NY Giants Open as Week 18 Underdogs vs Dallas Cowboys

The New York Giants finally ended their long and unforgiving losing streak in the penultimate weekend of the regular season after they throttled the beleaguered Las Vegas Raiders dominantly, 34-10, to close out their road trips for the 2025 campaign.

After coming out victorious in a game many were dubbing the "tank bowl", as the loser would nearly solidify their chances of owning the top pick in the upcoming NFL Draft, the Giants will return home to MetLife Stadium for one more showing in front of their home fans, hoping to ride their new momentum and finish off the season on a more positive note than their overall record suggests.

Unfortunately, the Giants are not receiving the same positive vibes from the oddsmakers in the aftermath of their late, compelling win.

In the release of FanDuel's opening lines for the Week 18 slate, the Giants are 5.5-point underdogs in East Rutherford as they welcome the Dallas Cowboys for a rematch in their annual NFC East division rivalry.

Along with the opening spread, the oddsmakers have set the over/under points total at 52.5 points for the second meeting between the two franchises.

That is a surprisingly large jump from the 40.5 points that the Giants-Raiders game initially projected last week, and could stem from the larger offensive battles that tend to happen when the Giants and Cowboys face off.

A little history between the two teams

Sep 14, 2025; Arlington, Texas, USA; Dallas Cowboys place kicker Brandon Aubrey (17) makes a game-winning field goal against the New York Giants during overtime at AT&T Stadium. | Raymond Carlin III-Imagn Images

Over their previous 10 games, the two teams have scored at least 45 combined points in five of them. That includes the most recent duel back in Week 2 in Dallas when Russell Wilson lit up the stat sheet with an impeccable 450 passing yards and three touchdowns to nearly put his squad on top in what ended up a thrilling 40-37 home victory for the Cowboys in overtime.

Neither team has been able to boast an overly competitive defense, which is a second factor in the boosted number evident in the first matchup as well.

The Giants and Cowboys both rank among the bottom six teams in the league in points allowed this season and have shared common struggles in coverage and slowing opponents on the ground.

In Dallas’s case, they enter the final weekend of their season with a 7-8-1 record, standing 30th in total yards allowed (376.8 per contest), and their secondary has become the bigger issue, as elite passing units have tormented them.

They’ve given up an average of 253.6 yards in that realm over their first 17 games to go along with 33 touchdowns and the NFL’s worst average of 7.3 yards per play.

The rushing effort has improved since the first meeting with the Giants in September, when they were a bottom-three team in the trenches. However, they've still been quite friendly to opposing running backs, ranking second-highest in touchdowns allowed and 27th in average yards per carry.

Both of these weaknesses have made Dallas a favorable team to score on when an opposing offense has all the right pieces in play, especially as they are the third-most generous defense on third-down conversions (46.5%) and the second-worst at protecting the red zone (68.9% scoring rate).

Still, what has helped them pull out several victories this season continues to be the strength of their offense, guided by quarterback Dak Prescott, who publicly expressed his desire to finish the campaign with pride and play in Sunday’s NFC East showdown finale.

Prescott and company can light up the scoreboard with the best of them, averaging 28.3 points per contest, which sits in the top five of the league.

They’ve been pretty hot down the final stretch with at least 24 points in six of their last seven games against some of the toughest defensive huddles on their schedule.

Their offensive success has often carried over into their affairs with the Giants, where they have scored no fewer than 20 in the past nine meetings and have topped 40 in three of the last five.

The Giants are going to need to replicate their Week 17 prowess if they want to compete with the Cowboys, who figure to play most of their starters, and come out on top.

On the outside of the gridiron, the game will carry some offseason significance in terms of the Giants’ potential positioning in the draft, where they could end up back in the No. 1 spot with a loss and a Raiders win, who hold the pick after losing to New York, over the Kansas City Chiefs who also have nothing left to play for and are plagued by key injuries.

Like last week against the Raiders, the Giants are more concerned with playing for the shield on their shoulder pads and helmets than with a frat pick.

They would love to stick it to the Cowboys and even the score on this year’s series, especially since Dallas has dominated it recently in taking 16 of the last 17 games.

For now, the oddsmakers are leaving them in doubt to pull away as the victors with the current state of their roster as the 2025 campaign comes to a close.

Odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.

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A little history between the two teams

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