The New York Giants week 2 matchup against the Dallas Cowboys will be a battle for the basement of the NFC East. Both teams come into the game carrying 0-1 records after each lost season openers to an NFC East rival.
For the Giants, the challenge won’t just be to score more points than the Cowboys, but to score at all. Despite having 13 plays in the Washington Commanders’ red zone, they came up with just 6 points. Explosive plays were almost non-existent, as was the Giants’ running game.
Frankly, the team struggled to do much on offense other than line up to snap the ball.
The Cowboys’ defense, meanwhile, was more stout against the Eagles than expected after trading Micah Parsons to the Green Bay Packers. They still weren’t great, but they acquitted themselves well-enough.
It’s still too early in the season to get a good handle on teams’ tendencies and schemes, particularly when they have a new coaching staff. So we can still only make guesses as to what the Giants can expect to see from their opponent. But even so, this game is less about what the Cowboys can throw at the Giants and much more about whether the Giants can even be functional on offense.
The Giants simply can’t afford another performance like Week 1, and have to show progress — likely significant progress. If they can’t find traction in Jerry World, things could get dire fast in New York and we could see drastic changes soon.
Account for Clark and Osa
The offense as a whole needs to execute better. That much should go without saying, but the way they constantly seemed to be iceskating uphill against the Commanders makes saying it a necessity. The skill position players need to do a better job of getting — and staying — open, disrupting rushes with chip blocks, and finishing plays.
But it all starts up front for he Giants.
The offensive line needs to do a much better job of engaging defenders, executing double-teams, and sustaining blocks.
The biggest threats on the Dallas defense are their defensive tackles, Kenny Clark and Osa Odighizua. Clark is the bigger name, a former Pro Bowl defender who the Cowboys acquired from the Green Bay Packers in the Micah Parsons trade. The 29-year-old (he’ll be 30 in October) has been one of the best defensive tackles in the NFL, and was (to a certain extent) Dexter Lawrence before Dex was Dex.
However, Odighizua might be the more dangerous player for the Giants.
Dallas moved both players around the formation in Week 1, and Odighizua spent a considerable amount of time at nose tackle. That might seem counterintuitive, or perhaps even an opportunity for the offense, because he weighs in at 280 pounds. However Odighizuwa is an extremely explosive rusher who excels at using leverage to maximize his play strength while stressing linemen with an impressive first step. He was a handful for the Eagles’ massive offensive linemen and was disruptive in their backfield.
Dallas also made great use of Odighizuwa’s agility as a looping defender on twists. They frequently used Clark to occupy the guard/center double team, while Odighizuwa looped from the opposite side of the center of the line to attack the B-gap next to Clark. Given that the Giants have struggled mightily to deal with twists and stunts, passing off crashing linemen as well as picking up loopers, the Giants will likely want to use a running back or tight end as an extra pass protector.
Clark is obviously a threat and still a good player. The Giants will want to account for him on every play, and will likely try to double team him regardless of the defensive play design. If they also double team Odighizuwa, that will put a tremendous mount of stress on the tackles to hold up in one-on-one situations.
That’s a significantly more daunting proposition if Andrew Thomas is once again inactive.
In the zone
The Cowboys were almost uniquely zone-heavy in Week 1, literally. Defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus called zone coverages on every single one of Jalen Hurts’ drop backs last week. That’s something which has only happened one other time since the start of the 2024 season (per NextGenStats).
It’s a game plan that was certainly tailored to the Philadelphia Eagles, opting to surrender easy yards in the name of keeping all eyes on the backfield and Hurts. The Cowboys’ defense likely won’t lean completely into zone coverage this week, as neither Russell Wilson nor Tyrone Tracy pose quite the same threats as Hurts and Saquon Barkley. However, we can still feel pretty safe in predicting a high rate of zone coverage against the Giants. Dallas wouldn’t have gone all-in on zone coverage if it wasn’t something that was a significant part of their scheming.
That’s something of a mixed blessing for the Giants. The good news is that their receiving targets excel at creating yardage in space. Malik Nabers, Wan’Dale Robinson, Tyrone Tracy, Daniel Bellinger and Theo Johnson all have great upside in run-after-catch situations. If the Giants actually target Darius Slayton and Jalin Hyatt, their speed can chew up cushions and make defenders pay for not respecting them in off coverage.
The Cowboys did display a pretty strong tendency when it comes to personnel groupings and alignments that the Giants could exploit.
Against 11-personnel (three receiver sets), Dallas played nickel or dime personnel and six-man boxes. Against 12-personnel (two tight ends), they played neutral personnel and boxes, and against 13- personnel (three tight ends), the Cowboys played heavy personnel packages and eight-man boxes.
While Theo Johnson hasn’t realized his athletic potential (yet), the duo of he and Daniel Bellinger give the Giants one of the most athletic tight end groups in the NFL. They also have one of the league’s best blocking tight ends in Chris Manhertz. Using more 12 and 13-personnel sets could set the Giants up with favorable athletic matchups in the passing game against the Cowboys’ heavy and condensed defensive formations.
Both Bellinger and Johnson have the deep speed to exploit the seams inherent in the Cover 3 looks the Cowboys used against 13-personnel packages in Week 1. Likewise, condensed formations are vulnerable to schemed traffic due to the sheer number of bodies in the middle of the field. In addition to two dangerous receiving options at tight end, Tyrone Tracy and Cam Skattebo are also natural pass catchers who can be dangerous in the open field.
Likewise, having Bellinger and Manhertz on the field gives the Giants extra blockers they might (or will likely) need to ensure Russell Wilson has the time to find options down the field.
The flip side of that is that the Cowboys used very light personnel groupings and five or six-man boxes against 11-personnel sets and spread alignments.
The Giants basically failed to run the ball against the Commanders, but could find some success against the Cowboys if they can force them into light personnel groups with spread looks.
To expand on either option, the Cowboys used a very active defensive line rotation as they (tried to) fill the void left by the Micah Parsons trade. That could make them particularly vulnerable to up-tempo no-huddle offenses, allowing the Giants to isolate a favorable match-up as well as wear out the Cowboys’ defense if they can sustain a drive.
Options and answers
One of the things that stood out with the Giants’ offensive game plan against the Commanders was an absence of easy answers in the passing game.
Generally speaking, the early-down passing offense was horizontal, then transitioned to vertical when they got behind the chains. At first blush, there weren’t many concepts that involved isolating defenders and putting them in conflict. Likewise, many of the Giants “easy” answers were late in developing.
It didn’t help that they didn’t execute well — schemed traffic didn’t consistently materialize and route concepts weren’t run cleanly.
The Giants also used an incredibly interesting alignment that saw both Robinson (a running back turned receiver) and Tracy (a receiver turned running back) both in the backfield. Tracy then motioned to a receiver spot while Robinson stayed in the backfield. That could be particularly devious if paired with a 12-personnel set to draw the Cowboys into a heavier personnel set.
More looks and designs like that should be incorporated to leverage the Giants’ versatile and athletic personnel.
This brings us to one of the biggest issues with the Giants’ offense in week 1: They needed someone not named Malik Nabers to step up. Robinson had some good catches that moved the chains, and he showed that he’s capable of being more than a short-range catch-and-run specialist. But the Giants’ offense needs more options to step up if the defense is going to try and take Nabers out of the game.
If Dallas once again leans on zone coverage packages, the Giants should at least be able to get free releases off the the line of scrimmage. Combined with the quickness of players like Nabers and Robinson, the Giants should have opportunities to sustain drives. The flip side is that Cover 4 defenses like the ones run by Eberflus tend to take away explosive plays and force teams to drive the length of the field. That brings us to the question of whether the Giants can punch the ball into the endzone. It’s something they’ve struggled with for years, and those issues could persist.
Their tight ends should be assets in the red zone, however the speed of the game in short-yardage situations make pass protection that much worse. Likewise, the Giants’ issues with run blocking were a big reason why they rarely attempted a run in the red zone. The goal line situations condense the defense unlike any other, making that area of the field one of the most valuable places to run the ball.
Whether or not the Giants can accomplish any of this and exploit the Cowboys’ personnel and tendencies certainly remains to be seen.
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