Dallas Cowboys: Should Fans Want to Face Packers or Giants?
The Dallas Cowboys will face the winner of the NFC Wild Card Playoff between the New York Giants and Green Bay Packers. Who should fans want to see?
Following the first NFC Wild Card Playoff that saw the Seattle Seahawks win, the Dallas Cowboys learned at least part of their fate. As the No. 3 seed advanced, the top-seeded Cowboys will face the winner of Sunday’s matchup between the New York Giants and Green Bay Packers. Both New York and Green Bay enter the postseason hot and both played Dallas in the regular season (the Giants twice).
If you’re the Cowboys or are a fan, though, which of these two teams do you want coming to AT&T Stadium next weekend for the Divisional Round?
Superficially, the answer is easy. When you look at what happened in the regular season matchups between the Cowboys and these two teams, the answer as to which team is the more favorable opponent for Dallas would be the Packers. After all, Dak Prescott and Ezekiel Elliott were dominant as they topped Green Bay, 30-16. Meanwhile, the only two losses that Jason Garrett’s group suffered when playing all of their starters for four quarters came at the hands of the Giants.
However, that oversimplifies a great deal about what potential matchups between Dallas and each team would hold. Put simply, you can’t look solely at what happened in Cowboys-Packers and Cowboys-Giants from the regular season and make an adequate assessment.
Perhaps the biggest reason for this is the fact that the Packers are white-hot entering the playoffs. Aaron Rodgers enters this game having led his team to six-straight wins. Over that span, the MVP-candidate put up 18 touchdowns and no interceptions. When you consider that while noting that he turned the ball over twice (one interception, one lost fumble) in the regular-season loss to the Cowboys, that’s not a good thing for Dallas. Turning Rodgers over was pivotal in picking up that win. Therefore, the fact that he’s been so secure with the ball of late doesn’t bode well for their defense.
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On the other hand, you have the Giants and their improved defense that has been the kryptonite for the Cowboys offense. The likes of Janoris Jenkins and Olivier Vernon have been key in doing so, with the former locking up Dez Bryant and the latter forcing Prescott to hurry and ultimately panic. However, it’s also worth noting that the Giants offense hasn’t exactly bee scaring anyone—even in the wins over Dallas. They scored just 20 points in Week 1 and needed an Odell Beckham Jr. big play to get to 10 points in the Week 14 victory.
Reading between the lines, the Giants defense has to be infallible for their offense to do enough to beat the Cowboys. That is, of course, assuming that Playoff Eli Manning doesn’t surface once again.
So where does that leave the Cowboys and fans looking ahead to a Jan. 15 Divisional Round matchup? Would it be better for the rookie-led team to face a streaking offense from Green Bay or try to exorcise their demons against the Giants?
Though fans of New York would also like to see it—thinking they have the upper-hand—a matchup against the Giants is what the Cowboys should be hoping for. Quite frankly, it gives them the best chance to win and the smaller chance for things to go awry.
For one, the narrative in the NFL that it’s difficult to beat a team three times in one year has held true time and again. This is even more so the case when the combined margin of victory from the first two wins is a meager four points. But it’s more than just that, ultimately coming down to the matchup.
Looking at how dominant New York’s defense was in Week 14, the one thing that you must consider is the cold weather being a major factor. Playing in Dallas at AT&T Stadium—again, where an unpolished Prescott and Elliott fell just one point shy in Week 1—that won’t be a factor. Their offense has been exceedingly impressive at home, even against quality defenses. Subsequently, the advantage has to go to the Cowboys’ biggest strength over the Giants’. That leaves Dallas’ underrated and well-coached defense to bottle up the anemic New York offense, which seems plausible.
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Frankly, the Cowboys should be favored by a fair margin whether it’s the Packers or Giants that ultimately come to town in the Divisional Round. But for fans to sleep better leading up to that Sunday matchup in Dallas, they should hope the Giants can prevail and that an angry, motivated Rodgers doesn’t come to town.