Dallas Cowboys: Don’t sleep on the New York Giants

The Dallas Cowboys will play a struggling New York Giants team that has been the subject of a lot of controversy over the last several weeks. Regardless, the Cowboys need to do everything in their power to avoid an upset.

The Dallas Cowboys have a chance to get back over the .500 mark with a win over the 2-10 New York Giants on Sunday afternoon. But despite the Giant’s awful record, they’re not your typical 2-10 team, at least on this particular weekend. 

For starters, the Giants just fired their head coach Ben McAdoo, who sealed his own fate after the benching of two-time Super Bowl MVP Eli Manning, and an ensuing loss to the Oakland Raiders with journeyman Geno Smith at the helm.

Interim head coach Steve Spagnuolo, the defensive coordinator of the Giant’s 2007 Super Bowl team, is now at the helm, and his first act of duty is re-inserting Manning into the starting lineup.

It’s safe to say Eli will be out to prove to his team, his former coach, and the 31 other teams in the NFL that he’s not washed up quite yet.

And his teammates will undoubtedly rally behind their fallen leader. Not to mention a respected head coach with a Super Bowl ring under his belt.

Between avenging Manning’s benching and proving their own worth over the final four games of the season, these Giants are going to be playing hard, especially against a division foe like the Cowboys. For them, this will be their Super Bowl.

And a midseason coaching change might prove to be the perfect catalyst for an underachieving Giants team that all but quit on their last coach. Look no further than the 2010 Dallas Cowboys, who went 5-3 under Jason Garrett after Wade Phillips was fired after a 1-7 start.

As for the Cowboys, they managed to beat the Giants soundly in Week 1, but Dak Prescott has been notoriously bad against the G-Men. He had a solid, yet unspectacular outing in their first matchup, to the tune of 268 yards and a TD, but has been mostly struggling since Ezekiel Elliott’s absence.

Next: No free pass for Jason Garrett in Week 14

So for a Cowboys team with a solid shot of making the playoffs, this Giants game remains a must-win. On paper, playing a 2-10 team seems like a recipe for a two-game win streak. But with all things considers, the Cowboys have to do everything in their power to avoid an upset in a classic late-season trap game.