Why the Giants struggled to run against Dallas
There were high expectations for the New York Giants’ rushing attack entering Week 4. The Giants hosted a Dallas Cowboys team that allowed the most rushing yards — by far — through the first three weeks of the season. The Baltimore Ravens rushed for 274 yards on Mike Zimmer’s defense in Week 3, and New Orleans rushed for 195 yards.
Lamar Jackson’s zone-read and option threat caused problems for Micah Parsons and the Cowboys’ defense. New York attempted to adopt a similar approach with their special flare, but Zimmer and the Cowboys countered with strong side safety rotation toward the running back in shotgun (to add an extra body to the keep side).
The Giants also lost 5 yards on a zone-read attempt with an excellent individual effort from rookie Marshawn Kneeland to force the keep and hit the quarterback.
The Giants offensive line didn’t seem as confident in its assignments post-snap. Dallas’ defensive linemen — specifically Mazi Smith — would quickly penetrate the A-Gap from his 3-technique spot in an OVER front when he read zone steps. This would pick John Michael Schmtiz and disallow the Giants from climbing to the second level, freeing the linebackers up while using three blockers on two defenders.
Dallas also created “picks” on the line of scrimmage to free up other defenders. This happened a few times throughout the game, and all of it is detailed in the video below:
