The Cowboys could be near rock bottom after two straight losses and are in desperate need of a win. There’s no better time than now to take on the Giants in a fast-paced Thursday Night Football game. New York just won its first game of the season, but its 21-15 victory over the Browns is being called an inspiration. This is the third season under coach Brian Daboll, who led the Giants to the playoffs and won the wild card game in his first season. This led to a contract extension for Daniel Jones, which immediately made the front office regret its play. The Giants made great strides on both offense and defense last year, going 6-11. After coming back to reality from the accident, Dabol made several changes to the coaching staff. He retained offensive coordinator Mike Kafka and even added “assistant head coach” to his title, and Daboll took over the offensive play-calling duties this season.
The girher was also a defensive coordinator and read two groups of Daboll Martinleb, who did not advise the first coordinator. To replace this, Daboll Shane Bowan has led the protection of the titan in the last four seasons. This sets the Giants up for a breakout year, at least operationally, with two new voices on both sides of the ball. Daboll currently runs the offense and is trying to save the career of Jones, whose contract runs through 2026 but expires after this season. To that end, the Giants drafted Malik Nabers 6th overall and selected JJ McCarthy, Jr. I signed Michael Penix. Bo jumped over Nix to give Jones a lock weapon.
Until now, Naver was like this. No player in the NFL has more targets than Nabers through three games, and he is currently tied for fifth in receiving yards. Daboll made Nabers a priority in his game plan and repeatedly fed his rookie quarterback, but much of that is due to the lack of other talent on offense. Only one Giants player has seen more than 10 targets so far: third-year pro Van’Dale Robinson. Unsurprisingly, Robinson is the only player on the team with double-digit receptions. The third most productive pass catcher on the team is quarterback Devin Singletary. This shows how bad the skill pool is outside of Nabers. In terms of planning, Daboll has a wealth of experience in his coaching career. He was successful as Josh Allen’s coordinator in Buffalo because he was able to combine so many different concepts to perfectly complement Allen’s unique skill set.
So far this year, Daboll has leaned heavily on what he did in Buffalo, throwing the ball at one of the best speeds in the league and trying to spread defenses around. The Giants’ success with Jones in 2022 will be largely based on getting the ball out of his hands quickly, and Daboll has tried to emulate that this year. So far, Jones ranks 10th in average throw time, but has the 9th-lowest air distance per attempt. The fact that he’s still 10th in the league in pressure percentage tells you everything you need to know about the shape of this offensive line. Now a big part of this offense is predicated on getting the ball to Nabers. Any defense that can contain the receiver will be successful. But that’s easier said than done. Allowing Jones to hold onto the ball a little longer led to a good pass that burst in front of them. This is usually when Jones’ worst qualities emerge.
On the defensive side of the ball, Bowen has struggled to live up to the hype that came when the Giants traded star quarterback Brian Burns. Bowen offers a radically different scheme than the offensive-minded Martindale, who prefers to rush and attack four players first. Bowen also relies more on zone coverage schemes, while Martindale lives and dies by the press. It’s been a mixed bag on the field so far. Burns has just one sack in nine pressures, which ranks 26th among edge rushers. His counterpart, Keyvon Thibodeau, has yet to record a sack and his six pressures are tied for 51st. Dexter Lawrence led the defense with three sacks and 17 pressures, but most of the team’s pass rush (10th in pressures and second in sacks) came from Lawrence and the timely offense.
Opposing offenses often struggled with quick hits in the passing game. The Giants throw the third-fastest ball, but primarily have a strong running game. Only five teams give up more yards per carry. Unfortunately, the Cowboys are one of them. They allow more yards than expected and even allow more yards than Dallas. They also tied the Cowboys for as many yards as possible after contact was allowed. That said, this defense has allowed 17 rushes of 10 yards or more, often giving up quick underground passes and struggling to stop big running plays. That will be music to the ears of the Cowboys running backs, who have struggled so far this season.
The Giants may have two new voices calling the plays this year, but that doesn’t change the old talent issues that led them to a 6-11 finish last year. The gap between them and the Cowboys has actually widened, and many of the Giants’ deficiencies fit well with what the Cowboys want from their scheme. On paper, this should be an easy game to win on Thursday night.
