Blogging The Boys
Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott has won 13 straight starts dating back to his second year in the league against the New York Giants. As a team, the Cowboys have won 20 of the last 24 matchups in this series. Their current eight-game winning streak against the Giants dating back to week five of the 2021 season is their second longest in the rivalry’s history, only behind a streak of twelve straight wins from week seven of 1974 all the way to week five of 1980. For comparison, the Giants’ longest winning stretch all-time against the Cowboys is half of this at six games.
Around The Star this week, the talk from a Cowboys team that’s already suffered one close NFC East loss in the season opener is not about these streaks or the expectation to win being manifested solely on paper, though. It is about how again this week new HC Brian Schottenheimer can have his team look prepared, focused, and ready to play fast as they did in that loss to the Eagles, enough to leave AT&T Stadium on Sunday as the division team that avoids an 0-2 start. To show that all losses aren’t created equally, the home fans in this week’s game don’t have to look any further at all than the visitors. Like the Cowboys, the Giants lost their opener away to a division rival, 21-6 at the Washington Commanders. An already hot seat under head coach Brian Daboll has remarkably gotten hotter after just one game, most notably also with rookie first-round quarterback Jaxson Dart waiting in the wings to make a start.
All of these factors have the Cowboys as favorites to even their record at 1-1 and remain squarely in the fight for a division known for flip-flopping winners for two decades. With the amount of praise their effort against the Eagles in primetime earned though, how exactly they earn a win against the Giants may carry extra importance. Already with some good faith in hand, Schottenheimer’s offense returns home after one game where they looked noticeably different schematically than they ever did under Mike McCarthy. Even during the time Schottenheimer was OC and McCarthy was HC, Dallas had multiple seasons they were known for lighting up scoreboards on home turf, but even that wasn’t in the style of attack they used against Vic Fangio’s defense and Philadelphia.
The Cowboys established a ground game with two rushing touchdowns on their first two drives, used heavy motion and play-action in the passing game, and put their top dog at WR CeeDee Lamb in positions to make big plays all night – the execution of which down the stretch let them down.
The Cowboys getting back to having a dominant offense at home, one that allows Matt Eberflus’ defense to continue bringing pressure and hunt for takeaways, would be one of the best possible signs this team can jumpstart putting the lost 2024 campaign behind them and compete this year. It feels mundane to...
