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Giants (2-7) Cowboys (5-3)
Last Sunday the Cowboys lost a slim three point
lead when the Eagles scored two touchdowns in the third quarter. The Cowboys scored
a forth quarter touchdown, and had another in their sights right near the end.
They failed on their comeback attempt, and took a 28-23 loss to the Eagles.
On
Sunday the Giants traveled to Las Vegas to take on the Raiders, who had just undergone
massive changes on their team. None of that worked in their favor, and the Giants
left with a 30-6 loss. Dallas
Cowboys
In the offseason head coach Mike
McCarthy made a number of changes, which included the release of his offensive
coordinator Kellen Moore. The Cowboys were the top team in points scored in 2021,
and the fourth in 2022 with Moore running the offense and calling the plays. McCarthy
is calling the plays this year, and in the first four games, they won three and
lost one, outscoring their opponents 124-41. Though they are still one of the
top scoring teams in the league, in the last four games they've lost two, and
their numbers have dropped to 96--107. Dallas
Cowboys Offense
Dak
Prescott threw 23 touchdowns, but his 15 interceptions tied him for the most in
the league last year, and that was in just the 12 regular season games he played
in. With almost half this season gone, Prescott has thrown 13 touchdowns and 5
interceptions, and is completing a career high 70.2 percent of his passes. Last
week, despite the loss to the Eagles, Prescott
completed 29 of 44 passes for 374 yards and 3 touchdowns. CeeDee Lamb has been
their top receiver in the past two years, and he was as well last week, with an
impressive 11 catches for 191 yards.
It was a career high for Lamb, topping
the 158 yards he had the week earlier against the Raiders. Lamb's 3 touchdown
catches has him tied with tight end Jake Ferguson, who is the second leading receiver
on the team in catches and yards. Ferguson had a poor showing in the first game
with the Giants, catching only 2 of 7 passes for 11 yards, but has since shown
to be reliable, catching 30 of 36 passes.
The Cowboys put the franchise tag
on running back Tony Pollard, who last year had career highs in rushing yards
and touchdowns, (1007 yards and 9 touchdowns). Ezekiel Elliott led the team with
12, and this year Pollard working without Elliott, has so far scored 2. Pollard's
average per carry over the last two seasons has dropped from over 5 to 4 yards
a carry. Rico Dowdle has been in there, but surprisingly Prescott is the third
leading rusher, averaging more carries than he has in the past four years. Prescott
also has one of the team's four rushing touchdowns. Dallas
Cowboys Defense
The
Cowboys defense has improved over last year in three main areas, passing yards,
rushing yards, and points. Pressure is the name of the game for the Cowboys defense,
and no one brings it more than Micah Parsons, who last year led his group with
13.5 sacks. Pass rusher Dorance Armstrong had a career high 8.5 sacks. Parsons
is currently ahead of that average with 7.5 sacks, and Armstrong is second on
the team with 3.5. They'll be anxious to go up against the Giants season long
struggling offensive line, trying to protect a rookie quarterback.
It should
be noted though that in the Giants second half last week, after a poor start coming
in cold, Tommy DeVito managed to get the Giants on board with a touchdown pass
to Wan'Dale Robinson. DeVito did take sacks, but he completed 14 of 17 passes
for 164 yards, and 1 touchdown. DeVito has barely played, has thrown one of the
Giants five total touchdowns on the season, and has run for another.
The Cowboys
are tied for second in interception percentage. DaRon Bland, as a rookie last
year, led the team with 5 interceptions, and this year already has 4. Stephon
Gilmore is next on the team with 2.
Playing at home, the Cowboys have won all
three of their games, and have given up just 33 total points. They would like
to think it fits right in with the Giants average of scoring 11 points a game.
Giants Offense
Tommy
DeVito is suddenly the Giants starting quarterback. Suddenly for DeVito, and for
the Giants as well. They were set at the season start with Daniel Jones leading
the team, followed by experienced backup quarterback Tyrod Taylor. DeVito was
undrafted, and the Giants added him to the practice squad. In preseason, DeVito
completed 43 of 64 passes for 453 yards with 2 touchdowns and 2 interceptions.
