NFL
By: Greg Rector
Dallas Cowboys (1-1) vs NY Giants (2-0) Monday Night Football 8:20 PM
The Dallas Cowboys travel to Met Life Stadium for their second primetime game of the season as they face the surprising, unbeaten Giants on Monday Night. It will be the first NFC East battle for both teams. Let’s look at the matchup.
Dallas Offense vs New York Defense
The Giants have been defensively respectable, although they haven’t been overly tested. At the same time, the Dallas offense hasn’t been a house of fire either so far. The Cowboys will need to execute their game plan for more than just a couple of early drives as was the case versus the Bengals. First-round draft pick Kayvon Thibodeaux (Edge) has yet to play a snap as the Giants have been cautious with his recovery from a knee injury. That may change for this encounter especially since defensive end Leonard Williams is now dealing with an MCL sprain. That means the Cowboys will need to test Thibodeaux’s ability to set an edge and I believe you’ll see Tony Pollard be the back to do just that. Cooper Rush will need to remain a solid game manager and not make mistakes. Given the state of the Cowboys’ offense, I don’t see a huge scoring night happening. Playing mistake-free and taking what the Giants’ defense gives them will be the order of the day. I would look for Ceedee Lamb to challenge Giants corner Darnay Holmes playing in place of starter Aaron Robinson (appendix) hopefully Lamb can get separation in this game and end his 10 straight games without reaching 100 yards receiving. The main focus still for me will be turning the explosive Pollard loose as they did successfully here.
Very nice front side pull by Tyler Smith to erase the LB, Biadasz does a great job getting out in front and kicking out the DB, and Schulz does a great job on Trey Hendrickson to give Tony Pollard an open lane for a big gain #Cowboys pic.twitter.com/slnYGO1ltn
— John Owning (@JohnOwning) September 20, 2022
Outside of Matt Farniok struggling at left guard, the offensive line did a good job against the Bengals for the most part. It appears that veteran left tackle Jason Peters should make his Cowboys debut this week and the Cowboys will be able to put Tyler Smith at left guard. Smith has held his own at left tackle but could really shine with his physicality playing inside of Peters. It may also give the Cowboys opportunities to run on both sides of the line rather than relying on Zach Martin and Terence Steele to make holes on the right side. This is also a hint to offensive coordinator Kellen Moore to be creative for 60 minutes when it comes to blocking schemes. The Giants defense hasn’t been getting much pressure on opposing quarterbacks and that should allow Rush time to find receivers. The Jones’ are out in the media talking that Michael Gallup might be good to go in week three, I would temper any expectations of a huge game as he would likely be limited on a snap limit coming back from a torn ACL. Tight end Dalton Schultz has a PCL injury (Yes the same injury that limited Zeke Elliott’s production last year) so rookies Jake Ferguson and Peyton Hendershot will be tested.
Dallas Defense vs Giants Offense
The defense has definitely kept the Cowboys in both games thus far and I look for more of the same Monday night. Micah “The Lion is Always Hungry,” Parsons has been on a different level to begin the season. As a part-time edge rusher last season he had a 20.4% pressure rate (TJ Watt was at 16.5%) this season his pressure rate is sitting at 22.5% with 4 sacks already. Giants rookie tackle Evan Neal will be tested by Parsons. The rest of the edge rushers also had an excellent game against the Bengals. Over the last few seasons, the Cowboys have feasted upon Daniel Jones and they will be looking to do so again on Monday night.
Micah Parsons ranks this season
NFL Rank
Sacks 4.0 1st
QB Hits 7 t-1st
Tackles for Loss 4 t-1st
Pressures 13 t-1stYeah @MicahhParsons11 coming for that DPOY pic.twitter.com/0UfkvIK0P9
— NFL on CBS
(@NFLonCBS) September 20, 2022
Once they’ve pressured Jones it’s often led to turnovers and you can bet Trevon Diggs and the rest of the secondary will be looking to make that happen. Diggs gave up 33 yards to Mike Evans and one circus TD catch, while also giving up just 13 yards against Ja’Maar Chase. More importantly for Diggs, he made tackles against the Bengals especially late in the game. That’s the one area I have hoped to see improvements in his game and so far so good. Now a lot of folks have been singing the praises of Saquon Barkley and I also am glad he’s back playing. However, he’s had two big plays but for the rest of his carries, he’s only averaging 3.7 yards a carry. The Cowboys will need the same focus as they had in limiting Joe Mixon when it comes to Barkley. Strong safety Donovan Wilson was an absolute menace in the absence of Jayron Kearse and he will have to come up often to limit Barkley’s yardage. Free Safety Malik Hooker has also been very good in coverage so far. The other impressive duo has been linebackers Anthony Barr and Leighton Vander Esche, their play has allowed Parson to be almost exclusively a pass rusher. The Giants receivers were, to put it mildly, pathetic against the Cowboys last season. Hopefully, the defense doesn’t rest on their past success.
Prediction
The Giants have been better so far in 2002. The Cowboys however have been very good against them lately. For me, this game comes down to the Cowboys’ defense and if they have their usual success against Daniel Jones. If they do I don’t see the Giants having a good night. The defense has been the strength by a huge margin for the Cowboys through two games and I look for that to continue. Jones has had some of his worst games against Dallas. The Giants’ opponents (Titans and Panthers) both looked awful against New York. With an NFC East opponent in town looking to continue to silence their doubters and coming off a true team victory. I see this happening against the Giants. Cowboys 23 Giants 13. Here’s what I have screamed about for years and love hearing, courtesy Micah Parsons…
"Nobody believes in us but we are going to believe in each other."
–@MicahhParsons11 to @tracywolfson following the Cowboys walk-off win against the Bengals pic.twitter.com/zsJi5Z8Zlw
— NFL on CBS
They don’t care what it takes, they care about winning first and foremost.
As always you can find me on Twitter @GregsCowboys
