giants getting the edge in the passing game but the Cowboys easily dominating on the ground.
No turnovers and only two penalties for six yards would be a dream for New York’s coaching staff. Considering the likelihood that Flowers will get beat from time-to-time by elite defensive end Demarcus Lawrence, we fear Madden severely underestimated both categories for the Giants.
Final
The deck is stacked against the New York Giants heading into Dallas in a primetime matchup on Sunday night. Per OddsShark, the spread is sitting at minus-3 in favor of the home team as of Sept. 14, 12 p.m. EDT.
That makes for a pretty even matchup where the game is expected to be close all the way through and go down to the wire like most battles do between these two rival franchises.
In the last 10 games between the Cowboys and Giants, seven of them have been decided by a touchdown or less with Dallas holding a 7-3 advantage over New York.
When all is said and done, Madden says that the Boys will make it 8-3 in the last 11 despite New York winning the box score battle. Elliott’s MVP-caliber performance is just too much to handle, and the Giants failure to swap field goals for touchdowns puts them in a 0-2 hole to start the year.
Final score: Cowboys 28, Giants 21