The New York Giants are on a four game winning streak after starting the season 0-6. The Dallas Cowboys, on the other hand, are coming off a 32 point drubbing at the hands of the New Orleans Saints. These teams met back in week one when the Cowboys won 36-31 thanks to six Giants turnovers. Here are a few keys to the rematch, that will take place in the Meadowlands, for the Giants.
Step up in competition: Many analysts have tempered their excitement over the Giants' four game winning streak because of the quarterbacks they have recently faced. The last four quarterbacks they faced were Josh Freeman, Matt Barkley, Terrelle Pryor, and Scott Tolzien. All of these guys are either backups or third stringers (Tolzien will go back to being a backup when Aaron Rodgers comes back.)
This week they will go up against Tony Romo, who many consider an upper echelon quarterback. In week one Romo completed 73 percent of his passes for 263 yards with two touchdowns and an interception. On the season Romo has completed 65 percent of passes for 2,681 yards, and has 21 interceptions to only six interceptions. Romo is a clear step up in competition at quarterback and the Giants defense will have its biggest test in a while.
Keep the defensive momentum: The Giants' defense has been great the past four games and you could even count the game five weeks ago against the Bears. Yes the quarterbacks weren't the best but they still have shut down top running backs during this streak and forced turnovers. The defense ranks 15th against the pass and seventh against the run, in terms of yards, on the season.
Another key for the defense during this streak has been the resurgence of Jason Pierre-Paul. He had a sack against the Raiders and looked disruptive two weeks ago, and made the play of the game against the Packers when he snatched the ball out of the air and returned it for a pick six to ice the game last week. Pierre-Paul said this game will be a bloodbath and he will have to have a big impact if the Giants are going to win.
Get the passing game going: Eli Manning threw for 450 yards and four touchdowns against the Cowboys in week one. He hasn't come close to those numbers since. The passing game looked better last week against the Packers and is facing the perfect opponent to get right. The Cowboys have the worst defense against the pass, and Eli has already torched them once this season.
Victor Cruz has been the one part of the offense that has been consistent all year, but even he hasn't been able to find the end-zone much lately. Cruz scored three touchdowns week one and has only one since. Hakeem Nicks and Rueben Randle along with Cruz were all over 100 yards receiving in week one. With the added running game in the past couple of weeks, provided by the return of Andre Brown, the passing game should open up.
Limit the turnovers: If you watched the week one matchup you know the Giants were absolutely killed by turnovers. They had six of them. Manning did have outstanding passing numbers but he also threw three interceptions. The Giants were miraculously in the game the entire time even though they turned it over a ton.
The Giants have turned it over only six times in the last four games which is a huge difference considering Manning had 15 interceptions in the first six games himself. If the Giants can hold onto the ball in this game they have a much better shot of winning. Many Giants fans would argue that they would have won the first matchup with one less turnover. The turnover battle is always huge in every game and will be very telling in this game.
This game has huge implications on the NFC East race as the Cowboys are 5-5 (.5 games back of the Eagles) and the Giants are 4-6 (1.5 games back of the Eagles). Many have called this an elimination game, and that is especially so for the Giants. Enjoy the game on Sunday folks, it should be a good one.
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