4 NY Giants who must step their game up vs. Dallas

After a long-awaited offseason, Week 1 of the 2023 NFL season has finally arrived. The NY Giants prepare for their first test on Sunday night at home against the hated Dallas Cowboys.

The Cowboys have continuously had Big Blue's number over the last few years, as America's team has won nine of their last 10 meetings with the G-Men. The Giants are also 6-8 vs. the Cowboys when they face off on Sunday night. This means a season-opening victory is crucial for the Giants to carry last season's success into the new year.

We can expect plenty of the Giants' stars to be out on Sunday night to help Big Blue record an upset. With that said, let's take a look at four New York Giants who must step up their game for this one:

4. Pass-rusher Azeez Ojulari

Outside linebacker Azeez Ojulari has a lot of pressure on him to succeed heading into the 2023 season. The third-year pass-rusher was on the verge of a monster breakout year in 2022, but injuries got in the way.

Last season, Ojulari accumulated 5.5 sacks, forced three fumbles, and made 14 combined tackles in seven games. The then second-year outside linebacker was on pace for 13.5 sacks if he did not suffer multiple injuries.

Now, ahead of his third professional season, Ojulari is in line for a massive 2023 campaign, which likely includes double-digit sack totals. The 23-year-old stud showed Big Blue Nation what he was capable of, and now the expectation is for him to eventually develop into one of the league's best threats off the edge.

We can expect Ojulari to make his presence known on Sunday night and create significant problems for the Cowboys' offense and veteran quarterback Dak Prescott. It's time for Ojulari to ball out and do so in primetime.

3. Offensive lineman Evan Neal

All eyes will be on right tackle Evan Neal in 2023, who is poised to make big strides in his second NFL season. Throughout the preseason, the former first-round pick has shown flashes of improvement and even showed off a body transformation that turned plenty of heads this spring.

Last season, according to Pro Football Focus, Neal allowed seven sacks in 738 snaps played, rated as the seventh most of all linemen. Let's just say it wasn't the rookie campaign to brag about for the No. 7 overall selection. This left many Giants fans concerned as expectations were high for the Alabama lineman to succeed in Year 1.

However, this isn't the first time that the Giants experienced something like this. In 2020, as a rookie, left tackle Andrew Thomas struggled tremendously, allowing 57 pressures and 10 sacks. But, the 2020 fourth overall pick quickly made improvements.

Thomas is now considered one of the best linemen in the league. In fact, the G-Men recently signed the veteran left tackle to a well-deserved five-year, $117.5 million contract extension after his impressive 2022 campaign. The hope is that Neal can progress similarly to Thomas over the last two seasons. He'll have quite the test against an impressive Dallas pass-rush on Sunday.

2. Pass-rusher LB Kayvon Thibodeaux

It wasn't necessarily a poor-performing rookie campaign from outside linebacker Kayvon Thibodeaux; however, there is always room for improvement in Year 2.

The fifth overall pick in the 2022 NFL Draft was explosive off the edge when healthy last season, but he got off to a slow start. He suffered a sprained MCL in a preseason matchup with the Bengals, which resulted in the outside linebacker missing the first two weeks of the season before starting the next 14 games for the Giants.

Thibodeaux finished with four sacks, six tackles for loss, 13 quarterback hits, two forced fumbles, five passes defended, and one defensive touchdown, but he still finished 16th among edge-rushers with a 17.9 percent pass-rush win rate. The last time he faced the Cowboys in Week 12 of the 2022 season, the rookie had nine total pressures, including five quarterback hits.

There is a lot of optimism that Thibodeaux will have a breakout season this year, and from our chair, we couldn't agree more. NFL.com even predicted the second-year pass-rusher would take a giant leap in 2023. For now, the attention shifts to Sunday night when Thibodeaux faces a familiar foe in the Dallas Cowboys. 

1. QB Daniel Jones

The major headline of the Giants' offseason was that the team retained veteran quarterback Daniel Jones after he exceeded expectations under head coach Brian Daboll and helped lead the G-Men to their first playoff appearance in six years.

Last season, Danny Dimes threw for 3,205 yards, 15 touchdowns, and five interceptions while making 16 starts for Big Blue. Jones also finished with a 67.2 percent completion rate. The then fourth-year quarterback accomplished all this with the Giants having depleted resources on offense, including many of the wideouts being injured.

As he enters his fifth professional season, Jones will have much more to prove at the national level as ESPN recently left the 2019 first-round selection off their Top 100 players list. DJ will be loaded with talented offensive weapons, all at full strength, including newly acquired Pro Bowl tight end Darren Waller and returning running back Saquon Barkley. The Giants also added more depth at the wide receiver position in Parris Campbell and rookie Jalin Hyatt.

Danny Dimes will have added pressure on him this season, with expectations higher than ever for the Giants to make a playoff run for a second consecutive year, which is something the G-Men last did in 2007 and 2008. It all starts on Sunday night when Jones takes the field at QB1 in front of a sold-out Metlife Stadium against Dallas. He's only beaten the Cowboys once in his career. Let's hope victory No. 2 vs. Dallas will be on the way.

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