Three Reasons the Cowboys Win or Lose

The Cowboys will have an opportunity to move back into first place in the NFC East with a crucial game against the New York Giants. Thankfully, the Cowboys are 2-0 in the division, but with three consecutive losses, the Cowboys will be looking at breaking that streak with a couple of new faces in the starting lineup. Dez Bryant has been officially ruled out for Sunday.

We’re going to have some answers from the backup spot when Matt Cassel takes the reigns. If Cassel plays better than Weeden, it’ll give the Cowboys some aspirations at a NFC East title run; however, if Cassel plays bad, then the Cowboys will have a lot of work to do in the offseason in the form of drafting a QB early once and for all.

Everyone saw the Walking Dead last week and the episode was called “JSS” and this is exactly what the Cowboys need to do until Tony Romo returns to the lineup — just survive somehow. I think part of the reason Coach Garrett took the team to the World Trade Center Memorial was to re-invigorate the inner fight and to pull together against all adversity, which is exactly what the Cowboys have been dealt with early this season.

One of Garrett’s greatest strengths as the head coach has been his ability to strike a cord with his players in a way they can relate, let’s hope the message has gotten through and we come out and beat up the Giants. No one is separating themselves in the division, and no one has been consistent enough to scare anyone, including ourselves for obvious reasons. A win on the road against the Giants could be enough to get the Cowboys back in the driver’s seat in the NFC East despite the critical injuries.

I asked my friend over at BleedBigBlue.com to give us three of his reasons as to why the Giants will win the game, and I’ll give my three reasons why we’ll win the game. Be sure to check them out, they put out some great material on their team and one of my trusted sources for everything Giants related.

— Three Reasons the Giants will win:

Target Odell

I know this sounds mad, but it’s getting increasing hard to write down reasons why the Giants will win without Odell’s name being called. Against the Eagles last week the Giants did a poor job in the second half of targeting Beckham with only 1 target. I know ideally you want to spread the wealth between the wide receivers, but sometimes you have to ride the hot hand. Get the ball to Odell and get it there often.

Keep Eli Safe

For the majority of this year our Oline has held up well. Marshall Newhouse has stepped in on the right side and preformed well. Giants fans hope that last week was just one single bad performance. The motto has always been said the the game is won in the trenches winning this battle will be essential to this home game rematch. The Oline has to be able to set up the run and give Eli some space to work.

Playing smart

Winning the turnover battle usually is a good sign that the game is not far behind. This was not the case last week. While the Giants forced 4 turnovers they couldn’t do anything with them. Giving up key sacks and they were unable to push for any needed rushing yards. Costly penalties by Damontre Moore extended Eagle drives which lead to scores. If you were wondering why Coughlin and camp didn’t put full trust into Moore your question was possibly answered last week.

— Here are my three reasons the Cowboys will win:

Cowboys Defensive Line

The Cowboys defense was poised to have a breakout season, but injuries and suspensions kept all the defensive lineman from the starting lineup. However, the wait is finally over, for the first time this season, the Cowboys will have their full compliment of pass rushers. Greg Hardy returned last week, and Randy Gregory is back this weekend as well. Last week we saw the Cowboys get after Brady, and Hardy showed why he is an impact player when he tallied up 2 sacks. The last time Hardy faced off against the Giants was in 2013 and he recorded 3 sacks on Eli. It’ll be interesting to see how the Giants gameplan their protection schemes to offset the Cowboys pass rush. Flowers has been a solid addition, but it’ll be interesting to see how he holds up with Hardy and Gregory bringing it all game, I’m looking forward to the trench war this week.

Physical running attack

The Cowboys running game has not looked like anything from 2014, and they’ve looked a bit finesse at times this season, but I do expect the Cowboys to go back to fundamentals against the Giants. The Cowboys have benched Ron Leary in favor of La’el Collins who looked solid when given snaps this season. Collins is a prototypical mauler and will get to the second level and blow up whomever is in front of him. Look for Christine Michael to get significantly more snaps in this game to compliment the offensive line’s style. We’ll still see a good dose of Joe Randle, but getting Michael involved will help get the Cowboys into more favorable coverages. We’ve seen teams double-up in the box which we saw last year with Murray, and the Cowboys were still able to run with success; however, Randle and McFadden are not physical runners — Michael will help re-establish last year’s success.

Matt Cassel

It’s no secret the Cowboys were not going to win any games with Weeden and we now know the Cowboys were being conservative with Weeden at the helm. In my opinion, the Cowboys simply didn’t trust Weeden with passes down the field. With Cassel, he’ll make quicker reads and get the ball out quicker, Weeden was too slow in his reads, but quick to pass to the check-down. The Cowboys will look to open up the passing attack which was basically moth-balled for three weeks. Look for Brice Butler to help stretch the field which should help open up the middle of the field for Beasley and Witten. If the Cowboys can’t establish a physical running game or loosen up the secondary with the deep pass, then it’ll be a tough game for the Cowboys to win.

So there you have it, what are your keys to the game against the Giants? Will we win the game or the Giants be able to execute just enough to beat out a Romo and Dez-less team?

Sounds off in the comments or tweet me. Let’s go Dallas!