Three Keys to NY Giants Week 2 Win Over Cowboys

Here's how the New York Giants can fly down to Dallas and put themselves in a position to stun the Cowboys to get back on the winning track.

Nov 28, 2024; Arlington, Texas, USA; The Dallas Cowboys take the field before opening kickoff against the New York Giants at AT&T Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Chris Jones-Imagn Images | Chris Jones-Imagn Images

The New York Giants kicked off their 2025 season last week in another disappointing fashion, losing 21-6 in a far too typical offensive snoozer against the Washington Commanders to fall to 0-1 on the year.

For head coach Brian Daboll and company, the slow starts are starting to get old, and a quick response to salvage the remainder of their season has never been more crucial.

The tougher part of that is they’ll have to try to bounce back and even their record in another divisional bout on the road against a familiar foe that has had their number, the Dallas Cowboys. 

The Cowboys, who are also looking to get into the win column for the first time, have taken eight straight games against the Giants, including 14 of the last 16 meetings dating back to the 2016 season when quarterback Dak Prescott became the new sheriff in town for their offense.

The Giants need to snap their streak of misfortune against their NFC East rivals and notch a much-needed victory to keep their brutal schedule from burying them once again before the calendar even hits October. As such, we offer the three keys to stunning the Cowboys and heading back to East Rutherford with a solid standing.

Contain WR CeeDee Lamb

Sep 26, 2024; East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA; Dallas Cowboys wide receiver CeeDee Lamb (88) celebrates after a a touchdown against the Giants in the first half at MetLife Stadium. | Robert Deutsch-Imagn Images

It wasn’t the friendliest introduction to the season for Cowboys wide receiver CeeDee Lamb against the Eagles last Sunday. He tallied a solid stat line of 7 catches on 13 targets for 110 yards, but dropped some of the biggest balls thrown his way down the stretch to seal the deal on his team’s defeat to the Philadelphia Eagles. 

Lamb, who has been the Cowboys’ bona fide No. 1 option out wide and a total thorn in the Giants' side, will likely be coming in hungry to avenge his miscues, and what better opportunity for him to shine once again against an opponent that he has dominated in recent meetings. 

In 10 career games against New York, Lamb has recorded 61 catches for 859 yards and 10 touchdowns, per StatMuse.

Two of his most recent performances in the past three seasons saw him grab a combined 19 catches for as much as 151 yards (2023), and he has notched double-digit targets in four of those same contests.

Last week, the Giants called upon the newcomer Paulson Adebo to assume the challenge of shutting down Terry McLaurin, the Commanders’ top receiver, as their No. 1 perimeter corner.

Adebo, who was signed in free agency, did a solid job holding McLaurin to two catches for 27 yards and limiting his damage after the catch to almost nothing. 

A much greater challenge awaits the Giants’ veteran corner in Week 2 when he will go up against Lamb. Lamb is a much taller and athletic pass catcher who can stretch the field, show off some wheels in open space, and usually does very well with winning contested catches, a 58% cut recorded during the 2024 season that led the Cowboys corps. 

Dallas has other weapons in their arsenal for Dak Prescott to connect with, but none have the same talents and game-wrecking impact as Lamb poses when he’s on the field. He needs to be closely followed by Adebo or whoever else covers him, and their efforts should be taken out of the Cowboys’ aerial attack early.

The good thing about matching up with Adebo is that he thrives as a press-man defender and gets his hands on the football in passing lanes, something that other cornerbacks like Deonte Banks have struggled to achieve when lined up against Lamb on the perimeter. It led to his thrilling outings. 

Perhaps seeing a different and more annoying defender will cause Lamb to get frustrated and mentally taken out of the affair, which could play into the Giants' hands and force other playmakers to have to step up for Dallas to control the battle.

Establish the Run Game

Sep 26, 2024; East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA; New York Giants running back Tyrone Tracy Jr. (29) stopped by Dallas Cowboys wide receiver KaVontae Turpin (9) during the first half at MetLife Stadium. | Robert Deutsch-Imagn Images

Similar to last week’s game with the Commanders, the Giants could benefit immensely from relying on their ground attack to gain some momentum against a Cowboys’ defensive front that has lost a couple of key pieces over the offseason. 

Despite boasting some talented players in the trenches who have given opposing offensive lines fits in pass protection before, the Cowboys' run response was nothing to write home about in 2024. They tied for second-worst run defense grade as a team at the end of the season and averaged 4.8 yards per carry allowed, which also sat near the basement of the league. 

