Questions Waiting for Answers: Cowboys vs. Giants, Pt. 2
By Matt Cordon (kh). Filed in Questions Waiting for Answers |
The last time Dallas played the Giants, the biggest concern was how Dallas contained the Giants’ pass rush and blitz. In short, the Cowboys didn’t, but that was before we got this Romo fellow in there. Here was one of my questions from the last matchup:
5. How often does the ESPN broadcast crew mention Tony Romo? Enough is enough, folks. At the earliest, play Romo after Thanksgiving. If things go better, play him next year. Not now.
Credibility… swirling down the toilet….Let’s have some questions:
1. Do the Giants try to fight their way out of the corner? The irony of this game is that many Giants fans are predicting gloom and doom, while several of the Cowboys fans are saying this game will be closer than many expect. I would think that the Giants would come out fighting. The real question in my mind is what happens when they make their first big mistake. They controlled the ball very well against Tenneseee until the fourth quarter, and had they simply ran Tiki Barber and kept the passing game limited to safer passes (screens to Barber and perhaps Brandon Jacobs; short hitches and hooks to Jeremy Shockey and Plaxico Burress), there is almost no way they would have lost that game.
2. What happens when Dallas has a big play, either offensively or defensively? Manning looks shaken, and so one would think that he would make a big mistake or so. And Frank Walker looks completely overmatched on defense, so there is the potential for a big play from the Cowboys in the passing game. It will be interesting to see what happens when Manning throws a pick, the defense gives up a long gain in some manner, or something like that.
3. What type of 7-4 team is this? More than a little has been made of last year’s match-up, when both teams entered the game at 7-4. The Giants dominated, leading to an 11-5 and a divisional title. Dallas lost, then split their last four, to finish at 9-7. The big difference this year is that Dallas is playing with much more confidence– even more so that during the three-game winning streak last year that ended with the 24-21 loss to Denver on Thanksgiving.
4. Does Julius Jones prove that he should start over Marion Barber? I think he should, but Barber seems to be improving while Jones has looked a little bit shaky. Jones simply doesn’t break many tackles and doesn’t get to use his speed as often as he could. His longest run this season is 33 yards, and his yards-per-run average has dropped to 4.0. By comparison, Barber breaks those tackles, and though he does not have the breakaway speed that Jones has, he makes more of his own yards. His average per carry is 5.1 on 97 attempts, with 492 total yards.
5. Can we have just a little bit of confidence in our kicker? Please?
6. Prediction: Dallas 24, N.Y. Giants 20. The Giants are tough at home and will probably come out trying to prove something. But if the Cowboys are patient, the Giants are likely to make a few mistakes, and Dallas should take advantage.
Other predictions:
And the score . . . Cowboys 24, Giants 16 . . . and while Romo might not be able to continue at his current level, this Cowboys defense has come of age. This will be the fifth time in the last six games the Cowboys hold an opponent to less than 17 points.
The Giants have done a lot of soul searching this week with player only and coach-player meetings to try to right their sinking ship. They will come out of the tunnel ready to play, but as soon as this game does not go their way this team could implode.
The Cowboys are running on all cylinders and Tony Romo should take advantage of the Giants’ secondary to put up some big numbers. Parcells will have his team ready to play because they know they have one chance at the divisional title and they must win this game.
Prediction: Cowboys 24, Giants 20
