The Dallas Cowboys head to MetLife Stadium to face the New York Giants on Thursday Night Football. Dallas is coming off of another home loss, this time against the Baltimore Ravens. The losses to the Ravens and the New Orleans Saints showed that the Cowboys defense isn’t the same without defensive coordinator and now head coach of the Washington Commanders, Dan Quinn. The Cowboys have allowed the 5th most total yards, 5th most yards per play, and the most rushing yards. Alvin Kamara and Derrick Henry were able to run over the Cowboys in their team’s victories over the Cowboys. The pass rush has been fine so far, but not dominant as previous years. The Cowboys have seven sacks through three games, with their blitz percentage ranking 9th highest at 28.9%. They’re getting to the quarterback as they have the most quarterback knockdowns, the 21 missed tackles aren’t helping. 

On the offensive side for the Cowboys, Dak Prescott and company have had to play from behind in their last two games. Prescott leads the league in both passing yards and passing attempts. The passing game hasn’t been the problem for the Cowboys, it’s their running game that’s been forcing the offense to become one dimensional. Dallas had the 3rd fewest rushing yards, averaging 3.6 yards per carry. The lack of urgency or regard for the running back position in both free agency and the draft have changed the way opposing teams play the Cowboys offense. Since they’ve been ineffective in running the ball, Prescott and Dallas have been throwing the football to try and get back into games. 

Things for the Giants weren’t looking so well after their first two games. The ship looked like it was sinking, and Daniel Jones wasn’t performing at the price he’s being paid to play. However, after a win against the Cleveland Browns, the Giants are aiming to turn things around quickly and move to 2-2. In Daniel Jones’s last two games, he’s thrown for 2 touchdowns in both games and has not thrown an interception. Since the Minnesota Vikings disaster game, he’s been better. The offense has only generated 45 points, which ranks them 29th in scoring, but they’ve been better the last two games. Rookie Malik Nabers has played a pivotal role in this offense and has quickly become the focal point of the team. Nabers through three games has 23 receptions for 271 yards and three touchdowns. Looking at the running game, the Giants are 19th in rushing yards and led by Devlin Singletary with 197 yards on 42 carries and 2 touchdowns. The Giants offensive line has looked fine so far and better than the past few years. They’ve been performing well in pass protection thus far, only allowing 8 sacks. 

On the defensive side, the Giants have been playing solid. They’ve allowed the 10th most rushing yards at 395 total rushing yards allowed, 20th in passing yards allowed with 559, and 15th in points allowed with 64. Their defensive line duo of Dexter Lawerence II and Brian Burns have a combined four sacks. The team combined has 14 sacks, ranking second behind the Minnesota Vikings. If the Giants want to break the losing streak against the Cowboys, they’re going to need to continue the pressure in the passing game and make life miserable for Prescott. 

Head-to-Head Stats:

Although the Cowboys aren’t playing well, the stats back them up to come through with a win. The New York Giants have lost their last 8 straight TNF games. The Cowboys have won 13 out of the last 14 games at MetLife Stadium and the Cowboys have won their last six matchups against the Giants. 

Injury Report:

The Giants will be without Adoree’ Jackson and Andru Phillips. The Cowboys have listed Caelen Carson and Markquese Ball as doubtful. 

Prediction: 

I think this game can go one of two ways. I can see this being a Cowboys bounce back game and them winning by a few scores, or I can see a slugfest game with the Giants narrowly winning. My prediction leans towards the Cowboys bounce back win, beating the Giants 26-14. Dallas has the Giants number, and they’ve had it for some time. Prescott also played well on Thursday Night’s, so I won’t go against him now. I think the Cowboys focus tonight will be trying to get ahead early and not play from behind like they have the last two games. I think the defense will step up and have a day against Daniel Jones and the offense. The big focus for the Cowboys is Malik Nabers and if they put an emphasis on limiting him, the Giants offense will be in for a long night.