The Big Blue View staff is split on whether or not the New York Giants will end their season by defeating the Dallas Cowboys, potentially costing themselves a handful of spots in the 2026 NFL Draft order. Below, check out all of our picks for the final weekend of the 2025-26 NFL regular season.
Chris Pflum
I’ll say this one last time this year: This is a game the Giants absolutely can win, I just don’t know if they will.
The Giants’ defense has been playing much better of late, and are 5th in the NFL in defensive EPA per play over the last three weeks. Granted, the Max Brosmer Vikings and Raiders are hardly intimidating offenses, but that doesn’t change the fact that the defense has played far better over the last few weeks than they have throughout the year. Communication, discipline, effort, and execution have all been trending up. I’m just not sure it’s enough against one of the best offenses in the NFL. The Giants will need Brian Burns and Abdul Carter to take over the game, and for the secondary to give them enough time to do so. On the offensive side, the Giants will need to let Jaxson Dart play, and for their skill position players to not force him to feel like he needs to win the game himself. I also have some real concerns with the offensive line without Andrew Thomas and John Michael Schmitz against a defensive front with Quinnen Williams in the middle.
Ultimately, I think the Giants give the Cowboys everything they can handle, but they don’t have the offensive firepower to keep up with Dak Prescott, CeeDee Lamb, and George Pickens.
Winner: Cowboys
Tony DelGenio
This is a meaningless game for both teams. The only motivation for the Cowboys to win is avoiding a losing season. For the Giants, Mike Kafka wants to go out on a high note after finally winning one, and some players may be playing for their 2026 employment. I believe the Giants will play hard, and I’m sure Jaxson Dart wants another win. We do have a book on meaningless Giants final games. In 2022 a good Giants team sat its starters and Davis Webb almost beat an Eagles team that needed the win for playoff seeding. In 2023 Tyrod Taylor picked apart an Eagles team that had made the playoffs but was spiraling downward. In 2024 Drew Lock couldn’t beat an Eagles team that sat its starters and played Tanner McKee at QB. Scorecard: One viable Giants QB in three games, one win in three games.
With Dante Moore and Ty Simpson playing on Jan. 1 like they need to go back to college for another year, the Giant fan’s hope of a trade-down is more or less already dead. My best guess is that Prescott only plays a half, Dart plays the whole game, and the Giants win and drop to No. 6 or 7 in the draft order, their consolation prize being one of Carnell Tate, Caleb Downs, or Francis Mauigoa next April.
Pick: Giants
David Hartman
The Giants’ 2025-2026 season will come to an end on Sunday, mercifully. Whether the team ends up with three wins or four wins, it’s been another season to forget for Big Blue, who will be looking for a new Head Coach, and possibly a new GM, this offseason. The team will also have a Top-7 pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, but I don’t think they’ll be looking for a quarterback with that pick.
The job right now isn’t to discuss the offseason though; it’s to pick this final game. The Giants finish things off against the Cowboys at home on Sunday. Dallas defeated New York in overtime, 40-37, way back in Week 2. That marked nine straight wins in the series for Dallas, and 16 of 17 overall. New York has lost to Dallas almost every time Dak Prescott has been under center for the Cowboys, and that will probably be the result again this week. It’s no sure thing, though. New York played well at Las Vegas last week (albeit against a truly horrible team), and Dallas brings one of the NFL’s worst defenses to the Meadowlands. Fun fact: The 2025 Cowboys are just the fifth team in NFL history to both score and surrender at least 450 points in the same season.
The weather should be good on Sunday (for January in the northeast), so expect both offenses to hum, and to exploit vulnerable defenses on the other side. Dallas ranks 30th in total defense and the Giants are just one spot ahead of them. In the end, Dallas has more firepower and a major weapon at kicker who could be the difference in a back-and -forth game, plus they have the Giants’ number.
Pick: Dallas by a field goal
James Hickey
In what every Giants fan had hoped would be a meaningful game this year instead ends with an uncertain future for the franchise and fans torn between wanting to be a heated rival vs. losing to possible gain the top draft choice in Week 18.
Honestly, there is no true way to forecast this game. While Mike Kafka promised this week to play “all the way through,” there are a lot of key contributors that have popped up on the injury report this week. And in Dallas the question is how long will Dak Prescott will play on Sunday. So with the past being prologue, Jaxson Dart’s will spark the team in his last game of his rookie year with his first fourth-quarter comeback leading the Giants to victory.
Pick: Giants 28, Cowboys 24
Valentine’s View
Of course the Giants will win. How else will GM Joe Schoen be able to go to John Mara and prove that the Giants are getting better. After all, 4-13 would be better than the 2024 record of 3-14.
All kidding aside, the Giants are at home and it sounds as if they are taking this game a bit more seriously than the Cowboys. You know Mike Kafka would love a victory as a resume-builder.
Pick: Giants
See More:
