Dallas Cowboys vs New York Giants: Week 12 Know Thy Enemy

What We’ve Seen and Possible Offensive Gameplan Against Dallas

Points Per Game: 20.5 points

Passing Yards Per Game: 177.3 yards

Rushing Yards Per Game: 157.2 yards

Total Yards Per Game: 334.5 yards

Third Down Conversion Percentage: 40.6%

Red Zone Conversion Percentage: 58.6%

Heading into their Thanksgiving Day matchup against the Dallas Cowboys isn’t going to be an easy one for this Giants offense. They are banged up along the offensive line and at wide receiver as well which is going to make things even tougher on quarterback Daniel Jones and running back Saquon Barkley. You also have to take into account the confidence boost this Cowboys’ defense is going to have after holding the Minnesota Vikings’ explosive offense to just three points.

To combat the effective Cowboys pass rush, the Giants are going to need to be able to run the football effectively early in order to try and slow the Cowboys down. This means that not only will Barkley need to have a strong game but his backup Matt Breida (and Daniel Jones) will have to be effective using their legs as well. If they are unable to get the ground game going, then the Giants’ effective screen passing game will need to be their next way of attacking the aggressive Cowboys attack.

The Giants do not want to be in third-and-long situations against this Cowboys defense because the odds of them picking up a first down fall drastically due to the injuries on that offensive line and receiver. Jones won’t have the time needed to push the football down the field.

Cowboys Defensive Strategy

For the Cowboys, it’s simple.

Defend Barkley the same way they did against Davin Cook. Both are very good running backs with the ability to catch the football out of the backfield. If they are able to keep Barkley in front of them and wrap him up, they can shut him down as they did with Cook on Sunday.

Barkley is the focal point of this entire offense for the Giants and if they can take him out of the game, then the Cowboys’ chances of winning rise. Their next course of attack should be making sure they are able to contain Jones who’s the Giants’ second-leading rusher on the team with 437 yards on the ground this season. Contain Jones and the Cowboys’ pass rush along with the play of the secondary to lock up receivers will lead to another multiple-sack game for this Cowboys defense.