Sep 5, 2012; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning (10) hands off to running back Ahmad Bradshaw (44) during the fourth quarter against the Dallas Cowboys at MetLife Stadium. Dallas won 24-17. Mandatory Credit: Anthony Gruppuso-US PRESSWIRE

Steven Mullenax, Editor & Head Writer: This is a fairly easy call. Since Dallas defeated New York back in the first game of the season, both teams have been heading in opposite directions. The Giants play has improved while the Cowboys has declined. The G-men play what is essentially a home game in Cowboys Stadium and the Boys are without their defensive leader in Sean Lee and their starting running back in DeMarco Murray. Look for a close first half game that turns into a Giant’s offensive explosion after halftime. Dallas 18, New York 35.

Jonathan Barger, Senior Writer: Life without Lee will be difficult, but this is the NFL; don’t expect the Cowboys to attend their own pity-party.  The secondary had it’s first interception last week thanks to Mo Claiborne. Look to see Rob Ryan test his corners and send some pressure after Eli Manning.  The Cowboys offensive line has been playing much improved and look for the offense to click on all cylinders.  Romo and Austin connect on the final drive to kill the clock and advanced to 4-3.  Cowboys 31 – Giants 24.

Todd Toombs, Senior Writer: This game against the hated New York Giants comes along at the exact worst possible time.  The Cowboys are reeling a little with the season-ending injury to Sean Lee and will likely not have DeMarco Murray on the offensive side of the ball.  Tall order for the Cowboys to win this one.  The Giants are getting healthy and are on a roll – and have yet to taste defeat at our new Cowboys Stadium.  Almost nothing is in the Cowboys’ favor here, but this is a division game where none of that likely matters.  If the Cowboys can keep it close through the first half, they have a shot to pull off the upset.  They’ll need to force the Giants into some mistakes to give them help.  If not, it will be another long round of salsa dancing.  Cowboys 20, Giants 30.

Tonni Shook, Senior Writer: Looking to avenge the first game loss to the Dallas Cowboys, the New York Giants are coming to town ready for a fight.  Another loss to the Cowboys and they will not have sole possession of the NFC East.  The Cowboys are looking for the sweep and a chance to get out of a ho-hum start.  Since I will be there in person, I expect to see a hard-hitting, penalty-free, entertaining game.  I don’t want to see repeated mistakes and mediocre performances.  I want to hear the fans screaming from kickoff until the final whistle.  My prediction:  Dallas Cowboys 21 – New York Giants 15.

Jeff Magnia, Staff Writer: This game will get ugly quick if our defense doesn’t perform. The loss of Sean Lee will affect the team, but we still have Demarcus Ware. Offensively, we have to pound the ball and not worry about throwing so much. The Giants rank 23rd in run defense, so let’s exploit it. A close game is the hope, Cowboys can win the game 24-21.

Alex Young, Staff Writer: The Cowboys are in serious trouble this week. One the one hand, you have the defending Super Bowl champion Giants coming to town, they are ticked about losing the season opener in New York and Eli is chomping at the bit for a chance to light the defense up. On the other hand, Dallas is going to be demoralized defensively because of the loss of the irreplaceable Sean Lee for the season. Dallas has never beaten the Giants in Cowboy Stadium, but none of the games have been blowouts, I expect that trend to end this time. New York can score, Dallas hasn’t scored 30 points yet this year and has not shown up at home yet. Giants will prevail. Cowboys 17, Giants 34.

Jeff Federspiel, Staff Writer: While the Cowboys were able to win their last matchup with the Giants on the road, they will be facing a healthier and reinvigorated Giants team this time around.  Eli Manning is 3-0 at Cowboys Stadium, and has led their offense to pretty incredible production lately.  This time around, I don’t think the Cowboys will be able to keep up with the scoring, but should be able to keep it competitive. Cowboys 24, Giants 31. 

Michael Huff, Staff Writer: This is a tough one for the Dallas Cowboys, but with commitment to the running game and a defense that is able to adjust to the loss of Sean Lee they pull out a win 18-16.

