Dallas Cowboys at New York Giants Preview, Prediction

The New York Giants host the Dallas Cowboys this Sunday afternoon. Kickoff is scheduled at 4:15 and the game can be seen nationally on FOX.

Injuries: The big news over the past few days has been Steve Smith's pectoral injury. Smith will likely be out for at least two weeks. David Diehl, Madison Hedgecock, Shaun O'Hara and Darius Reynaud will also sit. O'Hara will likely miss "several weeks" due to a right foot injury.

The Giants will win...

because the Dallas Cowboys are the same Dallas Cowboys. Jason Garrett will have the Cowboys playing better in the next few weeks, but expecting Dallas to go into the Meadowlands and defeat arguably the best team in the NFC is madness. Their offensive line will again fail to protect a quarterback when facing the Giants, to the point that I'm actually a little concerned about Jon Kitna's well being.

The Dallas secondary stopped playing during the second quarter against Green Bay last Sunday night. The Cowboys couldn't stop Hakeem Nicks and company a few weeks ago, and that was when they presumably cared. Is losing Steve Smith really going to make that much a difference?

There's plenty about this particular Giants team that is flying under the radar. Big Blue currently has the second best run defense in the NFL. Bad news for the Cowboys, a team averaging under 76 rushing yards per game.

I'm not nearly as worried about New York's offensive line as others. The coaching staff has sufficiently filled in any gaps in the team's o-line thus far. I see no reason why that trend won't continue on Sunday.

The Giants will lose...

because of Dez Bryant. Bryant has been absurdly good over the past two games, and there's nobody on the Giants that can cover this man one-on-one. If Kitna actually has time in the pocket to find Bryant on any consistent basis, we could be brewing for an upset.

"Trap game" is the most overused cliché in the NFL. The Giants travel to Philadelphia next week to face the Eagles, possibly to determine the division's best team. New York head coach Tom Coughlin has been doing all he can to make sure the team isn't looking ahead, but it's not easy to eliminate the "we're playing a 1-7 team" mentality.

First quarter turnovers are going to cost the Giants a game sometime this season. This will be that game if New York really is asleep at the wheel on Sunday afternoon.

Prediction

I really do believe the Cowboys are the worst team in the NFL at this moment. A December contest at home against a "spoiler" Dallas team would make me nervous. Not on November 14, though. As long as the Giants emerge from the tunnel taking the Cowboys seriously, they should cruise to a fairly easy victory.

Giants 28

Cowboys 13

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