The NFC East suddenly got that much tighter after seeing the New York Giants fall to the Philadelphia Eagles on Monday night. And with the Dallas Cowboys up next on Sunday, the G-Men cannot afford to let their already tenuous 3-3 record atop the division take another dip by way of another loss to a division rival.
However, the Cowboys have problems of their own, particularly with their Tony Romo-less offense. Can New York create separation in the standings with a win, or will Dallas step into the mix before its entire season gets completely out of hand?
Let’s take a look at what we should expect for what should be another dramatic clash between these two bitter foes. For more on the NFL’s Week 8 top divisional matchups, check out our previews for New York Jets vs. England and Seattle vs. San Francisco right after this.
[sc:Football ]Dallas Cowboys vs. New York Giants Preview
Where: MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford
When: Sunday, October 25, 2015 4:25 PM ET
Line: Dallas Cowboys (+3.5) at New York Giants (-3.5); total: 45.0 – view all NFL lines
TV Broadcast: FOX
Betting on the Dallas Cowboys (2-3)
]The Week 6 bye could not have come at a better time for the Dallas Cowboys. Before the mandatory rest period, the Cowboys were spiraling out of control in the wake of Tony Romo’s injury, losing three straight games with unrest growing larger by the week.
[sc:NFL240banner] Luckily for Dallas, this Sunday will be round two versus the New York Giants, whom they defeated at home in the season opener. However, is Jerry Jones’ head coach Jason Garrett’s decision to start Matt Cassel over Brandon Weeden a wise move? Weeden did indeed play too conservatively in place of Romo (one TD, 2 INTs, not one game of over 250 yards passing), but Cassel is a wild card himself. He hasn’t played a full season as a starter, nor has he had a QB rating of over 82.0 for the year since his 2010 season with the Chiefs.
We might even see more touches coming from relatively unknown running back Christine Michael (a three-year pro with just 54 career carries for 259 rushing yards) to pick Dallas’ running game up. But after all has been said about the changes to the Cowboys’ offense, one thing is still certain: this unit is in total disarray with Romo and prolific wideout Dez Bryant.
However, the team’s defense got a big boost with the return of defensive end Greg Hardy and linebacker Rolando McClain before the bye. Expect the Cowboys’ pass rush to be much better than it was during their first meeting against the Giants, and force Manning to make some errant decisions once again. Dallas’ weak secondary only has two interceptions this entire season, so the team has to find other ways to disrupt opposing passing attacks.
But if there’s one trend that’s highly in favor of the Cowboys in Week 7, it’s that they haven’t lost to the Giants since 2012 over five contests. The total went over in all of those games as well, so expect sparks to fly in East Rutherford, regardless of whoever Dallas’ starting QB will be.
Betting on the New York Giants (3-3)
In an extremely sloppy Monday night clash, the New York Giants were on the losing end of a 27-7 bout against the Philadelphia Eagles that saw a combined seven turnovers and 21 penalties.
Fans got a glimpse of the old, erratic Eli Manning once again, who threw for just 189 yards and a touchdown on 24-of-38 passing. And we say erratic because he threw a pair of interceptions in the game, with one being a crucial pick-six in the second quarter that gave the Eagles their first lead of the game and never looked back. Manning has now thrown a pick in each of his last three games.
When Manning is having a rough day in the air, you’d expect the Giants’ running backs to pick up the slack. That was not the case on Monday, though, as the team tallied just 81 rushing yards. New York is one of the worst running teams in the NFL right now, averaging just 3.6 yards per carry for a total of 456 yards on the season – third-worst in the league.
Meanwhile, the defense did its part in the contest by causing four Philly turnovers, but the offense’s failure to capitalize on those takeaways combined with the D’s inability to contain DeMarco Murray turned those gimmes into mere footnotes. The Giants’ front seven allowed Murray to rush for over a hundred yards for the first time this season after averaging just 32.5 yards per game this 2015.
In the end, maybe a road trip to desperate Philadelphia was just an aberration to what has otherwise been a solid streak of play for the Giants before the loss. The team will be back at MetLife this coming Sunday, where Manning is completing over 72 percent of his passes for a QB rating of over 110.9 as opposed to 56.3 percent and a QB rating of 81.0 on the road. And he’ll need to put on an A-game indeed, as the Cowboys have the Cowboys’ 12th-best total defense in the league to dissect on Sunday.
The total has gone over in four of New York’s last six games in MetLife Stadium.
Writer’s Prediction
Dallas (+3.5) snaps its three-game skid with a solid 21-16 win over the suddenly slumping Giants.
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