Artie Cappello, Senior Writer: Key injuries have slowed us down all year. Our QB is not in sync with his WR’s. Chaos almost always seems to play a roll. On any given Sunday, we can beat or lose to any team in the league.  Meet our 2012 Dallas Cowboys. Our Cowboys host the Giants this week and one of these teams will score 34 points, the other 27.

Sep 5, 2012; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; New York Giants running back Ahmad Bradshaw (44) is finally brought down by Dallas Cowboys defensive end Jason Hatcher (97) and defensive tackle Sean Lissemore (95) at MetLife Stadium. Dallas Cowboys defeat the New York Giants by a score of 24-17. Mandatory Credit: Jim O

10. Carolina is still relevant to this week’s encounter with the Giants, because the Dallas Cowboys have never won a game following a win over the Panthers. The average margin of defeat is 8.9 points. They’ve played four divisional games post Panthers with the Redskins being the most common opponent overall with two appearances.

In 2000, after beating the Panthers in overtime on the road, the Cowboys played the Giants at the Meadowlands to lose 14-19, which is the box score from last week’s game against Carolina. Infer what you will.

9. Tom Landry and Jason Garrett both share the distinction of being Cowboys head coaches who once played for the New York Giants. Landry was a cornerback (1950-55), while Garrett was a backup quarterback (2000-03).

Jason Garrett and Tom Coughlin share a similarity in that both were once assistants with their respective teams before eventually becoming the head coach. (Coughlin coached WR’s from ’88 to ’90 before returning in ’04 as head coach).

Presently, Osi Umenyiora and David Diehl are the only two Giants remaining who once were on the roster in Garrett’s final season with New York in 2003.

8. Garrett is currently 2-2 against the New York Giants, awaiting his fifth match. Here’s how the other Cowboys head coaches have faired in their first five games against the Giants:

Landry: 2-2-1
Johnson: 1-4
Switzer: 4-1
Gailey: 3-1 (fired after 2 seasons)
Campo: 1-4
Parcells: 3-2
Phillips: 3-2 (including playoffs)

7. Tom Coughlin will coach in a record-setting 19th contest (playoffs included) against the Cowboys. Most of this is because he’s the first Giants head coach since Steve Owen (’31-’53) to coach past his 8th season, thus making Coughlin the second-longest tenured coach in the Giants’ 88-year history.

6. Going back to 2007, the Cowboys have had 5 chances to get a win on the road, come home, and then sweep a division series. Here’s the breakdown:

2007: PHI – W/L
2008: NYG – L/W
2009: PHI – W/W/W
2010: WAS – L/W
2011: PHI – L/L

We’ve beaten the Giants in the first game a total of 26 times. Out of those 26 times, we’ve completed the sweep 16 times (I’m not counting ’07 as a sweep because it turned out to be a 3-game series). Out of those 16, we’ve won on the road 10 times to start out the sweep. The only instance where we weren’t able to complete the sweep after winning the first one on the road was in 1972.

Sep 5, 2012; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; New York Giants head coach Tom Coughlin during the second half against the Dallas Cowboys at MetLife Stadium. Dallas Cowboys defeat the New York Giants by a score of 24-17. Mandatory Credit: Jim O

5. Going back to 2004, when Coughlin took over, the Giants get swept each time they give up the first game. The only instance where they didn’t was in 2005 when they beat us in the rematch in Giants Stadium. Other than that, once the Giants lose the first game in a division series, they get swept.

Compare that to the Cowboys who, going back to 2004, have had 13 instances where they’ve lost the first encounter and needed to win the second game to stave off a sweep. We’ve won 7 of those encounters, and thus prevented a division sweep 7 times.

Furthermore, going back to 2004, if the Giants have the chance to open up a division series at home, they don’t lose. They’ve played the Redskins a bunch of times, the Eagles twice, and the Cowboys only once. But in every instance, the Giants have won that opening encounter if it’s been at their place. The only time they didn’t was in Week 1 of 2012.

