NFL Thanksgiving: New York Giants vs Dallas Cowboys Betting Preview
New York Desperately Needs to Right The Ship
After a shockingly impressive 6-1 start to the 2022 season, the New York Giants have come back to Earth over the past few weeks and their 31-18 home loss to the Detroit Lions on Sunday was New York’s most concerning performance yet. Now, the Giants head to Texas on Thanksgiving to take on a Dallas Cowboys team coming off a 40-3 beatdown of the Minnesota Vikings. This Giants vs Cowboys preview features two NFC East rivals with the same record who might be heading in different directions.
The NFL spreads Week 12 opened up with the Cowboys as big 8.5-point favorites, which is understandable considered how they and the Giants played this past weekend but it’s still a lot of points for teams in the midst of a tight divisional race. New York began the week as a +315 underdog on the moneyline and the over/under was 43.5 points. Throughout the week, the Giants have dipped to +340 underdogs and the over has climbed to 44.5 points but the spread has stayed at 8.5. Vegas expects Dallas to roll to its second-straight easy home win yet New York is 7-3 for a reason, so Brian Daboll’s team will put up a strong fight to be sure.
New York Giants (7-3) at Dallas Cowboys (7-3)
Date, time (TV):
Location: AT&T Stadium; Arlington, Texas
Streaming:Â Live Sports Stream
Barkley Needs to Bounce Back
The Giants’ offensive numbers aren’t particularly impressive overall — they’re 21st in scoring offense and 19th in offensive yards — but, thanks to Saquon Barkley, Daniel Jones’ speed and an effective offensive line, New York is fourth in football in rushing yards and rushing touchdowns (on the second-most attempts). The Giants’ winning formula is an old-fashioned one predicated on a strong ground game, a complementary passing game and solid defense.
So, it’s not a surprise that New York’s recent losses to the Seattle Seahawks and Detroit Lions featured, respectively, 78 and 89 rushing yards for the Giants. As this Giants vs Cowboys preview will show, New York has to get more from its rushing attack if it’ll be able to overcome being such a significant underdog against the Cowboys.
Top back Saquon Barkley was held to a brutal 22 yards on 15 carries against Detroit, two games after managing only 53 yards against the Seahawks. Sandwiched between those weak performances was a 152-yard explosion against the Houston Texans in which the Giants scored 24 points and won.
After Blowout of Vikings, Dallas is Clicking
In the NFL, people (and teams) have very short memories. So, the Cowboys’ 31-28 overtime loss against the Green Bay Packers a week ago — Dallas gave up 14 unanswered fourth quarter points and then lost in overtime — feels like a distant relic considering how badly the Cowboys beat up on the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday. Dallas was in control from the opening kickoff and held a very potent Minnesota offense to just three points and 183 yards while putting up 458 yards of its own.
The win helped Dallas shake up the NFL standings and kept the Cowboys within striking distance of the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC East. It was also, by far, Dak Prescott’s game of the season as he completed 22 of his 25 passes for 276 yards and two touchdowns.
After Cooper Rush admirably filled in for Dak during his injury absence and with Prescott not playing particularly well since coming back, there — as is common for Dallas — some questions about how secure his job as the Cowboys’ top option under center is. Hopefully, a near-perfect game against a fellow Super Bowl contender quiets those concerns.
New York is also a good defense for Dak to go up against. The Giants are 28th in passing yards allowed and passing touchdowns allowed and have faced the fourth-most passing attempts in the NFL. Teams love to spread the field when they face off with New York, mostly because the Giants have a top-five rushing defense. Either way, look for Dak to throw the ball early and often in this one.
Cowboys Have Too Many Weapons
In terms of offensive weaponry, the disparity between the Giants and Cowboys is enormous. Any Giants vs Cowboys preview needs to discuss how Dallas has two starting-caliber running backs, multiple solid wide receivers and even an effective tight end.
Conversely, the Giants boast Saquon Barkley and — due to injury and general ineffectiveness — basically just Darius Slayton as a formidable pass-catching threat. With Sterling Shepard out for the season and the rapid decline of Kenny Golladay, Daniel Jones just doesn’t have much to work with on the outside.
New York will struggle to get much separation against a Cowboys’ secondary that has contributed to Dallas allowing the fewest passing yards so far this season
The Giants’ middle-of-the-pack passing defense — which has allowed the second-most yards per pass attempt in the NFL — is going to have a hard time stopping the likes of Ceedee Lamb, Noah Brown, Michael Gallup, Dalton Schultz and even Tony Pollard out of the backfield. On the other hand, New York will struggle to get much separation against a Cowboys’ secondary that has contributed to Dallas allowing the fewest passing yards so far this season. Dallas’ No. 1 scoring defense is a force to be reckoned with.
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