The Dallas Cowboys look to stay on top in the NFC East when they travel to face one of their division rivals, the New York Giants, on Monday Night Football. Dallas is currently 4-3 on the season and percentage points ahead of the second-place Philadelphia Eagles, who moved to 5-4 on the year with a win over Chicago Sunday.
The Giants come into this game having dropped four straight, including last weekend’s 31-26 loss to Detroit. New York is 2-6 and close to being out of playoff contention entirely. That’s not a good time to be facing Dallas, which has beaten the Giants in each of the last five meetings between the two teams.
The moneyline for this contest has the Dallas Cowboys -300 and the New York Giants +250. Dallas is favored by 6.5 points on the road, while the over/under for this game has been set at 48.
Looking For Better
The last time the Cowboys played in MetLife Stadium, just three weeks ago, they lost to the previously winless New York Jets, 24-22. Dallas bounced back in their next game, routing Philadelphia 37-10 before having a bye last weekend. The Cowboys will look for a quick start in this one to try to take the life out of the crowd, which means lots of Ezekiel Elliott runs. Elliott had only 53 yards in the first meeting between the teams in the season opener, but he was just back from a long holdout. He’s rushed for 602 yards and six touchdowns this season.
Dak Prescott will be looking for a repeat of that earlier meeting, when he passed for 405 yards and four touchdowns. He’s thrown for 2,123 yards and 12 touchdowns this season, though he has just one scoring toss and four sacks over the last two games. Defensively, Dallas ranks eighth in the NFL, allowing 324.9 yards of total offense a game. Linebacker Leighton Vander Esch is questionable for this game, which means Sean Lee and Jaylen Smith need to play well to help bottle up Saquon Barkley.
Needing A Win
The euphoria of Daniel Jones’ first two games as the Giants’ starting quarterback has faded with four straight losses after he went 2-0 in his first two starts. The rookie has thrown for 1,466 yards and 10 touchdowns, but he also has seven interceptions and eight fumbles. Barkley had a season-high 120 yards in the loss to Dallas earlier this season, but since returning from an ankle injury in Week 3, he’s only played in two games and totaled 136 yards and a score.
The Giants’ defense has not been good this season, ranking 28th in the league in yards allowed per game (386.8) and 27th in points allowed per game (27.3). Linebacker Markus Golden leads the team with 5.5 sacks and 6.5 tackles for loss. The team’s top two tacklers are safeties Antoine Bethea with 58 and Jabril Peppers with 53, with no other player recording even 40.
Cowboys Complete Sweep
If the Jets loss did anything for the Cowboys, it allowed coach Jason Garrett to warn his players about taking any team too lightly. Dallas is just too good offensively, especially with Amari Cooper back healthy (he missed most of the Jets game), and taking on a division rival is sure to fire the team up. Throw in a primetime game, and the Cowboys’ stars should shine. I’m taking Dallas -6.5 to get the win.
