The Dallas Cowboys are preparing to host the New York Giants in Week 2 of the regular season, with both teams looking to avoid the dreaded 0-2 start. That hasn’t been a problem for the Cowboys, who have recovered nicely after being 0-1 since quarterback Dak Prescott arrived.
However, the situation feels more dire for the Giants, who have begun seven of the last 10 seasons at 0-2. Head coach Brian Daboll and general manager Joe Schoen are in win-now mode, which means another loss to start the year could signal the beginning of their end with the Giants. The Cowboys have dominated the matchups with the Giants recently, but there are two main areas for concern in the Week 2 matchup.
It is a desperate team with nothing to lose coming to Dallas, so Brian Schottenheimer needs to have his team ready. The Cowboys cannot afford an 0-2 start and there are two things to worry about with the Giants.
The Giants don’t do many things well, but if there’s one place where they are elite, it’s with their pass rush. Defensive coordinator Shane Bowen’s unit has the pass rushers to make life very uncomfortable for Prescott and limit the damage from the Cowboys’ offense.
With three great edge rushers and one of the league’s best defensive tackles in Dexter Lawrence, the Giants can harass Prescott. There may not be a team in the NFL who has a pass rushing trio of Brian Burns, Kayvon Thibodeaux, and Abdul Carter on the edges, which wouldn’t be as bad if they didn’t have Dexter Lawrence creating chaos in the middle. Grouped together and it’s a scary pass rush facing a young Cowboys offensive line still trying to gel.
The veteran Burns came away with two sacks in the opener, while Thibodeaux and Carter came away splitting the other sack on Washington Commanders QB Jayden Daniels. Burns has at least eight sacks in five of his first six seasons, Thibodeaux has an 11.5 season to his name and Lawrence is coming off a career high nine QB takedowns last year, to give a scope of just how good their pass rush can be.
That doesn’t account for the rookie Carter, who might be the best of the bunch. The third overall pick in the 2025 draft has earned rave reviews since he joined the Giants, and he’s going to be a problem for the Cowboys.
The offensive line for the Cowboys will have to keep the pass rush of the Giants off Prescott if they want to win the Week 2 matchup. That’s no easy task with the array of top-notch pass rushers the Giants employ.
While the Giants don’t have many weapons on offense, wide receiver Malik Nabers is an explosive playmaker who can torch the Cowboys’ secondary. Nabers is one of the elite young WRs in the league and is the leading option in the Giants passing game.
In Week 1, the second-year phenom led the Giants in targets and receiving yards, catching five balls for 71 yards on 12 targets. Nabers said this week he felt like he should’ve done more with the passes thrown his way and now he’ll get a depleted group of Cowboys cornerbacks to test.
With top CB DaRon Bland out with a foot injury and Trevon Diggs still working up his stamina, Nabers could be looking at a huge game. Bland’s absence means Diggs will have to ramp up his snaps after playing 27 in the season opener, to pair with starter Kaiir Elam in trying to slow down Nabers. There isn’t another CB on the roster who has the quality to hold Nabers in check.
Nabers embarrassed the Cowboys last year when they tried to defend him with anyone besides their top three CB options.
In his two games against the Cowboys last season, Nabers had 20 catches for 184 yards, but never found the end zone. Nabers had an elite rookie year, catching 109 passes for 1,204 yards and seven scores en route to making the All-NFL rookie team.
The offense and QB aren’t very good, but Nabers is the one player who can change the game for the Giants. The Cowboys will have to keep Nabers from inflicting too much damage.
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