FRISCO, Texas – The Cowboys haven't gotten off to an 0-2 start to a season in 14 years coming into 2025.
The good news following a 24-20 loss to Philadelphia in Week 2? Dallas plays a team they've beaten eight straight times in the New York Giants in their home opener.
Does their recent success against the G-Men automatically put them in the win column and advance their streaks? Not necessarily, this is the NFL and anything can happen. Let's take a look at what'll need to happen for the Cowboys to move to 1-1 on Sunday:
WRs need to beat zone coverage vs. young secondary, find their gaps
In their week one game against the Commanders, the Giants defense played 59.5% of Washington's drop backs in zone coverage under second-year defensive coordinator Shane Bowen. Against that look, Jayden Daniels completed 14 of his 18 passing attempts for 156 yards, good for a 102.8 passer rating and an average 8.7 yards per attempt.
The nearly 60% zone coverage look is a steep drop from what New York did against the Cowboys in Week 4 of the 2024 season, where they played 82% of Dak Prescott's drop back in zone. Prescott was efficient against it, going 19 for 22 with 146 yards and a touchdown. Against the Eagles last week, Prescott completed 16 of his 25 passes for 120 yards against Vic Fangio's zone looks, which Philadelphia played 74.3% of the time.
How do you beat zone coverage? Your receivers find the soft spots in the defense and your quarterback gets them the ball in tight windows. In a league that is heavily moving towards playing more and more zone, exhibited by Matt Eberflus' defense not playing a single snap of man coverage against the Eagles last week, it's a collective chess match in the secondary.
This is where all the conversation of the Cowboys trading for George Pickens being a move to open things up for CeeDee Lamb and vice versa comes to fruition. When and if one of the two garners a bit more attention from some of the younger defensive backs on the Giants roster that may shift out of his spot more than he needs to, Prescott and the offense need to take advantage of the open areas and find their spots.
Keep Giants talented defensive line out of the backfield
The Eagles defensive line was a tough test for Dallas' young offensive line, but it would've been much tougher had Jalen Carter not gotten ejected before the first offensive snap of the game.
Well, things will be equally if not more difficult in Week 2 with the Giants coming to town. New York has invested heavily on their defensive front with four first-rounder in the room in the form of Dexter Lawrence, Brian Burns, Kayvon Thibodeaux and last year's third overall pick Abdul Carter.
In the middle of their defensive line, Lawrence is one of the best defensive tackles in football and he's coming off maybe his best year yet in the league. The three-time Pro Bowler recorded career highs in sacks (9) and tackles for loss (8) in just 12 games. If the Cowboys want to run the football, a key part of any success they have there will be moving Lawrence out of the way or running away from him.
Things do not get any easier on the outside, as the defensive end tandem of Burns, Thibodeaux and Carter can win in both the run and pass game. The three of them don't necessarily line up on the field all at the same time very often, but even when they rotate there's still a noticeable impact. Burns is a savvy veteran, Thibodeaux has flashes here and there, and Carter may have the most potential out of the entire room.
All four of them combined for seven quarterback pressures and three sacks in their Week 1 matchup against Jayden Daniels and the Commanders. They can cause a similar amount of trouble for the Cowboys offense, so it'll be crucial that the front five are ready to handle them.
Cowboys must force some coverage sacks
One type of sack that doesn't always show up in the box score is coverage sacks. Those happen when your secondary forces the opposing quarterback to hold on to the ball for longer with nothing open, resulting in a throw out of bounds or even an actual sack sometimes.
The Cowboys defense was able to do that a few times against the Eagles, but not enough to fully contain Jalen Hurts in the pocket or, of course, win the game.
This week, Matt Eberflus' unit has a chance to force more coverage sacks with a mobile, but not as elusive like Hurts quarterback in New York's Russell Wilson. In Week 1, Wilson was just five for 20 throwing for 58 yards when he had more than 2.5 seconds to throw. With over four seconds, he didn't complete any of his four attempts. In 2024, Wilson threw two interceptions when he held the ball for more than four seconds.
The second half of coverage sacks is your pass rushing unit, at the very least, getting some pressure on the quarterback and/or forcing them out of the pocket. When Wilson was on the run last week in Washington, he did not complete any of his three passing attempts.
In a defensive scheme that looks like will be heavily in zone coverage, especially since that is literally the only coverage the Cowboys have played so far in 2025, playing solid enough on the backend and forcing Wilson to hold on to the football is one of the paths to victory on the defensive side of the ball for Dallas. Against zone coverage in Week 1, Wilson completed 11 of his 21 passing attempts for 106 yards. If the Eberflus' unit can hold him to similar numbers on Sunday, they'll have a good chance to end up on the right side of the scoreboard.