DeVito was activated as the backup for Taylor in the Bills game, when Jones was
out with a neck injury.
DeVito was pressed into action when Taylor went down
in the Jets game, and once again last week against the Raiders, when Jones was
injured on his return. Taylor is on IR and Jones is out for the season with a
torn ACL. DeVito will make his first career start on Sunday against the Dallas
Cowboys. Instead of running the scout team, he'll be afforded practice reps with
the other starters, and the coaches will have a chance to focus on which plays
work best with his skill set.
It seems the best skill any Giants quarterback
can have is to know how to effectively duck and run when the offensive line lets
defenders get through. Jones was pressured 12 times and was sacked 7 times in
the Giants opening game against the Cowboys, and things haven't improved much
as the season moved on. The Giants have allowed 49 sacks, the most in the NFL,
and in three of their games, the starting quarterback exited with injuries.
Right
away then, I guess you need to know who is backing up DeVito. That would be veteran
Matt Barkley, who was signed to the practice squad after Taylor suffered his injury,
and was moved to the active roster this week. Barkley knows Brian Daboll from
the time he spent with him on the Buffalo Bills from 2018-2020. Saquon Barkley
didn't get as many carries as Jones did in the Cowboys first game, as the Giants
fell way behind early and needed the ball in Jones hands, looking for opportunities
as much as possible. Down to their third string quarterback, you wouldn't expect
to see anyone other than Barkley have the most runs in this game. Giants
Defense
The defense took a sudden downturn
last week, and it's hard to say if was attributable to playing in their first
game without Leonard Williams who was traded last week. You have to wonder, considering
the Giants had recorded takeaways in the last four games, and none on Sunday against
the Raiders. There wasn't much quarterback pressure, and they had no sacks. In
that game, the defense gave up almost as many rushing yards as they had in the
previous two. When it comes to points, the last three teams, Bills, Commanders,
and Jets scored no more than 14 on the Giants, and against the recently unsettled
Raiders, they gave up 30. Whatever the reason, they need to get back on track,
and Dak Prescott took 5 sacks last week.
In the Giants first game with the
Cowboys, Prescott had no touchdowns, and a 54.2 percent completion percentage.
Prescott has improved his connection with receivers since then, and has thrown
7 of his 15 touchdown passes in just the last two games. Two of them went to CeeDee
Lamb, who was targeted 30 times in those games for 23 completions. In the Giants
first game, cornerback Adoree' Jackson mostly covered Lamb, who caught all 4 passes
from Prescott for 77 yards. Jackson is out for this game with a concussion and
neck injury. Rookie Deonte Banks will be tested covering Lamb, with likely more
than just 4 passes the way things seem to be going right now. Overall
The Cowboys have won their last 11 home games against the Giants. With the Giants
playing there using a rookie quarterback making his first start, the Cowboys are
heavily favored by 17 1/2 points, the largest spread in the NFL this season. Does
anything ever go wrong for the Cowboys? Their first loss was to a Cardinals quarterback,
who had a career 0-4 record as a starter. That was the Cardinals only win this
season going 1-7 with him, before he was traded.
Should the Cowboys have beaten
the Eagles last week having a first down at their six yard line? Hint: a false
start, an 11 yard sack, etc. It seems what could go wrong does go wrong for the
Cowboys, and the Giants fans will be hoping that maybe that will happen again
this Sunday. NFC East Games
Sunday at 4:25pm Giants (2-7) at Cowboys (5-3)
Sunday
at 4:25pm Commanders (4-5) at Seahawks (5-3)
The Cowboys are the only NFC
East team favored to win in these games.
Check out.
Giants
On The Air. Listen to the Radio Broadcasts.
TeamGiants on Twitter.
Next Games
Nov
19 Giants at Commanders
Nov 26 Patriots at Giants
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