The question comes down to whether this team can complete the sweep. Well, going back to 2004, the Cowboys have had 11 chances to sweep a division rival, and they’ve completed the task 5 times. None of those times have come against the Giants (remember: I’m not counting 2007).

4. Much is made about the Giants being undefeated thus far in Cowboys Stadium. Among stadiums built since 2000, the longest streak of a divisional opponent consecutively winning since the inaugural win is 5 seasons (Minnesota Vikings at Ford Field). The second longest is 4 seasons (Indianapolis Colts at Reliant Stadium).

Currently, the Giants are in the midst of a similar slump to the Eagles, which is nothing new. The Giants didn’t beat the Eagles for the first six seasons in Giants Stadium starting in 1976. Concurrent with that were steady beatings by Dallas from 1976 to 1979.

Too Tall Jones mentioned in a radio interview on Wednesday that the Cowboys rarely lost at home while he played there. He’s right. The Cowboys record while Too Tall Jones was there from 1974 to 1989 (sans ’79 when he pursued boxing) is 73-40. In fact, from December 2nd, 1979 to September 13th, 1982, the Cowboys won 18 consecutive contests at home.

3. Since 2004, the Dallas Cowboys have featured five different starting quarterbacks, while the Giants have featured only two, and both were Super Bowl MVP’s. The other quarterback is Kurt Warner who played for the Giants only in 2004.

Sunday will be Eli Manning’s 15th straight game against the Cowboys, including playoffs. This will break a Giants record, as Phil Simms started 14 straight games against the Cowboys. Joe Theismann leads with 17 consecutive starts, including playoffs. Sonny Jurgensen has the most starts against the Dallas Cowboys with 22.

Giants linebacker Michael Boley knocked Romo out of an October 25th game in Dallas back in 2010, but the Cowboys defense knocked Eli Manning out of a September 9th contest in 2007, forcing Jared Lorenzen to finish the game.

Tony Romo has started 12 games against the Giants, including playoffs, with his longest streak being 4 games three separate times (12/3/06-01/13/08, 12/14/08-10/25/10, 12/11/11-10/28/12). Troy Aikman has not only started the most games against the Giants with 22, but he also holds the longest streak of consecutive games with 18 from 1989-1997.

2. Speaking of Troy Aikman, he’ll be calling the game for FOX with Thom Brennaman as play-by-play. This is the first time since 2003 that we’ve played a home rematch with the Giants and it’s been played on FOX. The Cowboys are 1-1 with the tandem of Brennaman and Aikman, FOX’s backup #1 duo when Joe Buck does the World Series:

2009: Falcons at Cowboys — 37-21
2010: Cowboys at Vikings — 21-24

The last time Troy Aikman called a Cowboys game was in Week 3, when the Cowboys defeated the Buccaneers 16-7. However, the Cowboys have not won an Aikman-called contest with the Giants since Week 10 of 2010. The Cowboys have not won an Aikman-called contest at home since Week 6 of 2005.

1. The Cowboys are 2-5 on October 28th with the Cardinals franchise being their most common opponent with 2 encounters. Curiously, the Cowboys played the Packers in the Cotton Bowl on an experimental Monday night game featured on CBS in 1968, where the Cowboys lost 28-17. On a related note, the last experimental Monday night game played on CBS was in 1969 where the Cowboys beat the Giants 25-3 at the Cotton Bowl.

Much More Pressing Issues (Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-US PRESSWIRE)

The secondary was absolutely atrocious. The off-season addition of Brandon Carr and Mo Claiborne at the cornerback position instantly takes a position of weakness and turns it into a position of strength. The developments of Barry Church at Safety and Adrian Hamilton/Tyrone Crawford as pass rushers also bodes well for a team that could not get pressure on the quarterback in 2011. Sean Lee seems poised for a break-out season, Tyron Smith is proving to be a force (and at such a young age), Sean Lissemore is developing nicely and the 3^rd Wide Receiver will not matter anyways. (more…)