New York Giants Week 3: First Look at Dallas Cowboys’ Defense

Let's get to know the Cowboys defensive side of the ball.

Author:
Brandon Olsen
Publish date:
Sep 22, 2022 2:00 PM EDT

In this story:

After two weeks of facing strong defensive fronts, the New York Giants are 2-0. They face another challenge in Week 3 in the form of the Dallas Cowboys, perhaps their most difficult challenge of the year so far.

Let's take a look at the dangers the Cowboys present.

Personnel

It would be a disservice to the Cowboys to start talking about their personnel without acknowledging the one-man wrecking crew that is outside linebacker Micah Parsons. A second-year defensive weapon out of Penn State was the 12th overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft, who not only was the NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year and was also a first-team All-Pro.

Through two games in 2022, Parsons has four sacks and 13 pressures, tied for leading the league in both categories. As a run defender, Parsons also has five run stops through two games, showing his talent as a dual-talented edge defender.

Before Parsons, the Cowboys had Demarcus “Tank” Lawrence as their premier pass rusher, and he’s still a productive player on this Dallas front line. Lawrence has yet to register a pressure in 2022 but has had 30+ pressures in the past five seasons, so it’s likely just a matter of times before he gets going. As a run defender, Lawrence has five run stops early on.

In the secondary, the Cowboys have one of the biggest boom-or-bust cornerbacks in the NFL in Trevon Diggs. Diggs has an attacking mentality that the Cowboys are comfortable living with the tradeoff between positive big plays and negative big plays.

In 2021, Diggs had 11 interceptions, the most for any NFL player since Everson Walls in 1981. Diggs also gave up the most receiving yards out of any individual in the NFL, allowing 1,016 yards and five touchdowns.

As far as role players go, the Cowboys have a plethora of starter-quality contributors. Most notably is Leighton Vander Esch, the linebacker who has dealt with injuries throughout his career but has been a reliable defender, regardless of his responsibility.

On the interior of the defensive line, Osa Odighizuwa, Quinton Bohanna, and Neville Gallimore handle the majority of snaps. Odighizuwa is the most well-rounded, capable of pushing the pocket from the interior while also being a solid run defender.

Dante Fowler Jr. is looking for another career resurgence year as a rotational edge defender. With just 23 pass rush reps on the season, Fowler has three pressures and will likely see more playing time as the season goes on.

The weakest spot on the Cowboys' defense is the cornerback starting opposite Trevon Diggs, Anthony Brown. So far this season, Brown has given up 12 catches on 17 targets for 160 yards and a touchdown. In 2021, Brown was targeted 123 times for 71 completions, 887 yards, and six touchdowns.

Scheme

One of the things that Cowboys defensive coordinator Dan Quinn loves to do is load up the defensive front by putting four defenders with their hands in the dirt on the defensive line and an additional stand-up rusher. The stand-up rusher will often line up on either side of the center, crowding the A-gap.

The Cowboys often send those five defenders, creating one-on-one opportunities for their talented rushers like Parsons, Lawrence, and Fowler Jr.

On top of creating one-on-one rush opportunities, the Cowboys frequently work stunts into their game plan. This throws opposing offensive lines into a blender because not only do offensive linemen need to worry about handling rushers, but they also have to quickly handle and pass rushers off of stunts.

The Tennessee Titans found success when running stunts against the Giants in Week 1, and Giants fans can be sure that Quinn put that in his notes for this week and is intent on dialing them up against the Giants.

The Cowboys' secondary is not often asked to step outside of their comfort zone, rarely being asked to contribute as pass-rushers. The Cowboys have the luxury of not needing to send these disguised rushers from the secondary because of how good their pass rush is on its own.

Quinn likes to use four coverages, which are easy to disguise within each other, creating possible confusion for opposing offenses. The Cowboys will operate with Covers 1-4, allowing them to switch back and forth between coverages without changing much about their pre-snap looks.

A rare thing the Cowboys will break out is heavily overloading one side of an offensive line with the offense in a shotgun set. If the running back is to the quarterback's right, the Cowboys will put four rushers on the left side of the offensive line with one defender between the right guard and right tackle.

This allows the Cowboys to overload an offensive line if the offense decides to throw the ball and gives them an immediate advantage if the offense runs the ball, out-manning the offense at the point of attack.

What This Means for the Giants

Against this Cowboys defense, the Giants offense will have its hands full, literally and figuratively. As far as upfront goes, the offensive line must communicate and be prepared in case the Cowboys stunt.

The Giants could, of course, keep an additional tight end or running back in as a pass protector, which limits receiving options and puts the Giants at a disadvantage as far as coverage players vs. receivers go. The quick passing game will need to be as effective as possible to get the ball out quickly before the pass rush comes in while still being a threat to throw the ball.

As odd as it might sound, targeting Micah Parsons might be the most effective way to neutralize him. Whether working read options or run-pass options, making Parsons the target might be the best way to limit his impact on the game. If Parsons is the read man, he would be constantly kept out of the way of the offense.

Running the ball, the Giants could find success running draws. The Cowboys will be pinning their ears back to get into the backfield as quickly as possible, meaning that if the Giants run draw plays, Saquon Barkley could get through the gap while Cowboys edge rushers are working around the outside still.

With the Cowboys' coverages often looking similar, pre-snap motion should be increased in Week 3 to help Daniel Jones and the Giants get a better idea of which defense the Cowboys are running. It isn’t a perfect fix, but it does paint a better picture for the Giants' offense.

Final Thoughts

The Cowboys' front will give the Giants offensive line fits, and there’s no way around that. However, there are opportunities for the Giants to exploit some weaknesses. With Parsons being as lethal as he is as an edge defender, he will impact the game no matter what the plan is.

In Week 2, Parsons was used primarily to attack the weakest spot on the Bengals' offensive line, and the Cowboys may try that same approach to the Giants on Monday night.