Brett's Cowboys Corner

The New York Giants find themselves 1-2 through the first three weeks, coming off a 21-15 win against the Cleveland Browns. The Giants seem to be improving each week and finding their feet, with a nice selection of offensive weapons, it is their quarterback who may limit their potential. A new coordinator on defense, Shane Bowen, New York is trying to bring back the “Big-Blue Wreckin’ Crew.” This would be a huge win for the Giants as they play a team that historically has had their number, in the last decade the Cowboys are 16-4 against the Giants. The four Giant’s wins were against Matt Cassel, Andy Dalton, and two verses rookie Dak Prescott, who hasn’t lost to them since.

There is no better time for the Giants to run into a Cowboys team who are lost in their own identities, they currently have no answers as a run defense or as a run offense, the playcalling has no rhythm. On a short week, was there enough time to fix problems and prepare for the Giants? Though this is a familiar opponent and maybe a pissed off Dallas team is all they need to go into Thursday.

For the Giants, there is already a present blueprint for destroying the foundation of the Cowboys, over the past two weeks, we saw the Saints and Ravens commit to running the ball against Dallas. The Giants should look at that, and see if they can replicate it. With Devin Singletary and Tyrone Tracy, they need to be heavily involved this week. Not to forget Daniel Jones has the ability to move around as well. The Giants should continue to utilize the motion offense with Malik Nabers being their primary motion man, to throw off the Dallas defense.

As for the defense, they have been dominant in creating pressure on pass plays and stopping the run. We saw the Ravens give Dak nightmares when they presented the blitz, the Giants have a blitz rate that is 2nd highest in the NFL. They need to take some of the weight off the defensive backs by getting to the quarterback quickly.

OFFENSE

Malik Nabers: The rookie receiver is quickly becoming a threat in the Giants offense, we have got to stop letting these guys get LSU receivers…Nabers leads the Giants in targets (37), yards (271), and touchdowns (3). New York focuses on getting this kid the ball, and they will do it all over the field from motions to the flat, lining up in the slot or outside, going deep or drags underneath. Nabers currently leads the NFL in team target share (38.1%) as well as team air yards share (57.6%). No other player holds over 35% of their team’s target share or 50% of their team’s air yards. Malik has been targeted on a league-high 37 of his 106 routes (34.9% target rate) this season. Primarily tearing up man coverage, he will be a key guy to contain Thursday.

Offense Moves With The RPO

How has the Giants found their identity with Daniel Jones?

They utilize an RPO offense, meaning each play the QB makes a decision as the ball is snapped to hand off to the running back or decide to pull it back to throw a quick pass, there are designed runs for the QB as well, which works for Jones. We see a lot of the completed passes from pre-snap motion from a target like Nabers or Wan’Dale Robinson, who creates open space for themselves.

The main reason the Giants like the RPO is to help their offensive line, by themselves they are a weaker unit among the NFL, but the RPO means the offensive line moves as the ball is snapped because they block as if it is a run play. So you will see a lot of pulling guards and misdirection of where the ball is going. Andrew Thomas, the left tackle, struggles at dealing with power rushers but creating a lot more movement can keep him off the island with a creative pass rusher.

What might kill the Cowboys run defense, is the pin and pull technique, a very routine offensive line blocking alignment, where the run play goes outside to the right or left, usually a tackle and center will hit defensive tackles sideways and two offensive linemen who would normally take on those DTs will run outside and create a convoy with the RB running behind them. This is a problem because of how easily the Cowboys defensive tackles have been pushed around these first three weeks.

Threats at Receiver

The Giants receiving core has a lot of potential. My player spotlight was on the rookie Malik Nabers, who is absolutely the guy New York wants to put the ball in the hands of, and they do not care how it needs to get done – If only Ceedee Lamb was treated the same way in Dallas – Nabers has been sent into motion a team high of 31 snaps. The best way to articulate how important Nabers is to this offense is to just show you.

Wan’Dale Robinson is the other main target for Jones, but he is more of the security blanket, he will be running a lot of dump-offs and short underneath routes. 22 of Robinson’s 24 targets have come under 10 yards. The ball travels and average of 4.7 yards in the air on a Robinson target, that number is 10 yards on average to Malik Nabers.

