Big Blue View
The New York Giants week 2 matchup against the Dallas Cowboys will be a battle for the basement of the NFC East. Both teams come into the game carrying 0-1 records after each lost season openers to an NFC East rival.
For the Giants, the challenge won’t just be to score more points than the Cowboys, but to score at all. Despite having 13 plays in the Washington Commanders’ red zone, they came up with just 6 points. Explosive plays were almost non-existent, as was the Giants’ running game.
Frankly, the team struggled to do much on offense other than line up to snap the ball.
The Cowboys’ defense, meanwhile, was more stout against the Eagles than expected after trading Micah Parsons to the Green Bay Packers. They still weren’t great, but they acquitted themselves well-enough.
It’s still too early in the season to get a good handle on teams’ tendencies and schemes, particularly when they have a new coaching staff. So we can still only make guesses as to what the Giants can expect to see from their opponent. But even so, this game is less about what the Cowboys can throw at the Giants and much more about whether the Giants can even be functional on offense.
The Giants simply can’t afford another performance like Week 1, and have to show progress — likely significant progress. If they can’t find traction in Jerry World, things could get dire fast in New York and we could see drastic changes soon.
The offense as a whole needs to execute better. That much should go without saying, but the way they constantly seemed to be iceskating uphill against the Commanders makes saying it a necessity. The skill position players need to do a better job of getting — and staying — open, disrupting rushes with chip blocks, and finishing plays.
But it all starts up front for he Giants.
The offensive line needs to do a much better job of engaging defenders, executing double-teams, and sustaining blocks.
The biggest threats on the Dallas defense are their defensive tackles, Kenny Clark and Osa Odighizua. Clark is the bigger name, a former Pro Bowl defender who the Cowboys acquired from the Green Bay Packers in the Micah Parsons trade. The 29-year-old (he’ll be 30 in October) has been one of the best defensive tackles in the NFL, and was (to a certain extent) Dexter Lawrence before Dex was Dex.
However, Odighizua might be the more dangerous player for the Giants.
Dallas moved both players around the formation in Week 1, and Odighizua spent a considerable amount of time at nose tackle. That might seem counterintuitive, or perhaps even an opportunity for the offense, because he weighs in at 280 pounds. However Odighizuwa is an extremely explosive rusher who excels at using leverage to maximize his play strength while stressing linemen with an impressive first step. He was a handful for the Eagles’ massive offensive linemen and was...
