The New York Giants are facing one of their division rivals, the Dallas Cowboys in week 17. The Cowboys are one game ahead of the Giants. If the Giants want to make the playoffs, they need to beat Dallas first. If they beat Dallas, they need some help from the Eagles to beat the Washington Football Team.
The Giants are facing a team that is trending in the right direction. This game against Dallas will not be easy, here are the three concerns for the Giants in Week 17.
Giants trending down, Cowboys trending up
The Giants went on a four-game win streak before losing against the Arizona Cardinals on Week 14. Since that Week 14 loss, the Giants are on a three-game losing streak. While the Giants are trending downwards the Cowboys are on the rise. The Cowboys have won their last three games and putting up points on the opponent’s defense.
The Giants had a top 10 run defense going into last week. In the last three games, the Giants have given up on average 171.3 per game on the ground. With Ezekiel Elliott and Tony Pollard picking up steam over the last couple of weeks, the Cowboy’s run offense has significantly improved.
Giants pass defense
Whatever side James Bradberry chooses, I am not worried about. The side that has Issac Yiadom could and will likely be a weak point, especially with the weapons that Dallas has in Amari Cooper, Michael Gallup, and rookie CeeDee Lamb.
The Cowboys went from a Dak Prescott/Zeke centric offense to a Mike McCarthy/spread centric offense with Andy Dalton at the helm. Since Dalton has come back from his concussion and Covid-19, he has gone 4-2 and brought the Cowboys all the way back to the playoff picture. Over the last three games, the Cowboys are averaging 36 points per game, and the Giants are averaging 8.6 points per game.
The Giants secondary is gonna need to create turnovers if they want a chance to play in the playoffs with home-field advantage.
Simple, Daniel Jones
Daniel Jones will be playing in the biggest game of his young career. If Jones can beat Dallas and get a little help from Philly, he could remove all the talks about him potentially getting replaced.
Jones spoke to the media this week about his previous injuries and admitted he is not a hundred percent. Jones also said that he would be a pocket passer and not use his legs until he is a hundred percent healthy. Jones technically just told Dallas that he will stay in the pocket and throw. Dallas has to prepare less now.
One thing that we love about head coach Joe Judge is that he keeps his opponents guessing. With Jones telling the media about staying in the pocket, that’s not keeping your opponents guessing.