Game Preview: Cowboys-Giants
Dallas Cowboys 11-1 @ N.Y. Giants 8-4
Sunday, December 11: 8:30 PM ET
TV: NBC
When the Giants have the ball:
Fortunately for the Giants, they have Eli Manning (a sharp-witted quarterback able to make quick decisions in HC Ben McAdoo’s west coast system). The quick passing concepts allow McAdoo’s offense to cope with penetrable blockers that can’t hold up well in pass protection. That’s vital because Manning isn’t an ultra-athletic passer that can escape a swarm of rushers to extend plays like Russell Wilson, Ben Roethlisberger, and Aaron Rodgers – astute improvisers that stifle defenses on the regular.
Although Manning doesn’t boast the same extra skills in his game that mobile quarterbacks take to the gridiron – the two-time Super Bowl MVP possesses a high acumen and better than perceived arm strength as one of the most dangerous strikers.
McAdoo chiefly has Manning operating with 11 personnel (1 RB, 1 TE, 3 WRs) groupings – getting the opposing defense to spread with his unit. In spite of the fact that the staple of McAdoo’s aerial concepts consist of stretching the field horizontally with an abundance of in routes (mostly slants) – Manning’s weaponry is also capable of blowing smoke in defensive backs’ ears vertically. Arguably the best receiver in the game, Odell Beckham Jr. (an exceptional route runner with super glue hands, a slam dunkers leaping ability, burst to blow past DBs on vertical routes and downright dangerous in the open field when catching passes on the move) leads the trio of Manning’s receivers opposite of Sterling Shepard and Victor Cruz threatening the backend.
AROUND COVER32
QB Rankings: The QB position is as strong as it’s ever been
Power Rankings:: The Cowboys remain king
Week 14 Picks:: Who’s going to nab a big win this weekend?
By virtue of Manning’s deadly missile alarming defensive coordinators to roll with a safety shaded over the top of Beckham Jr. – and Cruz and Shepard qualified to beat man coverage when singled up – defenses will employ two safeties deep to mitigate over the top aerial strikes. None of the Giants’ backs (Rashad Jennings, Paul Perkins, and Bobby Rainey) are elusive to create their own space or thumpers to mash defenders through contact when toting the pigskin, but due to Cowboys’ DC Rod Marinelli likely to have his defense in nickel to handle the Giants’ spread three-receiver-base-offense – it could benefit an anemic Giants’ ground game (if Marinelli employs more cover 2 looks) – with only six defenders in the box in a 4-2-5 defensive alignment.
Jennings, Perkins and Rainey are effective out of the backfield in the passing game to replace handoffs, and if Shane Vereen (triceps) returns from the injury he suffered against the Redskins in the first month of the season – that would uptick the Giants’ extension of the ground game concepts with one of the best receiving backs in the game back in the fold. It’s crystal clear and indisputable that pressuring Manning is imperative for the Cowboys’ defense to restrain the menacing thrower from dissecting their depleted secondary that’s missing Morris Claiborne. The ordinary slants and twists Marinelli will employ his D-line to attempt to wreck havoc against the Giants’ frail O-line is the norm – but how Brandon Carr, Anthony Brown, and Orlando Scandrick fare in coverage against Manning’s polished receivers will come a long way on getting stops and potential takeaways. A tactic that could be utilized would be jamming the Giants’ receivers and funneling them into traffic where the linebackers and safeties could take away the repertoire of the Giants’ aerial attack – the in routes.
When the Cowboys have the ball:
Much dissimilar to how the Giants’ offense neutralizes opposing pass rushes from bringing Manning to the ground with an array of high-speed passing concepts – the Cowboys’ superlative offensive line and ground attack is the pedigree to nullify defensive fronts from penetrating into the backfield to stuff the run and evoking duress on the quarterback.
The five sturdy, athletic, and savvy O-lineman (LT Tyron Smith, LG Ronald Leary, C Travis Frederick, RG Zack Martin, and RT Doug Free) have maintained their proficiency in pass blocking to give Dak Prescott a wealth of time in the pocket, and continue to display their dexterity of mauling opposing fronts to create gaping lanes for league leading rusher Ezekiel Elliott. Amplifying more stress for the opposition to deal with is Prescott’s athleticism as a running threat that’s broadened deceptive methods (read-option instilled by HC Jason Garrett and OC Scott Linehan) to stymie opposing defenses.
With blockers capable of handling their business without additional help, Prescott frequently has the max ammo a quarterback can have with five options. When the Cowboys employ their 11 personnel packages with their own trio of WRs (Dez Bryant, Terrance Williams, and Cole Beasley) – TE Jason Witten can stay in to block in line (when they run the ball) or motion outside with Elliott also moving to the slot or boundary forming an empty backfield when they pass. The merrier the options are – the upswing of finding receivers in favorable matchups will be there for Prescott to exploit. This also keeps defenses in their nickel package – and like the Giants may be able to find success running the ball with the Cowboys’ defense spread out – the Cowboys’ second to none ground game can burn the Giants’ defense running out of spread sets.
Losing Jason Pierre-Paul’s versatility to rush the passer and set the edge to contain the run could be a costly blow to the Giants’ defense – but if there’s light at the end of the tunnel, Giants’ DC Steve Spagnuolo still has sufficient talent to keep his defensive unit swarming and attacking with reckless abandon. Pierre-Paul’s substitute Kerry Wynn could hold the fort even though he doesn’t have the traits near the level of a dynamic defensive end Pierre-Paul is.
Spagnuolo has DBs (Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie and Janoris Jenkins) that have the aptitude to play tight, locking in on the inside shoulders of Bryant and Williams (Prescott’s main boundary options) to drive them outside. This boosts Spagnuolo’s luxury to blitz and play with extra defenders in the box because he trusts Rodgers-Cromartie and Jenkins to go toe-to-toe with the X and Z receivers. Blitzing and playing with a single high safety can be risky – Prescott’s become more aggressive in recent weeks, taking shots downfield when his receivers are singled up.
It’s paramount for Olivier Vernon to be able win his battles against Tyron Smith on the blind side, and for Damon Harrison and Johnathan Hankins (two behemoth interior D-lineman) to able to plug the cloud of dust gaps when the Cowboys run the ball between the tackles. To combat Spagnuolo’s aggressive front that will have rising star safety Landon Collins up in the box as an added enforcer to try to mitigate Elliott from gashing the Giants’ defense – look for Linehan to dial up misdirection bootlegs, screens, and jetsweeps with Lucky Whitehead (a deceptive tool) – along with the read-option to manipulate, freeze and catch the Giants’ defense out of position. The Cowboys pretty much abandoned trying to get the Giants’ Herculean interior to move laterally with outside runs. Of course, Linehan won’t abolish dialing up inside runs – the Cowboys will always run the rock into the teeth of a D-front, but getting the Giants’ front to move east to west should be part of the game plan this time around.
Prescott has showcased more of his improvising skills each week by completing passes on the move when flushed outside of the hash marks. He may need to improvise lots in this matchup…if the Giants’ defense slows down Elliott on early downs and places Prescott in oodles of long distance passing downs like the Vikings’ defense did last Thursday.
Pick: Cowboys-24, N.Y. Giants-20.
Like the Cover32-Dallas Facebook Page!
The post Game Preview: Cowboys-Giants appeared first on Cover32.