The lack of a commanding presence around the line of scrimmage often set the Cowboys back in their pursuit of contention in games against tougher opponents. It forced them to rely more heavily on their passing offense to play catch-up, given the limited time they had to possess the ball after their opponents had taken large chunks.

While the Giants couldn’t take full advantage of that weakness in the first matchup last season, they certainly found it in the rematch in Week 13. They carried the rock 21 times for 116 yards and two touchdowns on the ground, one of which came off a quarterback scramble by former quarterback Drew Lock, albeit in a 27-20 loss down the stretch. 

In the offseason, the Cowboys' defensive front took a couple of hits from key players departing, including defensive end Chauncey Golston, who came to New York as a free agent, and figure to be a little bit weaker than they were last season. They allowed 158 yards to the Eagles in Week 1, with quarterback Jalen Hurts leading the way with 62 yards and two rushing touchdowns. 

The Giants should look to see if they can exploit the run game against the Cowboys and use it to establish some offensive tempo and dominate the clock. If anything, the less time Dak Prescott has to work his magic, the better the Giants' chances of potentially stealing the contest if they can finish their possessions with a six-point punch.

In the loss to Washington, their rushing was nearly silenced. Russell Wilson was the leader with eight carries for 45 yards, which mostly came from scampers away from pressure rather than play-action rollouts. Tyrone Tracy and Cam Skattebo only managed 27 total yards. 

Could there be a chance of the Giants finally using those designed packages for rookie gunslinger Jaxson Dart to put a surprise on the Cowboys with his legs, too? It’s an unlikely thought, but one that’s intriguing given the reports of Brian Daboll having those in his back pocket.

Get Pressure on QB Dak Prescott

Sep 26, 2024; East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA; Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott (4) rolls out against the New York Giants in the first quarter at MetLife Stadium. | Robert Deutsch-Imagn Images

There are quarterbacks in the NFL who are hard to bring down, and then there is Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott, who has been one of the toughest signal callers for the Giants defense to get their hands on. 

Prescott has appeared in 15 games against the Giants and in that span has only been sacked 15 times with an average of once per contest. Among them, eight games saw him go down zero times, and five of the other seven games had fewer than three sacks. 

Of course, Prescott has benefited tremendously from playing behind one of the best offensive lines in the NFL over the last several seasons, but last year that stellar front began to get tested as veteran pieces either retired or dealt with injury blows. 

Prescott was sacked 21 times out of the Cowboys’ 38 total sacks allowed, and the franchise’s pass block win rate dropped as far down as the 24th spot in the league rankings by the end of the campaign. The Cowboys' front now is much younger since then, with four starters holding under three seasons of professional service. 

Like last week in the loss to Washington, the Giants' defense will need to force some pressure onto Prescott and prevent his drives from moving downfield as smoothly as they have before. If he goes untouched, the Cowboys' offense is hard to slow down and has proven they can light up the scoreboard with an average of 31.5 points per game in the last four seasons. 

The unit, led by its new core of edge rushers, was able to reach Jayden Daniels three times, but it still wasn’t enough to secure the win, with the inability of the offense to carry its own weight. If the offense starts sluggish again, they will need the pass rush to be the difference again in keeping Dallas away from the endzone and giving the other side more cracks at it. 

The Giants should also look to mix in more concepts that involve all four of their pass rushers, including rookie Abdul Carter, to see if they can cause some extra confusion for the Cowboys’ younger starters and make some game-changing plays happen on late downs.

They only used all four players eight times out of their 70 defensive snaps, which was not the intended strategy for the group. 

The proof is in the numbers that separate Prescott’s clean reps in the pocket from those when he feels a little heat from the opposition. Prescott was blitzed on just 30.9% of his dropbacks last season and completed 54.1% of his throws for a 4-2 touchdown-to-interception ratio while having six turnover-worthy throws. 

When those stats get shifted to a clean pocket, he is a much sharper passer (68.4% for 1,535 yards, seven touchdowns, and six interceptions). He gains the physical and mental confidence to start moving all over the field and unleashing his full arsenal of throws to his different targets. 

Once the Cowboys' offense becomes more diverse in its targets, they can rely on Prescott under center; we’ve seen they are just as good as anybody. The Giants need to ride on the heels of their pass rush on Sunday, which they built this offseason to help slow down the talented offenses in their division.

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