Happy Thanksgiving. A great slate of games and some classic rivalries will be featured Thursday. The Cowboys will play the Giants tomorrow and it will be their second matchup of the season. A 20-15 win for Dallas the first time around, which fittingly was also on a Thursday night.
I have posted below an in-depth review of the Giants team and how they play below. But there have been some changes made with the team, including a QB change…so we will get into those.
The last time these teams met, the Cowboys saw the start of their injury bug, in this game you lost Parsons and Lawrence, and only Parsons has made his return since. There will be no Zack Martin, no Trevon Diggs. Dallas will need to overcome a lot of difficult barriers…including the most difficult, win a home game.
A lot of players on the Giants want to get some revenge on the Cowboys, Malik Nabers got injured during this game in week 4, and he definitely wants to leave more of an impact on this one.
The Cowboys have won 7 straight games against the Giants, tied for the 2nd-longest win streak by either franchise in the history of the rivalry.
DeVito or Lock?
We know how this team plays, we know what they like to go to, and if you need a refresher, I have the link above.
But the most important position in the NFL, you need to have a QB. Now will they roll with Tommy DeVito or Drew Lock.
Two reasons this is a conversation, DeVito has been a limited participant on the short week of practice due to an injury on his throwing arm. Also DeVito posted a 30-7 loss against the Bucs this past Sunday.
Tommy DeVito was an undrafted free agent last season with the Giants. He was called to start over an injured Daniel Jones in 2023, and had 6 starts that season. His first career start was against Dallas. He threw for only 86 yards that day but two touchdown passes.
Tommy Devito held onto the ball for at least 4 seconds on 19.1% of his dropbacks last season, the 2nd-highest extended dropback rate among 39 quarterbacks with at least 200 dropbacks.
He will also move quickly out of the pocket, and is more of an erratic passer. He moved outside the pocket on 23.7% of his dropbacks last season. When he is pressured, which is often because he holds the ball too long, he gets very flustered, Micah Parsons was all over him last year.
Tommy DeVito completed 17 of 21 for 168 yards and scrambled 3 times for 29 yards from a clean pocket in Week 12 against the Buccaneers. He converted a first down on 45.8% of his dropbacks from a clean pocket (11 of 24), the 2nd-highest rate in a game by a Giants quarterback this season.
So overall a better player from a clean pocket.
Now just in case, lets get to know Drew Lock. In my opinion, if my desire is to win on Sunday, I would much rather see DeVito than Lock.
Drew Lock’s last start was against the Philadelphia Eagles last year as a Seahawk when he took over for two weeks for an injured Geno Smith. He is a high volume passer, and gets a lot of yards and TDs, he is more of a gambler and will turn it over on you.
Drew Lock was picked in the 2nd round of the 2019 draft, Lock started in Denver and eventually became the backup in Seattle. This year he was signed to the Giants in free agency. A stand out player in Missouri, it will be interesting to see if he can get into the game on Sunday.
What Will Thursday Look Like?
The Cowboys are looking to save face and not be complete losers at home this season. This may be the best chance at winning a home game for the rest of the season, and they are building momentum from Sunday’s win over the Commanders.
The offense needs a few solid drives, I don’t think it will take much to beat the Giants. They only have 1 win since the last time you played.
As both these teams seem to be trying to get the best draft pick available in April, overall I think the New York Giants are just better at being bad than the Cowboys.
Brett's Cowboys Corner 
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