Unsere Gaeste - Ecke » Giants vs. Cowboys: 5 questions

Nate Solder Jersey , answers about Dallas It is entirely possible that Dave Halprin of Blogging The Boys and I have done more “5 questions” segments than any two writers elsewhere on SB Nation. We have been doing two per year ever since I started this site back in 2007. With the New York Giants and Dallas Cowboys facing off Sunday night it’s time for the latest installment of the long-running “Ed and Dave trade questions” series.Ed: It’s easy to overreact after one week, but how concerned are you about the Dallas offense after it scored just 8 points in the season-opener?Dave: Very concerned. It’s not just week 1, the Cowboys offense has bogged down since the middle of last season. The offensive line has not played up to its reputation and they are missing Travis Frederick for the foreseeable future. There are definitely issues up front as they are starting a rookie left guard, Connor Williams, who had some problems in Week 1 (although it was against Kawaan Short who can give anyone fits). The offensive line has to improve its play, even All-Pro Tyron Smith had a very poor game last week. The other issue is Dak Prescott. After tearing through the league his first 24 games (except against the Giants!), his last nine games have been bad. We wrote some of last year off to injury to Tyron Smith and the suspension of Ezekiel Elliott, but Week 1 was a very poor performance by Prescott. He is the central figure in all of this and it’s up to him to return to the QB who gave us such high hopes in the first 1 and 1/2 seasons, instead of what we’ve seen the last half of a season in 2017 and what we saw in Week 1. Ed: What was your reaction to the whole “Dez Bryant and Jerry Jones together at the Beyonce concert” hullabaloo?Dave: No reaction at all. Dez isn’t coming back to Dallas, so it was irrelevant. Ed: Is there one matchup where you absolutely think the Cowboys have an advantage on Sunday?Dave: DeMarcus Lawrence on Ereck Flowers Authentic Sterling Shepard Jersey , and generally the Cowboys defensive line versus the Giants offensive line. I saw some of the Giants game against Jacksonville last week and Flowers just looked terrible. That follows his generally poor work in his career, so you kind of think that’s just who the guy is. On the other hand, DeMarcus Lawrence has turned into a terror as a pass rusher and he also plays the run very well. After a breakout season last year, he followed it up with an excellent Week 1 versus Carolina, he had a sack, a fumble recovery, made tackles in the run game and was generally disruptive. He has help, too. The Cowboys defensive line has become a disruptive force and if Randy Gregory can play after a concussion in Week 1, that just adds more firepower. This is where the Cowboys should have an advantage.Ed: Is there one matchup where you absolutely believe the Giants have an advantage?Dave: The Giants pass receivers against the Cowboys linebackers and secondary. Any team that has Odell Beckham already has a mismatch. When you add in players like Sterling Shepard and Evan Engram, that’s a threat. Plus Youth Kareem Martin Jersey , the Giants could work Saquon Barkley into the pass catching equation. The Cowboys linebackers and secondary are not bad in pass coverage. In fact, last week they played really well, but the Panthers don’t have the playmakers that the Giants do, especially after Greg Olsen was injured. The Cowboys secondary is young and not very deep, so if the Giants can give Eli Manning some time, they may be able to work some magic in the passing game. Ed: You knew this one was coming. I know you would take Odell Beckham and put him in your lineup. But, he’s off the table. If you could take one Giant OTHER THAN BECKHAM and add him to the Cowboys’ roster, who would it be?Dave: I got a few candidates in mind. Olivier Vernon is always a possibility but the Cowboys have some firepower along the defensive line. Saquon Barkley would always be a possibility, but with Zeke in the line up, running back is not a need. The Cowboys could use a boost in the pass receiving arena Youth Ray-Ray Armstrong Jersey , and where they are really deficient is at tight end. So maybe Evan Engram would be a good pass-catching tight end option. But in the end, I think I’d take Landon Collins. The Cowboys are very thin at safety and were sort of chasing Earl Thomas this offseason, so we’ll just go ahead and get a play-making safety in Collins. The Houston Texans committed mistake after mistake in their loss to Tennessee.Now they must figure out a way to fix these problems, so they don't fall into a 0-3 hole when they meet the New York Giants on Sunday."That's probably the biggest thing," coach Bill O'Brien said. "We have to eliminate those things. We have to coach it better, we've got to practice better. That's probably the biggest thing that we can need to improve on, that we have too many mistakes in all three phases."Houston had 11 penalties for 88 yards in Sunday's 20-17 defeat against the Titans. There were false starts, a clipping penalty and Jadeveon Clowney, who was inactive with an elbow injury, incurred one from the sideline for taunting.It's rather rare for a player not involved in the game to get a penalty. O'Brien said he didn't have many details on what happened B.J. Hill Jersey , but that he wasn't surprised that the call was made."The taunting rule is a big emphasis ... that's a good crew," he said. "Pete Morelli does a good job. They saw it, they called it."Clowney declined comment when asked about it in the locker room on Monday.While the penalties were certainly a problem for Houston on Sunday, there were plenty of other issues that kept the team out of the win column. A big problem for Houston this season has been pass protection.While their revamped offensive line has been so good in run blocking that the team leads the NFL in yards rushing, the group hasn't been nearly as successful in protecting Deshaun Watson.Watson has been sacked seven times this season and hit or hurried numerous other times. O'Brien takes some of the blame for the trouble in pass protection and is working to find a solution."In the end, I have to call better plays in certain situations," he said. "Got to do a better job of getting them in the right situation to help them execute better ... I think I can help it with certain play calls moving forward."Even with all their problems on Sunday the Texans still had a chance to send it to overtime. But Watson took so long to connect with DeAndre Hopkins on a 31-yard throw that the clock ran out before Houston had a chance to kick a field goal. O'Brien also took the blame for that gaffe on Monday, saying that he should have called a better play in that situation.Sunday's loss came after the Texans lost to New England 27-20 in the opener.Despite all the difficulties O'Brien insists that they're not panicking, and they remain positive that they can turn things around."We haven't played well but we've been in it in the end and we've got to finish these games better," he said. "We realize we have to do a lot better. We have to play more consistently."Veteran cornerback Johnathan Joseph said in situations such as this Authentic Saquon Barkley Jersey , things can begin to snowball, but that it's up to him and the other experienced players to help the team get on track."I wouldn't say us as a team, but you hear a lot of hype coming out of the preseason and things like that and then you have one or two games where it doesn't fall in your favor, sometimes it crumbles a little bit," he said. "But we're definitely standing tall in this locker room and we're moving on to next week.