By Michael Stewart/@TheTruthNYG
The New York Giants travel to Dallas to face the 1st place Cowboys in another early NFC east showdown. The Giants are coming off their 1st win of the season in a dramatic OT win at New Orleans 27-21; now they must face a Cowboys team that beat the Carolina Panthers convincingly 38-28. Here are my top 5 ways the Giants can continue their winning ways:
- Daniel Jones-VS- the Cowboys Secondary: Jones has played well over the first four games and with a little luck; could have had the Giants sitting tied with the Cowboys at 3-1. The Cowboys have rebuilt their defense this off season and thus far it has paid dividends. Jones must continue his strong play against a Dallas secondary that does surrender yards down field.
- Giants defensive front 7- VS -the Cowboys running game: The Cowboys running game dominated the Panthers defense with the dynamic duo of Ezekiel Elliott and Tony Pollard leading the way. Combined they totaled 210 yards on the ground and without their best tackler and run defender ILB Blake Martinez; the Giants will need to have the entire defense to step it up as they are yielding 122 yards per game.
- Giants running game-VS-Dallas Defensive front 7: The Giants have yet to get the running game going thus far; which has been one of the many reasons why they only have one win. Saquan Barkley is looking more and more comfortable with each game and the Giants would love to have him break out against the Cowboys questionable run defense who surprisingly have only surrendered 81 yards per game on the ground.
- Turnover Battle: CB Trevon Diggs has been like fly paper as he already has 5 interceptions in the first four games. The Cowboys have a +10 turnover ratio; which is 2nd in the NFL. The Giants are sitting at +1 and need to somehow win this category and capitalize on them to have a fighting chance for a win.
- Red Zone conversion: Let’s be honest here Giant fans, the Giants have been dismal in this department for awhile now as they are not only poor offensively in the red zone (33.33%), but they are also poor on defense (71.43%) in the red zone this season. The Cowboys have fared much better offensively (66.67%), but have also struggled on the defensive side (66.67%).
This is a pivotal game for the Giants as their schedule doesn’t get any easier after this week. The Giants must win 4 out of the 5 categories I’ve listed above if they expect to get back into the race in the NFC East. In my pre-season predictions, I had the Giants falling short in this game at Dallas and going 1-4 on the season. Although the Giants looked solid in their win over the Saints, so did the Cowboys against Carolina. I’m just not ready to jump on that Giant train yet as their defense has yet to get on track. Final Score: Dallas-31/Giants-21.