FRISCO, Texas — After a 24-20 loss to the Eagles in Week 1, the Cowboys come into their home opener against the Giants on Sunday afternoon hungry for a win to avoid going 0-2 to start the year.
The good news for Dallas is they’ve had a lot of recent success against the G-Men, especially when Dak Prescott is on the field. The Cowboys haven’t lost against New York when Prescott has started since his rookie season.
Here are a few players our staff writers will be looking at – one for each team.
George Pickens – In the season opener, and his debut for the Cowboys, Pickens saw only four targets but hauled in three of them at critical times. It feels like this could be a game wherein Pickens and Lamb swap roles, and it’s the latter that might be stealing coverage away to allow the former the chances to have a monster game against a Giants’ secondary that’s questionable, at times. Those wondering if Pickens will have his shot at stealing the show on any given week could very well get their questions answered on Sunday against Big Blue. – Patrik Walker
Dexter Lawrence – The world didn’t get to see first-round pick Tyler Booker take on Jalen Carter due to an unwise use of saliva, but it likely won’t be robbed of the chance to see if the rookie can build on a very impressive debut against one of the best in the league at his position, namely Lawrence. He’s physical, he’s athletic, he’s good against the run and the pass alike, and his get-off is quicker than many defensive ends in the NFL. Booker needs to bring his lunch pail on Sunday, because Lawrence will be ready to put in work. – Patrik Walker
Trevon Diggs – Against the Eagles, Matt Eberflus’ defense did not play a single snap of man coverage in the secondary. You don’t see that often, but for Trevon Diggs in his return, it ended up working out as he wasn’t targeted at all in 20 coverage snaps. If the Cowboys will be that heavy in one coverage again on Sunday, Diggs will need his ball hawking abilities to flash again. He has 16 career interceptions while in zone coverage and 39 passes defended on top of that, and Dallas could use a bump on either or both of those numbers to help them out defensively against New York. – Tommy Yarrish
Malik Nabers – Conversely, if anyone is going to have a lot of success against heavy zone coverage, it’ll be second year WR Malik Nabers. In his rookie season, 853 of his 1204 receiving yards came against zone coverage, with three of his seven touchdowns coming while being defended by zone as well. In the opener against the Commanders, Nabers caught just two of his six targets against zone for 41 yards. If Dallas’ secondary can bottle him up to that sort of level of production, they’ll likely have had a solid day. – Tommy Yarrish
Tyler Guyton – What to make of Guyton’s first game of the season last week in Philly. There were some good moments and as Guyton admitted, lots of plays to clean up. While the Giants might not be on the Eagles’ level as a team, I would venture to say Guyton will have a tougher matchup this week than last. And that’s nothing against Philly’s defense but the strength of this Giants team is the depth of the pass rushers. And they can bring a variety of different players to face Guyton on the edge. How he performs this week will probably be the key to the game. If he plays well and can contain the Giants’ rush, the Cowboys should be able to have plenty of success. – Nick Eatman
Wan’Dale Robinson- Here’s an interesting stat that I came across this week. Robinson averaged 8.2 targets over the 17-game season. The most targets he got in a single game was 14 in the first matchup with the Cowboys. He ended up with 11 catches for 71 yards. The game in which he had the least amount of targets was … also against Dallas He had just two targets – with two catches in the Thanksgiving Day game in Dallas. That’s quite a contrast especially against the same team. Robinson faced a defense with Trevon Diggs on the field the first time, but no DaRon Bland. In the rematch, it was flipped. So you have to wonder just how the Cowboys might play Robinson, knowing what Malik Nabers brings on the opposite side. Robinson was targeted eight times with six catches for 55 yards last week in Washington. – Nick Eatman