The Cowboys may be close to hitting rock bottom after two straight losses, and they’re in desperate need of a win. There’s no more perfect time than now to face the Giants on a short turnaround for Thursday Night Football. New York just won their first game of the season, though few would call the 21-15 victory over the Browns inspiring.
This year marks the third season under head coach Brian Daboll, who took the Giants to the playoffs and won a Wild Card game in his first season. That led to a contract extension for Daniel Jones, who almost immediately made the front office regret it with his play. The Giants took a big step back on both sides of the ball last year and finished 6-11.
In the wake of the crash back down to reality, Daboll made a few changes to the coaching staff. While he retained offensive coordinator Mike Kafka, and actually added “assistant head coach” to his title, Daboll took over offensive playcalling duties for this season. The Giants also lost defensive coordinator Wink Martindale, who quit in a fit of rage after Daboll fired two of Martindale’s top assistants without consulting the coordinator first. To replace him, Daboll brought in Shane Bowen, who had run the Titans defense for the past four seasons.
That left the Giants heading into a potential make-or-break year with two new voices on either side of the ball, at least from an operational standpoint. Daboll is now in charge of the offense and trying to salvage Jones’ career, whose contract runs through 2026 but has an out after this season. To do that, the Giants drafted LSU wideout Malik Nabers sixth overall, passing on quarterbacks JJ McCarthy, Michael Penix Jr., and Bo Nix to instead provide Jones with a go-to weapon.
So far, Nabers has been exactly that. No other player in the NFL has more targets than Nabers through three games, and he’s fifth in receiving yards right now. Daboll has made Nabers a priority in the gameplan, feeding his rookie repeatedly, though much of that has to do with the lack of talent elsewhere on offense.
Only one other Giants player has seen more than 10 targets so far, and it’s third-year pro Wan’Dale Robinson. Unsurprisingly, Robinson is also the only other player on the team with double-digit receptions. The team’s third-most productive pass catcher is their running back, Devin Singletary, which underscores how dire the skill group is outside of Nabers.
From a scheme standpoint, Daboll has a wide variety of experiences throughout his coaching career. He thrived as Josh Allen’s coordinator in Buffalo largely because he was able to mix so many different concepts together to perfectly complement Allen’s unique skillset. So far this year, Daboll has leaned on many of the things he did in Buffalo, namely throwing the ball at one of the higher rates in the league to try and spread defenses out.
The Giants’ success with Jones in 2022 was largely predicated on getting the ball out of his hands quickly, and Daboll has tried to replicate that this year. So far, Jones is 10th in average time to throw but has the ninth-lowest air yards per attempt. The fact that he’s still 10th in the league in pressure rate tells you all you need to know about the shape of this offensive line.
Much of this offense right now is built around getting the ball to Nabers. Any defense that manages to contain the receiver will be able to have success, though that’s easier said than done. Making Jones hold the ball just a tick longer is all it takes for a good pass rush to get in his face, which is when Jones’ worst tendencies usually come out.
On the defensive side of the ball, Bowen has struggled to live up to the hype that was built when the Giants traded for star edge rusher Brian Burns. Bowen brings a drastically different scheme from the blitz-happy Martindale, preferring to primarily rush four and pick and choose when he blitzes. Bowen also relies more on zone coverage schemes, whereas Martindale lived and died in press man coverage.
So far, it’s been a mixed bag on the field. Burns has just one sack among nine pressures, which ties him for 26th among edge rushers. His running mate, Kayvon Thibodeaux, has yet to record a sack and his six pressures are tied for 51st. Defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence has done well, with three sacks and 17 pressures, but most of the team’s pass rush – they’re 10th in pressure rate and and second in sacks – has come by way of Lawrence and well-timed blitzes.
Opposing offenses have largely combatted this with quick hitters in the pass game – the Giants are seeing the third-fastest time to throw against them – but primarily strong running games. Only five teams are giving up more yards per carry – sadly, the Cowboys are one of them – and they’re allowing the second-most rushing yards over expected, even more than Dallas. They’re also tied with the Cowboys for most yards after contact allowed.
In other words, this defense frequently gives up quick passes underneath and struggles to prevent big running plays, having already allowed 17 runs of 10 yards or more. That should be music to the ears of these Cowboys running backs, who have had a rough go of things so far this season.
The Giants may have two new voices calling the plays this year, but it hasn’t changed the same old talent problems that led to a 6-11 finish a year ago. If anything, the talent gap between them and the Cowboys has widened, and many of the Giants’ deficiencies line up well with what the Cowboys are looking to do in their own schemes. On paper, that should make for a very winnable game come Thursday night.