Jalin Hyatt is the speedy 2nd-year player from Tennessee, this is a player to keep an eye on because you don’t want him to get behind your defense, though teams have kept him under good wraps, with only two targets on the year for him. Some of that may be the limitation of Daniel Jones taking a risky throw.

Darius Slayton will line up outside and be the traditional X-receiver, but he is not as much of a weapon as he once was for the Giants, but nonetheless still a reliable target.

Keep an eye on the shifty running back, Devin Singletary as he will find himself a valuable target in the pass game as well.

Keeping it Simple for Daniel Jones

The success for Jones has been allowing him to operate in a simple offense. It seems most of the time he is throwing the ball into spots, meaning he is getting the ball to where the receiver was supposed to be not where they end up. This is due to predetermined throws at times and not having great vision of the defense.

Jones is often beaten when the defense can disguise pre-snap coverage so that once the ball is snapped the defense actually is a different coverage than what he initially read. This is another reason for the RPO, it is designed so that the pass is coming off of one read, he can watch the receiver, and if he isn’t open based on the defense you let the runner take the ball.

Daniel Jones had most of his production come when facing 4 or fewer pass rushers in Week 3, completing 17 of 21 pass attempts for 143 yards and 2 touchdowns.

From the chart, Jones likes to keep the play to his left and usually under 10 air yards. On the four completions over 10 yards, 3 of them were to Malik Nabers.

DEFENSE

Shane Bowen: The first-year defensive coordinator, from the Tennesse Titans has created an identity for this defense in the first three weeks. In his debut as Giants defensive coordinator, Shane Bowen blitzed the Vikings on 23% of dropbacks in Week 1. His defense brings the heat on pass plays. But also has created a good rushing defense. Giants rushers have been contacted behind the line of scrimmage on 46.7% of carries this season, the 5th-highest rate in the NFL. The Giants rush defense has performed better on the interior this season, allowing a 38.2% success rate on designed rushes between the tackles (11th) compared to 43.3% on those outside the tackles (24th).

Giants Front is Full of Talent

During the offseason, the Giants added a veteran pass rusher by way of trade to a young and stacked defensive line room. Brian Burns from the Panthers has fit into this defense and has made an immediate impact. He has generated 15 pressures on 84 pass rushes this season (17.9%), the highest pressure rate of his career.

As mentioned earlier, the interior of this line is what makes them truly scary, Dexter Lawrence will be matched up with rookie Cooper Beebe and will be the strongest rusher he has dealt with this season. Lawrence is a special DT, rarely you see a tackle be both dominant in run defense and pass rush. Beebe will have his hands full this week.

On the other side of the formation is Kayvon Thibodeaux, will create a lot of pressures playing on both sides of the formation.

This front seven will create a lot of pressures and make it a rough time for your offensive line. The Linebackers also have a big role, Micah McFadden is the pressure LB with 1.5 sacks so far and Bobby Okereke is the traditional coverage MLB. Another great element to their pass rush is from the safety Jason Pinnock, he has 3 sacks already on the season and will see a lot of surprise rushes.

A Young Secondary

The secondary features a lot of rookies and 2nd year players. While the front seven has created pressure to make the secondary’s lives easier, a lot of big chunk plays against New York are usually due to mishaps in coverage.

Deonte Banks, 2nd-year corner, has been the number one guy. He plays a tight press coverage and can stay stride for stride with the receiver. Amari Cooper had an opening touchdown on him but that is a rare mistake from him.

Cordale Flott may be the man to attack, he plays more off coverage and sometimes falls victim to quick cuts. But for some reason the Cowboys struggle in building a gameplan to attack a weak link…but whatever.

The nickel spot should be a glaring red flag to target, especially with Lamb lining up in the slot. The Giants may be out Andru Phillips, who has not practiced all week, but even when he’s playing, he will give up plays in the slot. The Giants also are going to still be missing Adoree Jackson, who would typically be their #1 corner.

Areas to Attack

The Cowboys should look to attack the secondary early and get out to a lead. They need to pass to set up the run and look to dominate possessions. Cowboys need to be ready for the heavy run attack of the Giants since they have proven not to be able to stop it. Much like in the Deshaun Watson game, make Jones beat you with his arm. All while applying as much pressure as possible.

This is a needed bounce back win for the Cowboys as they search for their identity. If they fall to New York, there will be a lot of tough questions to answer and let’s say a lot of employment at risk.