The Giants didn’t have much time to savor their first win of this season, an encouraging 21-15 showing against the Cleveland Browns on the road this past Sunday. Four days later, they are back home at MetLife Stadium to play a reeling and desperate Dallas Cowboys squad in a significant NFC East contest.
Both the Giants and Cowboys are 1-2. The team that leaves the field with a loss will have done severe harm to their postseason prospects despite the NFL schedule still being in its early stages. Since 1990, only 34 of 235 teams that have begun the season 1-3 have made the playoffs. So the odds are not impossible, but demonstrably improbable.
There were many aspects of the Giants’ victory over the Browns that were promising for a team that finished last season 6-11 and entered this season’s campaign with numerous unknowns, the most prominent among them the health and capacity of quarterback Daniel Jones, who sustained a season-ending torn ACL in his right knee on November 5 in Week 9 against the Las Vegas Raiders. He was limited to just six games last season due to neck and knee injuries.
Jones didn’t fully answer these questions versus the Browns, but it was one of his best performances over his past nine games. Jones was 24-34 for 236 yards and two touchdowns, and even more telling, no interceptions. Both TDs were to electrifying rookie wide receiver Malik Nabers, who snagged eight catches for 78 yards. The Giants offense was aided by a dogged Giants defense that sacked Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson eight times, led by Pro Bowl defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence who had two.
Afterwards, Jones expressed more relief than joy in the team notching a victory. ”Yeah, I mean I think it always feels good to get a win, however it comes. First one is important, so we have to look at what we did well and build on it, and clean up the things we didn’t do well.”
Now, the focus is on preparation and meticulously executing the game plan against the Cowboys.
“…You have younger coaches that go through things leading up to this game, it’s a short week. As play callers, you’re pretty honed in on who you’re playing that week,” said Giants head coach Brian Daboll on Monday.
“So, there’s a lot of catching up to do. We met after we got off the plane yesterday and did some things last night. We were here early… Some of the guys stayed here last night. Other guys got in pretty early, so we’re catching up. We’ll be caught up, but with these short weeks, there’s not much time. You need a lot of it. You need all the time you can.”