Week 2: New York Giants at Dallas Cowboys – Pregame Breakdown and Keys for the Dallas Win

The New York Giants lost 21-6 to Washington last week, running out Russell Wilson as their QB through the whole game. Coach Brian Daboll, hesitant to answer in Sunday’s press conference, confirmed Monday that Wilson will start again for their week 2 matchup. 

However, the conversation surrounding rookie QB Jaxson Dart has been brewing. Don’t be surprised to see the Ole Miss product out there if Wilson sucks again. Dart had some highlights in the preseason, but didn’t see much playing time as the Giants dealt with a 4-way position battle. 

Keys to the Game

Bottle Up Nabers

Last week, the Cowboys’ defense played well – at least in the secondary. Trevon Diggs, in his first game back, held Eagles WR AJ Brown to a goose egg on only one target when they were matched up. This week, he takes on sophomore WR Malik Nabers, who caught 5/12 targets and racked up 71 yards. Nabers is a great talent, so the first key to the game is making sure the secondary keeps up the great work.

Improve the D-Line

The next key to winning this week for Dallas is having the defensive line improve. Without Micah Parsons, the Cowboys let the Eagles run all over them, especially in snaps when new DT Kenny Clark was off the field. If we want to win this week, DT Osa Odighizuwa - and really any of the EDGEs we run out there - need to improve. With such a shaky QB room, it wouldn’t shock me if the Giants ran the ball often.

Establish the Run Game

Lastly, we can’t trust Miles Sanders, as evidenced by last week. He had the one 49-yard run, in which he was ridiculously slow. Watching it back, it’s ridiculous that it even happened. But it didn’t matter; he fumbled on the next play. Coach Schottenheimer needs to let rookie RB Jaydon Blue play along with Javonte Williams rather than Sanders. The former Texas Longhorn was a healthy scratch in Week 1. When questioned, Schottenheimer pointed to work ethic concerns, but the door should have just opened for him.

Prediction

The Cowboys win this week, opening as 5.5-point favorites. The game is at home, and Dak Prescott is on a 13-game win streak vs. New York (13-2 total). My Prediction is that the Cowboys cover.

Cowboys 28, Giants 17